By This is the YI HALO, Google’s next generation VR camera made in partnership with Xiaomi’s YI sub-brand. You may recall Jump, the company’s first attempt at such hardware. It came with tons of high-quality cameras for which to capture 360-degree content. This is the version of it made to be mainstream.
The YI HALO has an array of 16 cameras all lined up nice and neatly in circular fashion. There’s also a camera up top to cover blind spots. All the cameras are 4K-capable, of course, so it should just about reach the full capabilities of today’s consumer devices.
YI HALO is an 8-pound rig and also offers up 100 minutes of battery life, both impressive marks for those who need a device they can take with them everywhere they go.
On the software side, there’ll be an Android app that can be used as a remote viewfinder and controller, and it’ll use an AI-driven component called the Jump Assembler to stitch it all up nice and neat within a few short hours.
It all sounds really impressive, but also really expensive. We’re not exactly sure how much it’ll cost you to own one, though Google did note that it’ll be available to all interested parties this summer. Those who really have interesting ideas and the means to execute them can also hit Google up and get one as soon as today.
IF that doesn’t do it for you, then you can also consider going through Jump Start, a new initiative that will award up to 100 creators with a free Jump camera and access to the Jump Assembler to bring their ideas to life. You can sign up to have your name considered right here, and you’ll have until May 22nd to do so.
As for those of us who are intending to enjoy all the content these things will create, check the video out above (best viewed in a VR headset, but perfectly viewable otherwise) if you’re curious to see the kinds of results it can produce.
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