Although smartphones are equipped with all the hardware for first-person perspective filming, a few companies have been working to perfect a wearable camera that blends effortlessly into the wearer's life. Snapchat has Spectacles, and now Ubiquiti Labs has the FrontRow. With two cameras and the ability to livestream through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, it's designed to make chronicling the events of your day easier than ever.
Measuring 59.8 mm (2.4 in) tall and 70.3 mm (2.8 in) wide, the FrontRow comes in a pendant form factor that is a bit bigger than the average necklace or charm. It's also a bit chunkier, weighing in at 55 g (1.94 oz) and 12.1 mm (0.48 in) thick. The front of the unit is home to an 8-MP camera, and the rear has its own 5-MP camera sitting above the 1.96-inch display.
The unit has a battery good for 50 hours of standby, around two hours of recording, or between 1 hr 45 mins and 1 hr 55 mins of live streaming. It charges through the USB-C port that also allows you to download data from the 32 GB internal storage. It can also transfer data over a Bluetooth 4.1 connection, and there's built-in Wi-Fi connectivity.
It shoots video at 1080p, and the in-house Android interface allows the wearer to scroll through a number of different modes. When connected to a smartphone or Wi-Fi, it can be used to stream footage directly to Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, while offline users are able to record to the internal memory.
Users start and stop recording with the touchscreen, or using a small button on the edge of the unit, and there's a small LED indicator for an at-a-glance indication of whether you're recording or not. The hardware all looks nicely made, although there's no word on whether it's water- or shockproof – both of which would be good things to have if people are expected wear their FrontRow around all day.
All this compact live streaming goodness doesn't come cheap. You'll pay US$399 for the FrontRow, which is available in gloss black or pink and white.
Source: Ubiquiti Labs
