360-degree videos are all the rage these days, and Samsung doesn’t want to be left out of this craze. During Mobile World Congress 2016, besides the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, the company unveiled the Samsung Gear 360, a 360-degree camera about the size of a billiard ball. Meanwhile, the manufacturing giant also showed off Samsung Connect Auto, an OBD II dongle that plugs into the on-board diagnostic port found in most modern cars, to then let drivers monitor their ride’s performance, locate their cars, plus connect to the internet while driving. Considering that there are still many cars in Malaysia without the OBD II port, it is understandable that this small little device may not arrive here officially. However, during the Galaxy S7 edge’s local launch today, Samsung Malaysia Electronics confirmed that the Gear 360 will indeed be coming here in Q2 2016, though the exact price is not revealed yet.
Samsung Gear 360
It’s a new way to easily capture 360-degree photos and videos without the need to shoot and stitch frame by frame. Not only is it suitable for day-to-day use, the way it’s designed also allows for it to be mounted to, say, your helmet, to record 360-degree videos while you go ride your bike. This is something that’s awkward to do with devices such as Ricoh Theta S or LG 360 CAM, due to their shape. Gear 360 is not waterproof, but it does have an IP53 dust-and water-resistant rating. IP5X makes it sufficiently dust-resistant, but unfortunately IPX3 makes it only capable of handling water sprays up to 60 degrees. Oh, the battery is removable too.
It packs two 15-megapixel sensors on opposite sides with f/2.0 lenses that are said to capture brighter images than the competition. Stills can go up to 30 megapixels while spherical videos can be up to 3840 x 1920 in 30fps, but you’ll have to remember that in a particular viewing frame, the resolution will be much lower than that.
If you don’t like taking 360-degree videos all the time, there is also a mode to turn off one of the fisheye camera, so that it’ll only take a 180-degree shot. Pretty handy for those who’d like to stay behind the camera.
It has all the connectivity you’d expect from a modern camera, like Bluetooth 4.1, dual-band WiFi, and even WiFi Direct. When paired with a phone you can easily shoot in live view, stitch the 360-degree footages, trim the videos, and share it to social networks. Just like the Ricoh Theta S, besides the Samsung Gear 360 Manager app for Galaxy phones, you can also manipulate these images from the PC, using the Gear 360 ActionDirector software. Unfortunately though, Samsung being Samsung, the Gear 360 Manager app is currently only compatible with current Samsung flagships: S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+, Note5, S7, and S7 edge. One of the reasons for this, is that once you pop one of these phones into the Gear VR, you can view the spherical videos in faux 3D.
Limited device compatibility aside, the spherical images should be compatible with many online services these days, including Facebook, Google Street View, and YouTube 360° Video.
The following are sample 360-degree videos taken from the Gear 360. For additional 360-degree images, visit Samsung’s Gear 360 VR Gallery.
- Camera:
- Sensor: Dual CMOS 15MP sensor
- Lens: Dual f/2.0 fisheye lens
- Resolution:
- Dual-cam movies: Up to 3840 x 1920 (30fps)
- Single-cam movies: Up to 2560 x 1440 (30fps)
- Dual-cam stills: Up to 7776 x 3888 (30MP)
- Single-cam stills: 3072 x 1728 (5MP)
- Dual- and single-lens modes: Video, Photo, Time-lapse Video, Looping Video
- Dimensions: 66.7 x 56.2 x 60 mm (153g including battery)
- Display: 0.5″ (72 x 32) PMOLED
- Memory: 1GB RAM, microSD card (up to 128GB)
- Sensor: Gyroscope, accelerometer
- Battery: 1350mAh
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz), WiFi Direct, Bluetooth v4.1, USB 2.0, NFC
- Codec: Movie recording in MP4 (H.265), still capturing in JPEG
- Compatible devices: Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+, Note5, S7, S7 edge — with the Samsung Gear 360 Manager app; PCs — with the Gear 360 ActionDirector software
- Chipset: DRIMe5s
Samsung Connect Auto
Samsung Connect Auto is a dongle that plugs into the OBD II port (on-board diagnostic) right below the steering wheel of most modern cars. The small gadget turns your ride into a smart car of sorts with its built-in LTE, WiFi, and GPS antennas. No price has been given yet, but Samsung did say that AT&T is a partner and it’ll available in the US in Q2 2016. Unfortunately as of now, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be getting it in Malaysia any time soon.
First of all, if you look closely at the image above, it has a SIM tray on the side. It draws power from the OBD II port, so once you pop in a working SIM, it’ll turn into a mobile WiFi hotspot in the car.
But let’s not forget its main purpose which is to provide us with valuable car diagnostic data. Even for regular consumers, they can make use of it to track — using GPS and LTE — the location of their parked rides. The diagnostic data is later piped to another device, like a Galaxy phone, to offer real-time drive ratings using proprietary algorithms, to encourage responsible driving. This will nudge the driver to drive optimally for a better fuel consumption. Besides its ability to check the car’s status to recommend maintenance and repair services, Samsung Connect Auto can also notify the driver’s preset contacts and call roadside assistance operators, in the event of an emergency.
Lastly, businesses can gain a bit of productivity through its fleet management capabilities. Business drivers can track kilometers traveled, time on the road, and price per liter with the automatic journey logs, to then generate email reports for expenses tracking. Consumer and business drivers alike, can also leverage on Usage-Based Insurance (UBI), if they opt-in to share their vehicle data, to get insurance discounts or other benefits.
Samsung mentioned that its Connect Auto is kept secure with KNOX security, and is leveraging on its Tizen OS “backbone” to allow developers to further “evolve” the device with additional services. With Samsung Connect Auto, the company is aiming to create a new partner ecosystem of carriers/telcos, insurance companies, roadside assistance operators, and maintenance networks. That way, it could help bridge the gap between automotive and mobile industries. Samsung’s current car ecosystem partners include: Amdocs, AT&T, AXA, Blink by Agero, China Unicom, Cisco, Crawford & Company, Ericsson, Europcar, HERE, IBM, Jasper, Oberthur Technologies, Openbay, Orange, Tantalum, and Willis Towers Watson.
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