Design

Samsung Gear 360 review

The quick take

Samsung’s Gear 360 is the 360-degree camera we’ve all been waiting for. It stands out. It has the power of one of the world’s biggest tech companies behind it… and it’s a somewhat frustrating product. The software experience is the best we’ve used in this class of camera, bar none. The industrial design is excellent. But the Gear 360 is greatly hampered by its inability to fit in a pocket, by being (currently) locked to Samsung’s own phones, and by inconsistent stitching in processed photos.

The Good

• Excellent user experience
• Every feature you could hope for
• Good quality of photos and video
• Seamless connection process

The Bad

• Unique design isn’t easily pocketable
• Only works with Samsung’s phones
• Disappointing microphone
• Stitch lines are very apparent

About this review

We’ve been using the Samsung Gear 360 for a good two weeks and change. This is a unit we imported from Korea from an Amazon seller for about $400. (That’s a mere $50 over the North American retail price of $349.)

Our Gear 360 is on firmware C200GLU0APE4 (after an update), and we’ve used it with a Verizon Galaxy S7, with v1.04 of the Gear 360 Manager app.

Which devices work with the Gear 360?

First things first: While Samsung has opened up some of its products to brands not named Samsung, the Gear 360 isn’t really one of them. As of the time of this writing it’ll work with the last couple years of flagship phones, including:

• Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge
• Galaxy S6, GS6 edge and GS6 edge+
• Galaxy Note 5

If you just have to have a Gear 360 and don’t have one of those phones, you can just pull the pictures and video off it directly. And Samsung is throwing in Gear360 Action Director software on Windows. (The camera comes with a registration code — so be sure you don’t throw that away.)

The future of photography?

Samsung Gear 360 Full Review

These 360-degree cameras are a big deal. We’re in the first generation still, but consider the following: With the touch of a button (more or less) you can now share the entire world around you, and not just what’s in front of the camera. What’s behind it. What’s above it. And, to a lesser extent, even below it.

There was no way Samsung wasn’t going to get in this game. And Samsung plays to win. Always. So it was no surprise to see it unveil the Gear 360 spherical camera at Mobile World Congress, way back in February. (Alongside no less than the Galaxy S7 We’ve had to wait a while since then, and other 360 cameras have launched in the meantime.

So is Samsung’s the one to beat? In some ways, yes. In others, well …

Samsung Gear 360 specs

	5.74 in60.1mm
2.83 in66.7mm	0.11-0.35 in56.3mm

• Cameras:
  • Dual 15MP CMOS sensor
  • Dual f/2.0 fisheye lens
  • 2560×1440 resolution (564ppi)
• Resolution:
  • Video: dual cam (2840×1920), single cam (2560×1440)
  • Still: dual cam (7776×3888), single cam (3072×1728)
• Battery:
  • 1350 mAh capacity (removable)
  • Charges via microUSB
• Processor/Memory:
  • DRIMe5s image processor
  • microSD card storage up to 200GB
  • 1GB RAM
• Other:
  • Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4/5 GHz)
  • Bluetooth 4.1
  • USB 2.0
  • 32-64GB internal storage
  • microSD slot with adoptable storage

Take me to your leader

Samsung Gear 360 Hardware

Does it matter how well-built this camera is if it’s a pain to carry around?

At any given moment it’s entirely likely that the Gear 360 will spring to life, start crawling around my desk — and finally kill me in my sleep. There absolutely is something very alien about the way this thing looks. There’s no way that’s not intentional, of course. (Nor is it bad. It’s just … different.) Some of that is the three plastic legs when they’re unfolded. And it’s very much because the spherical body of the Gear 360 looks like something straight out of Portal.

You’ve got a bulbous fisheye lens sticking out either side, each picking up 180 degrees of what’s going on. You’ve got a mohawk in the center that houses a tiny half-inch display and record button. On one side you’ll find buttons for operating the Gear 360, and on the other is a sealed hatch (futuristic killer space creatures have hatches, not doors) behind which is the microUSB port for power, the microSD card for storage, and the removable battery.

