This necklace camera livestreams your life so you're not wasting it looking through your phone
As easy as it is to livestream with your smartphone, it also takes us out of the moment. Instead of seeing and experiencing events, we now watch them through a glass screen.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Ubiquiti's FrontRow is a new kind of livestreaming camera that's disguised inside of a round necklace so that you're still showing everybody how lit your life is without worrying about being the cameraman.
FrontRow's about the size of a round smartwatch, connects with iOS and Android devices via an app, and comes with a main 8-megapixel camera with 140-degree wide-angle lens which gives you a view similar to that of a GoPro. There's also another secondary 5-megapixel camera with a narrower 85-degree field of view.
According to the product's website, the main camera records up to 2.7K resolution, but the default is 1080p, and the secondary "reverse camera" records at up to 2K resolution with the default also 1080p. The main camera has optical image stabilization, which means it footage should be smooth.
The custom round touchscreen measures 2 inches (diameter) and includes 32GB of internal storage for saving videos.
Ubiquiti claims up to 2 hours of continuous livestreaming, up to 16 hours when capturing time-lapses, and up to 48 hours of standby time. And if the battery ever runs low or dies, you can quick charge it via its USB-C port.
It's an impressive battery that's long enough to livestream most sports events and definitely should be enough for that next EDM show you're attending.
As crucial as long battery life is to livestreaming, more important are the services the FrontRow broadcasts to. Ubiquiti says the camera supports video streaming to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Additionally, it integrates with Dropbox, Spotify, and other services, presumably for saving your files and streaming music.
The FrontRow camera exists to solve a problem that we all know too well, but will it be the revolutionary device we all need? We can't answer that question yet since there's still so much we don't know about it.
We've still yet to see the camera in person. What's the build quality? How well does the software work? Is there any lag when livestreaming? Lots of questions to be answered.
FrontRow's not the first wearable camera to try to bring us back to reality. Remember the Narrative Clip "lifelogging camera"? No? Well, we don't blame you because it was crap.
We're cautiously optimistic for the FrontRow because we're pretty sick and tired of thinking about how to capture a moment instead of appreciating it. But until we try one for ourselves, we're skeptical it has what it takes to make us put down our phones.
Topics Cameras
Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.
