While lines of hardcore gamers formed on the CES floor to demo virtual reality products from major players like Oculus Rift and Samsung, new players in the category took aim at mainstream consumers looking to spend a little less to get their VR fix.
IC Real Tech and HumanEyes Technologies both showed user-generated VR suites that will come in at well under $1,000.
The ALLie Cam line by IC Real Tech includes several company firsts, namely the ALLie Go portable 360 by 360 action video camera and ALLie VR and ALLie Cardboard VR headsets. With these, the company significantly expands its 360 offerings, which currently consist of the IC720 professional surveillance and ALLie Home monitoring/virtual reality cameras.
The ALLie Go is a high-resolution portable action video camera that leverages the company’s 360 by 360 technology to stream live video via Wi-Fi. About the size of a baseball, ALLie Go easily mounts to the body or sporting equipment for use in action sports, adventures and entertainment settings. The camera integrates two microphones, a built-in speaker, storage for recording and a rechargeable battery.
ALLie Go is the company’s first portable camera, and, like ALLie Home, the camera’s app will instantly share user-generated content (UGC) to social media and stream UGC live to both the ALLie and Oculus Rift VR headsets.
ALLie Go will have a suggested retail of $599 and is expected to begin shipping mid-2016.
The ALLie VR headset is compatible with smartphones ranging from 3.5 to 5.7 inches in screen size, which sit snuggly behind the front cover of the headset. The ALLie VR app and built-in optics come together to display immersive video streaming from the ALLie cameras, as well as 3D movies, gaming and personal videos hosted on the smartphone.
ALLie VR has a suggested retail of $59 and begins shipping this month.
ALLie Cam’s first virtual reality headset, the ALLie Cardboard VR, is currently available in 225 Brookstone retailers around the U.S. for $24.99.
HumanEyes Technologies unveiled Vuze, billed as “the world’s first consumer, portable 360 3D VR camera and dedicated software studio” that is set to bring immersive content creation to the masses.
The Vuze Camera combines advanced 3D and 2D capture technology using eight FullHD cameras within a point-and-shoot form factor.
The Vuze Studio brings what it claimed are groundbreaking advances in 360 3D content creation, with near-real-time processing and seamless stitching thanks to a proprietary technique called Adaptive Blending. This is said to mimic the way the human eye interacts with the brain to form pictures.
Vuze’s platform-agnostic approach means content can be enjoyed on its own lightweight VR headset or on any VR player, VR headset, cardboard or 3D device, or TV.
The Vuze camera features a stylish design available in a variety of vibrant colors. It also comes with its own purposely engineered selfie stick and tripod.
Its battery and removable SD card can capture up to one hour of video, allowing people to capture and relive every part of the world around them in breathtaking detail.
Vuze has been built on its own technology architecture and is controlled by a dedicated iOS and Android app. Each camera uses ultra-wide and vertical angle lenses to capture 1,200 horizontal and 1,800 vertical images and together generate 4K VR content.
Vuze will be available in August priced under $1,000. It will be bundled with the selfie stick and tripod, VR head-mounted goggles and access to the Vuze Studio software suite.