There’s something decidedly Samsung about all this. It’s a camera, yeah. But it’s the damned coolest dual-lens camera you’ve seen. The telltale lights that let you know which lens you’re using (front, back or both) add a great bit of flare when you’re shooting, like something out of Tron. There’s a lot less gloss than you might be used to when it comes to a Samsung product, but it still has just enough shine to not look or feel cheap. In any event, fingerprints shouldn’t be too much of an issue. (Assuming I let my digits close enough for one of the Gear 360’s claws to come after me. OK, it doesn’t have claws. That I’ve seen. Yet.)

If you want to chop the Gear 360 off at the knees (and severely limit its ability to do damage to yourself or loved ones) you can unscrew the legs to reveal the standard quarter-inch tripod mount. (The legs, by the way, are where you can attach the included wrist strap, which also serves as a fine way to chain up the Gear 360 at night, so it can’t come at you during your slumber.) When folded closed there’s a sort of strange contrast between the stubby, carrot-like taper of the black legs against the racquetball-sized sphere that maybe makes it even more futuristic-looking. But it also means you’re sort-of holding a palm-sized plastic shank.

And that’s where we reach my biggest issue with the Gear 360. It’s ungainly. It comes with its own drawstring bag, which is great, though it doesn’t offer too much in the way of protection. And all of these cameras need some sort of protection for the large lenses. But it doesn’t easily fit into a pocket, let alone slip into one. Cargo pants, sure. But not really anything without that extra pocket. Certainly not skinny hipster jeans. If you’re going to lug this thing around in a purse or some other sort of bag, then fine. But this hasn’t been the sort of camera I take with me just because I can, and that’s severely limited its usefulness. And that’s a shame.

Under the hood (and under the hatch) the Gear 360 is using its own DRIMe5s chipset for image processing. It’s got 1GB of RAM, zero internal storage (you’ll need a microSD card for that) and the aforementioned 1350 mAh battery. So far as I can tell that’s all been fine and dandy. There’s no big display to push here, so the smaller battery has done just fine.

The tiny display we do have is a lot more functional than you might think. With it you’re able to get a quick look at which shooting mode you’re in, and how much storage is left. Or great for getting a quick look at the battery level, making it much easier to see if the camera needs a charge. And you can change modes with the buttons on the camera, using the display to confirm whether you’re shooting stills or video. Basically, you can shoot just about any way you want, straight from the camera, without having to fire up the phone. While that almost makes it tempting to say you could still pick up the Gear 360 even if you don’t use a Samsung phone, but I’m not sure I’d be willing to go quite that far just yet. The camera’s good, but I’m not sure if it’s that good to justify the hassle of manually processing 360-degree photos and video just yet.

Back to that display real quick. I cracked mine. I accidentally dropped my Gear 360 — in its protective bag — from my hand about 2 feet onto my garage floor as I was getting into the car. (Now had the camera been able to fit into my pocket…) The camera still works just fine. The display works, too. But the glass or plastic or whatever it is covering things there has cracked.

Be careful with this camera.

Best in class

Samsung Gear 360 Software

I’ve reviewed three 360-degree cameras now. I can say without any hint of reservation that Samsung’s software experience is the best I’ve seen. From the time you download the Gear 360 Manager app (mine’s initially loaded from Samsung’s app store, but the binary also is in Google Play) to connecting the camera itself, to shooting and sharing photos, Samsung does it the best. Period. Full stop.

The only hiccup I’ve seen is if the camera disconnects from the phone before it’s expecting it to, and the app locks up. Closing it out from the recent apps view seems to fix things. But it’s happened enough times that it’s worth noting here.

Shooting with the Gear 360

If you’ve ever used Samsung’s camera app — and if you’re buying a Gear 360 it only makes sense that you have — then you pretty much know what you’re in for in terms of user interface. Same shutter button, modes selector and settings.

Now that Facebook handles 360 video and pictures, most folks’ needs should be met.

