This year Nokia has shown to the world that they are still committed to consumer hardware with the release of the Nokia N1 tablet. Since Microsoft bought Nokia's mobile division, there has been reports flying around that Nokia plans to make a comeback to the mobile space and earlier this month, a Nokia representative confirmed those speculations. But now it looks like Nokia is not only interested in making smartphones, they are also interested in Virtual Reality.

See you soon. ::::) pic.twitter.com/9Sj8pwVy0Q

— Nokia (@nokia) July 29, 2015

Cue the intro music. Nokia's new product is called the Ozo and the device looks as mysterious as it's name. Basically, the Ozo is a camera that shoot in full 360 degree. And you know what 360 video means, yes that means Virtual Reality. But Nokia's crazy camera setup here is not your average consumer level device, they are targeting it towards the entertainment industry and the camera will sell for about $50,000.

But unlike custom camera rigs like Google's JUMP platform which also takes 360 video, Nokia's Ozo platform is unique because the camera is able to stitch the 360 video in real time creating a live Virtual Reality experience.



Of course, the real magic with the Ozo is that the camera is built to take 360 video and it's spherical shape says it all. The Ozo features 8 optically stabilized sensors and comes with 8 microphones to help filmakers create a realistic VR experience with the sound and images syncing up perfectly. All of this weighs about 6 pounds (about 3kg) and will fit nicely in a normal tripod.

As for the actual videos taken by the Ozo, users will be able to playback video through popular VR headsets like the Oculus Rift or through YouTube as a 360 degree video. While all of this is sounds a little crazy, Nokia has already secure their first customer for the Ozo which is a leading VR studio called Jaunt VR.

Overall, it looks like Nokia is confident that the Ozo will be a hit in the entertainment industry. The product itself is currently in it's final stages of development and this might be the start of a new story for Nokia. The Ozo is the first step towards Nokia's reform and we won't be surprised to see Nokia make a virtual reality headset in the future.


ORIGINAL SOUCE: THE VERGE