Get started with the new Gear 360 camera: easy to carry

Technology and electronics are now being updated and developed in a very interesting way. In general, new devices will always replace old ones, but when the time is long enough, you will find that the final new product will return to the original form. For example, smart phones capture video. Starting from the beginning of the 21st century, consumers began to abandon various professional video equipment and use smart phones to shoot high-quality video.

Smartphones have started to shrink the gap between professional cameras and the shooting level, life time, and shooting quality, and many people will no longer go out alone with the camera. A smart phone can handle almost everything in life.

However, in recent years, we have seen that technology seems to have begun to develop again. A wave of 360-degree camcorders has begun to appear in the market. This product not only can shoot virtual reality video, but also can live streaming media. Although carrying a professional shooting device alone can be seen as a “retrotype”, considering that taking 360-degree video requires more fisheye and wide-angle lenses as a guarantee, only professional equipment can achieve the desired effect. It's very difficult to complete on your smartphone alone.

Last year, companies such as Samsung and LG launched the first generation of 360-degree cameras, and LG has no new moves in 2017, but Samsung has released the latest generation of Gear 360. Whether this new product will improve the original deficiencies and whether it can really meet the current trend of virtual reality development, we might as well take a look at this product.

Design: Smaller, more portable and convenient to use

The first generation Gear 360 looks like the camera we've seen before, a two-way "big eyes" camera and a mini-tripod. In addition to being able to operate it alone, it can also be remotely controlled via a smart phone, which is not too problematic to use.

The new generation Gear 360 looks like the first mini version. First of all, the top round camera part is more compact, more portable, and can even be placed in a pocket. With Samsung’s efforts, components including lenses and sensors have been designed to be more reasonable and look more like an extension of a smartphone.

Of course, since it is a new generation of products, in addition to the smaller size, there are still many improvements. First of all, Samsung added control handles to the Gear 360, making it easier to hold and operate, making it easier to shoot. At the same time, the bottom of the handle is a flat design, which can also be used as a base to facilitate direct shooting on the ground for long periods of unattended shooting.

It is undeniable that this design is more unsafe than last year's tripod, but Samsung added rubber rings to the bottom, so adding friction increases stability and brings some grip. Although this is not the best solution we have seen, the ease of use does allow us to ignore this little sacrifice.

At the same time, the new generation of Gear 360 can be shot directly with the shutter, and there is a small OLED screen display information, and a finger can quickly open. At the same time, Samsung now exposes the microSD card slot and USB interface. The previous generation of Gear 360's various interfaces were hidden under the waterproof cover, and now it has become an open design and can even be used while shooting.

However, the cost of doing so is still at the expense of waterproofness. The previous generation Gear 360 had IP53's dust-proof and waterproof rating, which means it can still be used when it is heavy rain. Of course, shooting directly in the water is not its task.

In fact, changes in the design show Samsung's change in Gear 360's positioning. What is more, it is portability. It allows us to record the most interesting moments anytime anywhere.

Ease of use, pairing applications and compatibility

Operation The new Gear 360 has some differences in interaction with previous generations of products. You can choose different shooting modes, including video, photos, time-lapse video, loop recording, and panoramic HDR. And you can also set the shooting resolution directly on the Gear 360, there are three physical buttons, namely, menu, return and shutter / select. At the same time, we can also view the details of menu operation through a small monochrome OLED screen.

At first, I was unfamiliar with the operation and it was easy to do what I wanted to do on the menu operation. Of course, after a certain period of familiarity, I could use it more smoothly. When we have chosen the mode we like, we can start shooting.

Like last year, Gear 360's compatibility with smartphones is still a chronic problem. However, the good news is that this time Samsung has added a new generation of Gear 360 compatibility. In addition to supporting non-flagship Galaxy smart phones, it can also be used with iOS systems.

Of course, for the vast majority of Android system competitors, Samsung still reject the attitude. Gear 360 is different from Gear VR. Virtual reality is very demanding for smart phone hardware. We refuse to be compatible with other brands of Android smart phones. However, Gear 360 also refused to be compatible with other products, it seems a bit petty.

Perhaps for Samsung, better connection from hardware to software allows users to directly transfer data between Gear 360 and smart phones via Wi-Fi is a quest for reliability, but today is not compatible with other brands of Android. The smart phone approach is indeed not suitable. After all, the Android system itself is synonymous with openness, and Samsung is compatible with the iOS system under pressure from the huge user base of the iPhone, but has abandoned other Android users and seems to be somewhat arrogant.