You’ll have a couple new buttons for selecting which Gear 360 lens you want to use (again, front, back, or both), and another for the live view — either 360 degrees, dual view (with each lens side by side) or a panoramic preview. I generally don’t mess with this too much. When you’re shooting in 360 degrees, the camera sees what it sees. But if you’re only using one lens, it can help. (By that token, too, I’ve normally been keeping the phone vertical, since the Gear 360 doesn’t care which way I hold it, and the preview isn’t all that critical for me.)

The Mode section is more important. This is where you’ll switch from still pictures to video, or to time lapse. Standard stuff. But there’s also a “Video Looping” mode that will record for a predetermined time — either 5, 30, 60 minutes, or “Max.” When that time’s up, it’ll erase the previous file and start recording again. When you know you have what you want, you just stop recording. That’ll save storage space, and should make any editing a little easier.

Like other 360-camera apps, Samsung has comprehensive manual controls as well. Some are on the top level, others are buried a little further in the settings menu. You can control the max ISO, turn on some extra sharpening, set exposure and white balance and HDR. And what probably is my favorite feature — set a timer (2 seconds, 5 seconds, or 10 seconds) so that you can set the camera down and get your fat fingers out of the way, or prep the shot then not be staring into a phone for the duration. That’s something I’d like to see on every 360-degree camera app.

I haven’t always used the app, though. That’s a testament to how well Samsung thought out the Gear VR as a total product. With just a few presses of the buttons you can switch modes and save yourself a little time once you’re actually shooting. For quick hits, where I didn’t want to be any more conspicuous than I had to be — though it’s kind of hard to not stand out when you’re holding a little alien camera thing — this worked great.

You’ve got got some options for the max resolution of the finished product. Video ranges from 1920×96 to 3840×1920. For 360-degree pictures and especially video, you always want as much resolution as possible, though that does eat into the storage. Single-lens video maxes out at 2560×1440. There’s also an option to shoot 360-degree video at 60 frames per second, though the resolution drops to 2560×1280.

Battery life has been OK. It’s not a huge cell or anything, so you’re going to have to keep it charged up. But it little display makes it so easy to see whether the camera’s charged — and that’s been a much nicer feature than we expected.

Sharing with the Gear 360

The other side of the metaphorical (and, I guess, spherical) coin is sharing pictures. Samsung’s also using a modified version of its own gallery app in that sense. That is, you’ve got basically the same user interface to deal with, and that means it’s very intuitive. There are two sections — Mobile Device, and Gear 360. With one tap you’re able to see what’s been synced to your phone, and what only lives on the Gear 360.

You’ll tap a picture to view it. At this point any 360-degree shots will be stitched together — it takes just a couple seconds and then they’re reading for viewing on the phone, or if you plug into a Gear VR headset.

Sharing pictures isn’t any more difficult. You hit the share button and chose where you want to send things — and that’s it. Samsung worries about disconnecting from the Gear 360 just long enough to establish a proper internet connection. That is, I assume it disconnects from the Gear 360. The fact is that it works exactly as you’d expect it to from an end-user’s standpoint. You don’t have to think about it at all.

Well, the only thing you’ll have to think about is where to share your 360-degree photos and video. The good news is that Facebook now handles both with ease. And there’s still Flickr and Google+ and Google Maps, of course. Samsung is opening up its “Samsung VR” platform (previously “Milk VR”) to users to upload, but Facebook absolutely is the big one at this point.

Updating the Gear 360

If it seems like we’re gushing over the Gear 360 software experience more than a little, it’s because we are. Until this camera that’s been the Achilles’ Heel of every other 360 device we’ve used. Nothing comes close.

And that extends to the point of updating the firmware on the camera as well. You’ll do that through the Gear 360 Manager app. You don’t have to download a separate program to a computer. You don’t have to worry about plugging in. You will want Wifi — the one firmware update we’ve had so far weighed in at 320 megabytes — but that’s it. After downloading the update your phone will push over the file, the Gear 360 will update itself, and you can go right back to shooting.

It couldn’t be easier.

The bottom line

Should you buy the Gear 360? It depends

On paper, the Samsung Gear 360 is the best of the sub-$500 360-degree cameras we’ve used. It’s got a higher resolution for photos and video — and that’s especially important with the latter.

