Yi Technologies, a subsidiary of China’s Xiaomi, recently announced a new product caled the Yi 360 VR Camera. As the name suggests, this is a nifty little camera that will enable users to capture photos and videos in 360-degrees that they can then view with a virtual reality headset. Yi has now made the Yi 360 VR Camera available for pre-order out of China. It’s going to start shipping the camera in these new markets very soon.
The Yi 360 VR Camera is capable of recording 360 degree videos in up to 5.7K or 5760×2880 pixel resolution. It features two 1/2.3 inch 12 megapixel Sony IMX377 camera sensors with 220 degree lens and f/2.0 aperture.
Prospective owners do have to keep in mind that while the camera allows for video recording at 5.7K resolution, the stitching of the two videos at that resolution has to be done manually. The camera can automatically stitch videos recorded at 4K or lower resolutions.
The camera is powered by the Amabrella H2V95 processor that has been developed particularly for VR cameras. It enables the user to live stream directly from the camera at 2.5K resolution to YouTube and Facebook. A 1,400mAh battery will keep the lights on.
Yi 360 VR camera features a built-in 96×64 pixels OLED display, an HDMI port, USB Type-C port, and a microSD card slot. It measures 102 x 53.2 x 29.6 mm and weighs 170 grams. It’s now available for pre-order outside China for a price tag of $399.