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World's First Live Smartphone VR Camera Revealed

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With consumer Virtual Reality kits now widely available, not to mention the current proliferation of cheap Google Cardboard headsets, VR content is now much easier for the average consumer to access.

However, creating such content yourself with affordable tools wa an entirely different matter - until now. Yesterday at this year’s Computex trade show in Taipei, Quanta Computer and ImmerVision jointly announced what is claimed to be the world’s first 360-degree live VR streaming camera for smartphones, with demos starting from today.

The, as yet unnamed, camera fits in the palm of the hand and is designed to attach magnetically to any smartphone. It comes with a 360-degree by 187-degree lens and uses a Sony Exmor- HDR imaging sensor to produce 16 megapixel panoramic images.

It also includes a microphone and a USB port and will allow live streaming of panoramic video via Wi-Fi or saving directly to its built-in storage. This design will allow the camera to operate in stand-alone mode, attached to other objects such as clothing, bikes or drones much like any standard action camera.

Much of the clever technology powering the device comes from ImmerVision creators of the ImmerVision Enables 360-degree video standard. The new camera combines software technology with a custom-designed “Panomorph” wide angle lens which can capture a hemispherical field of view with magnification tuned to specific zones of interest. Because camera sensors are typically rectangular rather than square, the lens also stretches out what would have been a circular image into an elliptical shape, ensuring that it covers as much of the imaging sensor as possible.

The rest of the camera is manufactured by Quanta Computer, currently the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the World.

There’s no word yet on pricing, availability or even a final name for the product, but with the weight of Quanta Computer behind it, there’s scope for these devices to be made in large numbers and at a reasonable price. Of course, without seeing any results from the camera, it’s impossible to say how good or bad the video quality may be, but the combination of Sony’s image sensor and ImmerVision’s proven track record certainly looks promising.

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