Nokia Launches Its First Virtual Reality Device

Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies, said:”We’re thrilled to introduce OZO to the content creation world, and to define a completely new category of virtual reality capture and playback solutions”. It is believed to become the first VR camera available commercially for content creators, said the company. Ozo is meant to advance the future wave of innovation in virtual reality by making very powerful tools available to all professionals who are able to create great experiences for people across the world.

Nokia has developed a camera that can help turn everyday surroundings into virtual reality (VR) imagery for games and other applications.

Nokia also announced a commitment to support OZO by California-based VR production company Jaunt, as well as a contest for proposals for immersive VR short films. The company unveiled OZO, a ball containing eight cameras and microphones from which a handle protrudes, at an event for the entertainment industry in Los Angeles on Tuesday. OZO will be manufactured in Finland.

Conceived and designed by the part of Nokia that Microsoft didn’t buy in 2013, the device, which can be mounted on a regular tripod, captures high-quality video and audio through eight cameras and mics spread evenly around the ball-shaped device.

Nokia hasn’t yet add refinements or conducted final testing on the virtual reality camera so the full technical specifications and final pricing of the device will be announced when the camera will begin to ship out in the fourth quarter of 2015. Jaunt is the leading developer of the hardware, software, tools, and applications to enable the creation of cinematic VR. After a lot of changes, the company is now consisted out of three business units (Nokia Networks, Nokia Here and Nokia Technologies), one of which is currently in the process of sale, probably to a joint German automotive maker effort (VAG AG represented by Audi, Daimler AG represented by Mercedes-Benz and BMW). “Our partnership with Nokia is another big step for us to continue to provide our partners with the most cutting-edge technology to further cater to their creative needs”.

As an end-to-end solution, OZO aims to set a new standard as the preferred method for professional capture, editing and playback of cinematic VR content.