ALLie Camera Takes A 360-Degree View Of Everything

Virtual reality might be the up and coming star, but its success will largely depend on the content available for it. "Manufactured" content like games might be great but real-life footage, both live and recorded, is even better. Manufacturers are scrambling to create the perfect VR camera setup but ALLie, apparently pronounced as "ALL-e", might have the jump on them What might look like a webcam the shape of eyeball is actually a 360-degree camera that can be used for surveillance, recording events, and, of course, VR.

The ALLie cam actually has two 8 megapixel sensors positioned back to back, each with fish-eye lens and 188 degree field of vision. In short, it has a 360 degree view of the surrondings, left, right, top, and bottom (depending on where you place it) without any blind spots. That alone makes it a perfect camera for security or baby monitoring, but it's the added features that make it more than just that.

The camera can record video at 2048x2048 resolution and 22 fps rate. These vidoes can be streamed or recorded and shared for more people to see. The company even has VR headsets, sold separately, to capitalize on that feature. The camera also has a built-in mic so you won't just be watching silent, but colored, movies. And all of these can be controlled from a paired smartphone.

The ALLie cam will, however, set you back $599, which might actually be cheaper than more professional VR cameras heading our way. Those will be bulkier and more conspicuous to boot. That said, since the ALLie cam is technically a monitoring camera, it has a hidden cost of cloud starge, starting at $6.95 for keeping 24 hours of footage. You can record on the 8 GB internal storage, but, at full resolution, that might only be good for an hour's worth of footage.

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