The New Samsung Gear 360 Is Finally In Stores

When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8, it didn't just unveil a new smartphone. It also announced a whole ecosystem around it, including, of course, a VR ecosystem. Although the new Gear VR with Controller is in a bit of a legal bind, its camera partner is going full steam ahead. The 2017 Gear 360 camera has just landed on stores, both physical and digital ones, ready for the task of capturing and making memories in glorious 360 degrees.

The most visible change in the new Gear 360 is, well, it's visible design. The first gen camera was a quickly compared to a robot from the Portal game. The new one is still a robot, but more like Eve from the animated film Wall-E. The change isn't just aesthetic though. It means the Gear 360 is easier to stick inside your bag or pocket and hold in your hand.

Despite the more petite size, the Gear 360 is endowed with bigger cameras, two 8.4 megapixel cameras to be precise. This allows it to step up its resolution to 4096x2048, more than enough for some 4K 24 fps fun. For stills, you can produce 15 megapixel 360-degree photos at most.

Be sure check out our hands-on of the 2017 Samsung Gear 360 to see what else has changed in this next generation.

Another thing that has changed is the price, though for the better, fortunately. The new Gear 360 will only go for $229, more than a $100 drop from last year's model. It will be available from Best Buy, Amazon, AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and, of course, Samsung. Even better, for those buying a new Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ between May 25 and June 19, the Gear 360 can be purchased for only $49. Do note that this promo only starts tomorrow.