The Gear 360 is a great buy if you want an easy software experience but don’t mind a more awkward carry.

The end result (which you can see smattered throughout this review) is pretty good. Really good, mostly. The Gear 360 has issues with stitching — that’s the line where one camera’s image blends into the next — which can be pretty pronounced at times. The two lenses are farther away from each other than on other cameras we’ve used. If you’re holding the Gear 360 in your hand, your hand will absolutely get chopped off in pictures and video. And occasionally we’ve seen pronounced stitching lines in the background of shots. But we’ve also found that the stitch lines sometimes disappear when the pictures or video are shared, thanks to compression running on the various social networking services. It’s more apparent closer to the camera — especially when you have a tripod that sticks out farther than the include one. In this area, the Gear 360 absolutely lags behind the likes of the LG CAM 360 and the Ricoh Theta S.

For me the bigger issue is one of portability. Not that the Gear 360 is big — it’s not. It’s just that this ball-shaped camera with the blunt spike sticking out the end doesn’t easily fit into a pocket. Cargo pants? Yes. Anything else? Nope. At least not without getting some really weird looks. And the included bag really just makes it that much more unwieldy. If you’re going to carry it around in a messenger bag or a purse or something? Have at it. But me? I like pocketability. I like being able to pick it up on my way out and maybe take some pics while I’m going about my day, or maybe not.

The other is that if you don’t have one of the five devices we listed at the top of this review, it’s all moot anyway. And that’s a shame (and we’ve said this so many times about Samsung products before) because the Gear 360 is a lot of fun to use. It’s the best overall 360 camera experience thus far. Great pictures and video. Tremendous software experience. And just a couple big criticisms.

The retail price $349 — puts the Gear 360 squarely in the same arena as the Ricoh Theta S, which remains atop our list of the best 360-degree cameras in this price range. It has better stitching and works with more phones, and is less of a pain to carry around. (And Ricoh has its own sharing ecosystem, too.) But so long as you can put up with the more awkward form factor and stitching glitches, the Samsung Gear 360 isn’t a bad purchase at all.

Best UK roaming data plans for the United States

You don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to use your phone in America.

A trip from Britain to the United States is a relatively long haul — between eight and eleven hours to jet off to the land of the free. And with such a lengthy journey, you might think that roaming in the US would be prohibitively expensive — but you’d be wrong. In fact, some of the major UK networks now offer US roaming plans that won’t break the bank — in some cases with 4G roaming thrown in for good measure.

Let’s take a look at the best UK roaming plans for the United States.

The best roaming plans for the USA: Three + Vodafone

We’re going with a joint winner here, because the provider that’s best for you will likely depend on how you plan on using your phone in America.

Three

The US is part of Three’s “Feel at Home” roaming area, meaning you can use your phone — including data — at no extra cost when you travel there. Just enable data roaming when you land and you’re good to go — with a few caveats:

• You’ll be limited to HSPA+ data speeds when abroad, and there’ve been reports of significant data speed throttling from some customers.
• If you’re on All You Can Eat (unlimited) customer, you’ll be capped at 12GB (and 5,000 texts) while abroad.
• Tethering isn’t included.
• Inclusive minutes can’t be used for calls to other international (non-UK) numbers.
• Calls to UK numbers starting 070, 084, 087, 09 and 118 aren’t included.

Vodafone

Vodafone includes the US in its WorldTraveller zone, meaning you can use your UK allowances for calls, texts and data there for £5 per day — including 4G LTE data where it’s available on the roaming network. (Note that this applies to Vodafone contract plans, not Pay As You Go.)

Depending on when you took out your contract, WorldTraveller may or may not be automatically enabled, as the carrier explains:

All Red and Red Value Bundles bought from 5 May 2016 are automatically opted-in to WorldTraveller. For all other bundles, text ADD to 40508 or call 5555 free from your Vodafone mobile to opt in.

It’s worth remembering that the £5 per day charge is measured from midnight to midnight UK time, so you may incur more (or fewer) days worth of charges depending on when you enable roaming.

