Holiday photos are one thing, but wouldn’t it be great to step into the snap and have a look around? It’d be just like being back there. That’s the idea behind Optonaut.
It’s an app that lets you take panoramic virtual reality photos. Snap a 360-degree photo by rotating slowly, fire up the app and you can step into the image and explore. You can almost taste those premixed margaritas…
The app combines all the photos from one panoramic sweep into a stereoscopic 3D image. You can share it with friends, and they don’t need the app in order to view it. Slip your phone into a pair of Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR and you can look up, down, to the side, and generally
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It promises to work with most Android and iOS handsets, as long as they have a camera and orientation sensors. The Android version should touch down in August of this year, and the iOS version around two months later. It will be free to download.
So what’s the incentive to pledge your support? You can be invited to try out the beta version before the final version launches, and you can have your snap turned into a postcard (though admittedly it won’t be in virtual reality). You can also get a coupon for your own set of VR glasses.
So far, it’s raised €5,000 of a €15,000 target, and has 22 days to go.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.