Thanks to new video stitching technology, the Allie camera from IC Real Tech combines two 360-degree camera feeds into a single image that’s “all-D,” letting you look in any direction. It also lets you control the view in both recorded videos and live streams. Unlike professional virtual reality cameras that are too large or costly for everyday users, this one is compact and priced under $500.
IC Real Tech launched three Allie cameras: Allie Pro, Home, and Play. The Allie Pro is geared towards home security with a special high-grade lens, and will retail for $3000 in March this year. Allie Home and Allie Play, on the other hand, will be available later in the year for under $500. The Home looks elegant and matches with your interior décor, while the Play, housed in a colorful rocket, will fit well in your kid’s room.
All three cameras come with 8X zoom and pan abilities, connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi or cable, and can be watched online or on a mobile device. The angle can be controlled on mobile using gyroscopic control. An internal SD card can capture up to two hours of footage, but you can record for much longer time periods to the cloud.
For its price point, the Allie camera does a great job, though it’s not going to be TV-quality 720-degree video. Some potential uses for the Allie camera displayed at the CES demo were omni-directional home movies with the whole family, or live streaming from events to include people at home in the experience.
The Allie camera will probably be more attractive to experimental photographers and event organizers than the average consumer, but this doesn’t prevent taking Allies instead of just selfies from becoming a trend in the near future.