Runner-up: EE

EE also scores points for having 4G LTE roaming coverage in the US, but its data rates aren’t as attractive as Vodafone’s for heavy users. In short, you’re back to paying for data bundles, per megabyte, in advance. Here are EE’s US roaming bundles at the time of writing, which you’ll be able to buy once you arrive in the US:

• 40MB for £4 for 24 hours
• 100MB for £7 for 24 hours
• 250MB for £20 for 7 days
• 750MB for £40 for 7 days

You can see how much roaming data you have left when abroad by going to http://add-on.ee.co.uk/status.

Also note that if you’re grandfathered into EE’s old roaming rates you may get slightly better prices here, with 1GB for £25 being the top bundle. (If your plan includes this, you’ll see “Special Rate” next to each roaming bundle when you land.)

The rest

• O2 offers roaming data in the United States at its standard rate of £40 per month for 50MB. This can be increased on request to £120 for 200MB. Neither is great value.

• BT Mobile offers roaming data add-ons for the US priced at £3 for 20MB or £15 for 100MB.

Latest Android N build breaks Google Maps on Android Auto [Update: Fixed]

Update June 22: As promised, Google Maps has updated and once again works in Android Auto. All is now right with the world.

Put this one squarely in the “that’s niche” category, but it’s still a thing. Android N Developer Preview 4 keeps Google Maps from working properly in Android Auto.

Some in our forums note that it’s only navigation that’s not working. Others of us can’t get it to properly launch at all on the head unit.

And it turns out this is a known thing. From the support and release notes:

The version of Google Maps included in Developer Preview 4 (9.30) crashes when used with Android Auto. This issue will be fixed in the next update to Google Maps (9.31), expected in the coming weeks.

So there’s that. If you absolutely depend on Google Maps and Android Auto to go about your day — and you’re running the Android N DP4 — it might be time to roll back. And remember that it’s a developer preview.

All About Android Auto

• Getting started with Android Auto
• List of compatible phones and cars
• Android Auto news
• Apps that work with Android Auto
• Join the Android Auto discussion!

Best Chrome extensions for productivity

The internet is simultaneously the best and worst tool for staying productive.

Whether you’re a notorious procrastinator or just looking to block out some unwanted distractions when you need to buckle down and focus, here are the best Chrome extensions for staying productive.

• Todoist
• Block Site
• StayFocusd
• OneTab
• Be Limitless

Todoist

Whether you’re already using Todoist across all your devices or are looking for a tool to keep track of ongoing tasks you have each day, the Todoist Chrome extension is a quick and easy way to stay organized and flag interesting or important websites that you want to reference or read later.

With the Chrome extension installed, you simply click the Todoist icon in the toolbar, which pops up the Todoist menu. From there, you’re able to add and review tasks for yourself or quickly add an interesting website to your list so you can come back to it later.

If you try out the extension and really enjoy the way it works in Chrome, you’ll be happy to know that Todoist features cross-platform compatibility with Android, iOS, OSX, Windows — pretty much everything under the sun — so your tasks and saved websites will be with you always.

See at Todoist

Block Site

If you find you’re unable to keep yourself from time-wasting websites like Facebook or YouTube, the Block Site extension allows you to do just that.

You can set it to block specific sites for the entirety of your work day and make it so that any attempt to access said blocked sites redirect you to another site of your choosing. You’re also able to block sites based on blocked words or adult content, which makes this extension a great option for parents concerned about what their kids might stumble across — or actively search for — when online.

Block Site includes other features, such as quick access to a context menu for adding sites to your blocked list, the ability to make the extension virtually impossible to uninstall (because kids are crafty and tech-savvy) and can block sites, even when browsing in Incognito Mode.

See at Chome Web Store

StayFocusd

StayFocusd is the perfect Chrome extension for anyone who struggles with procrastinating by wandering over to notorious time-waster sites such as Facebook, YouTube, reddit — whatever your procrastination poison happens to be.

It works in a number of ways. If you have a bad habit of sinking hours of valuable study or work time into a website, you can allot yourself a set amount of time for the day for the site. It defaults to 10 minutes, and once you’ve reached your maximum allotted time for the sites you’ve added to your restricted list, you are automatically blocked from the site the next time you try to go there.