Sensors, Lenses, and Configurations

Not all of the parameter improvements can bring significant improvements. For example, the smartphone's camera is not the higher the pixel, the better, and the new generation of Gear 360 is also the same, Samsung does not seem to be too much to improve the pixel. On the contrary, Samsung reduced the pixel parameters in the new generation of Gear 360, from the previous two 15-megapixel cameras to 8.4-megapixel dual cameras. Although the pixels have been reduced, the resolution has improved, from the previous 3840×1920 pixels to 4096×2048 pixels. This improvement has also improved the picture quality, from the original 24fps frame rate to 30fps frame rate.

But to tell the truth, when we enlarged the picture to 100%, we still saw a lot of noise, so we have too high expectations for taking into account the details and reducing noise at the same time. For most users, these new sensors are sufficient to meet their needs, and improvements in portability will help us enjoy the shooting process. We acknowledge that larger sensors definitely help improve resolution and image quality, but given the positioning of the Gear 360, we can still understand Samsung's trade-offs.

The screen shot by the Gear 360 through two fisheye lenses was linked together by software. The effect was pretty good, but there was still a distortion problem when it was too far from the target.

Quality

When we take pictures with the Gear 360, we must know that the reduction in volume means sacrifice of quality. Although this process is not simply using sensors to take pictures, it is not as good as we think it is.

In the proofs, the details in the distance are not particularly clear. Especially for 360-degree playback, in the high-resolution viewing mode, we can see that many details have been lost.

But if you just pat it with Gear 360, the results are basically satisfactory.

But when we did a 360-degree video shoot, Gear 360 had a great effect on the stitching of the screen, and the screen seams were barely visible.

Save and Upload 360-degree video

Samsung once again let Gear 360 support H265 format video, which is a very popular improvement. Although H265 is not as popular as H264, it can be converted directly into H264 when it is converted via Gear 360's App.

However, although Gear 360 is easy to shoot video, the video file is very large. The 1920x1080 HD H265 format video has 64MB, and it has been directly upgraded to 124MB after being converted to H264. So if you want to look for a better ratio of volume and quality, it's best not to go through any processing and copy it directly from the microSD card.

If you synchronize video from Gear 360 to your smartphone, it will take longer. For example, a one-minute video synchronization to the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge takes exactly half a minute. Although it has improved compared to last year, it is still much slower than copying directly through memory cards.

The new generation of Gear 360 supports direct live broadcast of virtual reality on media such as YouTube and Facebook. We tried it and it worked well. As long as the bandwidth and the hardware of the smartphone are secure, it is still very good to casually watch the latest Android Nougat system on the shoulder.

Battery life

Compared with last year's version, the volume reduction naturally has to sacrifice a lot in endurance. First, the battery capacity itself has shrunk by 14%, and now it is only 1160mAh. In addition, Gear 360's battery is also not removable, so if you want to take a full day of shooting, we still suggest that everyone prepare mobile power.

The Gear 360's charging interface was completely exposed this time. Unlike previous waterproofing, the USB-C interface charged quickly, although this time at the expense of certain waterproof performance. However, we can shoot while charging, which is a huge advantage in live streaming.

However, even without the support of an external power supply, the performance of the Gear 360 itself is also satisfactory. On the weekend we took the Gear 360 to go out and took a series of videos of 1 minute or so. There were also some pictures taken. After the day, there was 60% electricity left. If you use a relatively large amount of energy, it may consume more quickly, but if you just take a shot in casual fashion, you can basically hold on for a whole day.

to sum up

Have to admit that the new generation of Gear 360 has brought us more fun, and compared with the first generation of products, sharing 360-degree video with friends is now easier.

Samsung improved its portability and live streaming features, and it looks more realistic than a new product, not a continuation of last year. Although only Samsung smartphones and iPhones are compatible, and they have given up their waterproof features, it seems that going out with Gear 360 has become more fun.

Of course, the price has to be discussed. After all, not all users need such a 360-degree camera, and the price of 350 US dollars (about 2400 yuan) will put a lot of people out of the door. So besides network anchors and outdoor shoot enthusiasts, it seems that no one will spend so much money on such products.

However, the future of virtual reality will become the mainstream direction of development, and this smaller and more portable shooting tool will undoubtedly have a broader market outlook. For Samsung, optimizing the software's compatibility with the Gear 360 and supporting other brands of Android smartphones is a top priority.

advantage

Portable and easy to operate

The button layout is reasonable and can be operated with one hand;

Support streaming media broadcast;

insufficient

Compatible model restrictions are relatively large;

The data transmission speed is normal;

Sacrificial water resistance;