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You can make a phone call with Acer’s new Holo 360-degree video camera
Taiwanese multinational hardware technology company Acer Inc. unveiled its new Holo 360 camera with integrated Long Term Evolution 4G capability at the company’s annual global press conference today.
The Holo 360 comes equipped with two fish-eye cameras on either side for delivering 360-degree and virtual reality capable video. It will run on Android and also provides a preview screen on the side of the device so users can see what they’ve captured before sharing it.
However, the big boast of the device is the built-in 4G LTE capability, which makes this the only 360-degree camera on the market does not need to be plugged into or connected to something else in order to share the video it records.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Acer Chief Executive Officer Jason Chen said about the device, “the only 360-degree camera today in the world equipped with 4G. And you can make a phone call.”
Why someone would want to make a phone call with a 360-degree VR camera wasn’t clear, but it does open up a possible future for VR cameras that integrate their own 4G connectivity to allow consumers to livestream video directly to platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
The built-in 4G capability also separates the Holo 360 from needing to connect to any external device. This frees up users from having to charge two devices—the second device usually being an Android smartphone to run the camera’s app—and puts users one step closer to a single click to share 360-video experiences on social media.
The device’s social media capability appears to allow for the sharing of 360-degree images and video to services such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Although some of these platforms do not support 360-degree content, they do support links out for hosted content.
Users do not need to use the integrated 4G for everything, however, as the device can also connect to Wi-Fi or, presumably, via cable. Other details from Acer on the device have been somewhat light.
Acer’s addition of the Holo 360 will add another 360-degree camera to the consumer market that includes 2016 launched devices such as the Rioch Theta S, Samsung Gear 360, the tiny Nico360, and the LucidCam (Lucid VR) 360-degree camera.
Image: Acer
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