Plug this dongle into your Android phone and it records 3D video
3D selfies are now a thing.
The latest Android phones continue to cram more camera tricks up their unibody sleeves, but what about your current smartphone that's barely a year old? That might be where the Eye-Plug comes in. Hidden inside a humble stand deep within Computex here in Taipei, the USB-C accessory plugs into your (currently Android-only) smartphone, adding another camera sensor to your phone for front- and rear-facing dual camera frivolity. (That's where you need that handy reversible connection.) I tested out a prototype, with full production set to begin later this year. 3D selfie videos could be a horrifying reality.
A company spokesperson told me it would be priced at around $35, which sounds insanely cheap -- I'll be double checking that. The company also wasn't specifying the resolution of the camera, but the live preview footage we recorded and tested was a perfectly acceptable resolution for Google Cardboard 3D viewing. Alongside shooting your own 3D video, you can also do some post-processing focus and blurring, with the second camera helping to define depth.
As you might expect, there are some caveats. There's no iPhone version yet (it's in the works), your Android phone needs a USB-C port, and the camera quality may not perfectly match your smartphone's own shooter. Not all sensors are made equal, after all, so color accuracy could be wobbly. The accessory pairs with custom-made camera and 3D viewing apps, and don't worry if your smartphone's camera isn't center-aligned: The software compensates and calibrates when you use the Eye-Plug, to keep things as 3D-ish as possible.
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