There was a time when Nokia was known for dominating mobile phones market. However, that time has long gone and last year Nokia Technologies called it quits. Nevertheless, the end of the something old is usually the beginning of something new. In the spirit of this saying, Nokia decided to enter new and booming industry of virtual reality. However, as opposed to the majority of companies, entering VR competition, Nokia decided to bank on creators of virtual reality content and not on the end users. The groundbreaking next-gen OZO 360-degree camera for virtual reality was unveiled last year in Los Angeles.

OZO Overview and Price Tag

Given that Nokia created this device for professional VR content makers and VR is already a $7 billion industry, exponentially growing with lightning speed, it was hardly surprising that the price tag was as hefty as $60,000. It is a professional camera for the companies that are focused on creation of immersive 3D virtual environments, which implies long hours of editing, when regular cameras are used. As opposed to this tedious process, Nokia offers fully synced footage that can be easily achieved using OZO. As Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies, stated, "With OZO, we plan to be at the heart of this new world." Their hopes are quite justified, considering the enormous advantage in creation of VR content that OZO can easily provide.

OZO Specs

OZO is capable of capturing 360° spherical video with surround sound thanks to the eight 2K x 2K camera sensors that record video to 500GB SSD. You will be able to capture 45 minutes long video in one session. It’s obvious how VR professionals will use it, but it doesn’t mean that loaded general users cannot enjoy it – OZO is available for pre-order with $5,000 down payment. It also offers a wide row of wonderful accessories, such as docking station, cartridge bundle or media module. Naturally, all accessories are not included in the standard pack and can be purchased separately.

OZO features:

All-in-one
One of the main advantages of OZO lies in its ability to capture and store video and audio information in one file, which can then be uploaded to you device via one output cable from a single memory cartridge.  


Real-Time Monitoring
Real-time monitoring is another advantage of OZO technology as it provides full control of all cameras. Thus, the scene and image is shot from every possible angle and viewpoint. Moreover, camera lenses adjust to the hanging conditions in order to deliver outstanding results.

Integrated Memory
OZO comes with digital cartridges. Each of them has a capacity to store 45 minutes of footage. This is especially convenient because it eliminates the need to store the data piece by piece on multiple external hard drives or multitude of other storage devices.  

Bottom line:

There is no doubt that due to the price tag, OZ will not appear in the homes of general public, however companies that are focused on VR content will see an outstanding profit from using OZO. Nevertheless, there is no need to be disappointed just yet: if the device flies off the shelves and proves to be as useful and irreplaceable as it seems to be, its more affordable siblings are bound to appear. Granted, they will not be for all of us, but for a few of us, who are relatively well off – they will be within reach.