One of the rumored features we have been hearing about for the GoPro HERO5 is voice control, in which users will be able to activate the camera and have it perform certain tasks through the power of your voice. GoPro has yet to make the HERO5 official, but it looks like as far as action cameras are concerned, Garmin has beaten GoPro to the punch.
The company has announced their latest action camera, the Garmin Virb Ultra 30, which as you can see in the image above is small and compact and almost GoPro-ish. It will also come with voice controls so users can tell the camera when to start and stop recording, a useful feature if you have the camera mounted on a harness or on your helmet, or if your hands are full.
Granted Garmin isn’t necessarily a name you might associate with cameras, but on paper the Virb Ultra 30 is no slouch. In fact a lot of its features seem to be features that many would have expected from the HERO5, such as an LCD touchscreen display, 4K video recording at 30fps, 3-axis image stabilization, and also the ability to livestream directly to YouTube.
There is also built-in GPS and sensors that will show the user how far, fast, or high their movements are, great if you’re planning on skydiving or snowboarding or other kinds of sports. Unfortunately it does not come cheap as it is priced at $500 and is available for purchase starting today.