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Lenovo working on a live-stream, 360-degree VR camera

The company is building a cutting-edge camera, and there may be other, similar products on the way.

Scott Stein Editor at Large
I started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. Now I explore wearable tech, VR/AR, tablets, gaming and future/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future.
Expertise VR and AR, gaming, metaverse technologies, wearable tech, tablets Credentials
  • Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
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Scott Stein

Lenovo is making more VR-related products than simply the Tango phone. One of them is a live-streaming, 360-degree camera.

The camera had been expected to be unveiled at Lenovo Tech World 16 in San Francisco this week, but it wasn't. However, a Lenovo executive discussed its efforts with VR-focused site UploadVR. The camera uses Movidius Myriad 2 processors and can stitch together a 360-degree video and live-stream the content wirelessly. Lenovo and Movidius did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There are a lot of companies making 360-degree cameras this year, including Samsung and LG. The ability to live-stream would be unique, though. Other cameras need to process the video content and upload it afterwards.

This is camera one of a suite of VR-related products from Lenovo, though the others haven't been revealed yet. According to Movidius, another upcoming product is a standalone mobile VR headset. It could track position in-headset, perhaps in a similar way to how the Lenovo Phab2 Pro Tango phone can track position through its cameras.

Movidius had previously said that VR hardware would be announced during the first day of Lenovo's event, but those plans changed for unclear reasons.