It’s totally customizable, so you can have a list of worst offenders on your block list and turn it on to keep your procrastination in check. Then there’s the “Nuclear Option,” which allows you to permanently block yourself from a website for a set number of hours. Be forewarned: Once the Nuclear Option is put into motion, it is irreversible.

If you’re reading this and thinking “Sure, that might work for a while, but I know me and I’ll definitely just change the settings whenever I want,” StayFocusd has a feature that requires you to complete a difficult challenge before you’re allowed to change the settings. It’s seriously tough and requires so much focus that you’ll soon realize you’re just wasting time in your attempt to waste time. Stop that.

See at Chrome Web Store

OneTab

If you ever find yourself overwhelmed by having too many tabs open at once, OneTab is the Chrome extension you’ve been waiting for.

OneTab lets you condense a whole bunch of tabs all into (you guessed it) one tab. So let’s say you’re researching something and have a whole bunch of tabs open that you know you’ll need to reference. With OneTab enabled, all you have to do is click the OneTab icon and Chrome simultaneously closes all tabs and creates a tab that includes a link to all the tabs you had open. Simply click the link and the tabs reopen for you.

Done with the tab and want to add it back to the list? Just hit that OneTab icon again and all open tabs are thrown back into the OneTab tab and timestamped, so you can go back and find a tab you had open in the morning.

What’s more, by condensing so many tabs into just one, it will also boost the overall performance of Chrome by up to 95%, meaning you’ll still have access to all the tabs you need without slowing down the entire browser. Total win-win!

See at Chrome Web Store

Be Limitless

The Be Limitless extension transforms new Chrome tabs into dashboards that will help keep you organized and on task.

Be Limitless features a slew of features. You can edit and create site categories, determine what counts as productive uses of your time and what’s wasteful, and then track how long you spend on those sites each day. They also include a handy To-Do list in the top-right corner to help keep your days organized, and shortcuts in every new tab to frequently visited sites, compose an email, take down a quick note.

All this is packaged with a rotating collection of awe-inspiring photography and inspiring quotes with options to quickly share on social media. With Be Limitless, a new tab should enhance your productivity and open you up to more opportunities to get stuff done.

See at Chrome Web Store

What’s your favorite extensions for staying on task?

Have any thoughts on the extensions we’ve listed here, or did we miss one? Let us know in the comments below!

AT&T Galaxy S6 edge+, Note 5 now receiving Marshmallow update

AT&T has finally begun pushing the Marshmallow update out for the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5. The update brings Doze, enhanced permission controls, a slightly revamped user interface and more to both handsets. AT&T is the last major carrier in the U.S. to push out the update for these phones. The updates weigh in at around 1.4GB, so you will want to make sure that your phone is charged and you are on a strong Wi-Fi network.

If you have yet to receive the update, you can check manually for it by heading into the Settings, About Phone and finally Check for updates. Once you get it downloaded and installed, be sure to hop in the forums and let us know what you think of it and how it is working for you.

Discuss the update in the forums

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

• Read our full review
• Get the latest news
• Note 5 vs. Note 4: What’s the difference?
• Galaxy Note 5 specs
• Join the discussion
• Check out Note 5 cases

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Motorola will give you a free smartwatch when you purchase the Moto X Pure Edition

Motorola is offering up a pretty sweet promotion which scores you a free Moto 360 Sport when you purchase the 64GB Moto X Pure Edition. That’s right, if you buy a 64GB Moto X Pure Edition, which costs $399, the company will give you a free Moto 360 Sport, its fitness-focused Android Wear watch.

The deal runs through June 28 so you have a few more days to figure out your customizations and place your order. To get the deal all you need to do is add both items to your cart and the watch will show as free, and Motorola is offering free shipping with the purchase.

See at Motorola

Moto X Style (Pure Edition)

• Our comprehensive review
• Moto X Pure Edition specs
• Moto X Pure Edition custom backs: silicone, wood, and leather
• Versus: Galaxy S6 | iPhone 6
• The latest Moto X Style news
• Discuss in our Moto X Style forums

Motorola
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