Giroptic has enabled the world’s first 360 video calls with Giroptic iO Ping, a new exclusive feature for Giroptic iO 360 phone camera (for iOS or Android)! Now you can have a 360 video call with anyone, whether on smartphone or desktop, on PC, Mac, iOS, or Android, and they don’t even need to install a special app.
Video calls are a great way to communicate with friends, family or for business. With Giroptic iO Ping, you can now have a 360 video call. All you need is a Giroptic iO 360 camera. There are no additional costs, no apps for the other person to install.
You simply attach your Giroptic iO to your phone, launch your iO Ping app, then send a URL to the other person. It doesn’t matter if they’re using a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop. Whether they are using PC, Mac, iOS or Android, they will be able to see a 360 view, while you can also see their video. As with other video calls, you’ll also be able to talk to each other in realtime.
By having a 360 view, your friends and family can have a better experience of what it’s like being there with you, whether you are at a park, a beach, a party or just relaxing at home.
I got to try out the iO Ping to talk with Giroptic’s CPO Matthieu Grosselin. Matthieu just sent me a link and after I clicked on it, within a few seconds, I could see a 360 view from his camera, while he could see a view from my webcam. I was using a Chromebook (which happened to be the first time they tested it with a Chromebook) and there were zero issues. Here is a screenshot and as you can see, the video quality is quite good for a video call. There was very little lag, even though I was in California and he was in France, and I could rotate the view just like a 360 video. So yes it really works flawlessly!
The technology that makes this possible is Giroptic’s hardware-based realtime stitching in the iO. Giroptic also developed their own 360 video player. Through these technologies, they were able to keep lag down to less than 0.3 seconds!
It’s also amazing that Giroptic was able to simplify it so that anyone can use it. Honestly, it’s much easier than 360 live streaming on other 360 cameras, which can often require creating a streaming event, entering an RTMP address and a stream key. By contrast, a video call on Giroptic iO Ping was as simple as launching the iO Ping app, inserting the Giroptic iO camera, and tapping a button. And did I mention it’s free?
Giroptic iO Ping will be available starting October 26. Meanwhile, Giroptic iO 360 cameras are available now for either Android or iOS for a new lower price of $199. Giroptic iO is the most user-friendly 360 camera on the market, one of the few that requires zero postproduction because of its realtime stitching, which is why I named it one of the best 360 cameras for beginners. You can check out Giroptic’s official page here.
I wish Insta360 could do 360 video calls with their cameras like this.
great Michael!
I’m curious if it is possible to use now or soon with Facebook messenger, whatsapp messenger or other messenger app…
it is just like skype was back in the time: new way to communicate!
Best!
Hi Ramon. You can use any method to send the URL. When the person clicks on the link, it will launch the 360 viewing page on their browser.
Best regards,
Mic
Worth pointing out this is actually not the first service of this kind. Since early this year http://www.telepport.com is available, which uses the existing Ricoh Theta and maybe other cameras by now.
Hi Sergi. Thanks for sharing about telepport! Telepport looks like a live streaming service that has 2-way audio. Since the 360 camera shooter doesn’t see your video, I don’t think it counts as a video call, although there are definitely many similarities. What do you think?
Best regards,
Mic
I believe their focus is more on the ‘one to many’ rather than the ‘one to one’, which would explain the difference in regards to the need to transmit each flat video too. I see it as event-focused mainly, conferences etc, where there could be questions and contributions from remote attendees.
If the remote attendee was in the call using a headset to watch, which would be the most natural way, all the other end would see via the remote webcam would be someone behind a headset which wouldn’t be ideal.
Hi yes that’s the fundamental difference between video call and live streaming, after all. So telepport is more like true live streaming, designed for “one to many,” whereas iO Ping is truly for “one to one” video calls.
Best regards,
Mic
I agree , http://vrlively.in is around from early this year and it does much more than just doing 360 degree interaction.