During HTC’s ‘Double Exposure’ event in New York on October 8th, the company not only unveiled the Desire Eye with its powerful front-facing 13MP camera, it also introduced a new standalone camera that aims to be both rugged and intuitive to use.
Called the HTC Re camera, it is a camera like no other, with the minimalistic cylindrical design that looks like a submarine periscope, or dare I say, an asthma inhaler. It was design as such, so that it can be easily held in the hands or tucked in an open pocket while shooting.
The Re camera is so simple, it doesn’t even have a viewfinder, nor a power button. When you pick it up, the built-in grip sensor will immediately wake the camera up. There is one huge and tactile shutter release button that lets you take a photo with a single tap, or a video and with a longer press.
HTC Re has a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor that does 1080p video recording from its 146-degree wide-angle lens. The key phrase here is the ‘wide-angle lens’ that frees up the need for a viewfinder. It could capture a wide image in front of it, for you to crop and edit later.
Besides 1080p video capturing, Re also does slow-motion and time-lapse video recording. Being a durable device, it is also IPX7 certified, able to take water ingression of up to 1 meter for no longer than 30 minutes. There is also a waterproof cap that enhances it up to IPX8.
Here are some of the specifications of the Re:
- Size: 96.7 x 26.5 mm
- Weight: 65.5 grams
- Camera: 16MP, 1/2.3” CMOS sensor, 146-degree lens, f/2.8 aperture, 1080p at 30fps, 720p at 4x slow motion (120fps), time-lapse video recording
- Audio: HD microphone, speaker
- Durability: IP57 waterproof
- Memory: 8GB microSD included; expansion slot supports microSD up to 128GB
- Sensors: Grip sensor and G-sensor
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0 LE, WiFi 802.11n, WiFi Direct, micro-USB, 1/4″ tripod connection
- Battery: 820mAh battery (1,200 16MP photos; 1 hour 40 minutes of 1080p videos)
- Compatibility: Compatible with Android 4.3 and above (BLE equipped); and iOS 7 or later
Without a viewfinder, naturally you’d want to pair it with the smartphone. For that, HTC is supplying the RE app that syncs the photos, videos, and time-lapse clips to the phone over WiFi Direct. The app is available on Android and iOS. There is also an option to backup these images to the cloud, and to work together with the separate Zoe app, for sharing your masterpieces. Of course, when paired, the phone also works as a remote viewfinder and a shutter release trigger.
HTC will soon release the Re camera accessories including mounts for your bag strap, bike handlebars, et cetera. Frankly, the camera’s form factor makes more sense than the blocky GoPro that doesn’t really function well on its own and relies on a lot of cases and accessories. Finally, company also announced Re’s open API/SDK that gives developers to the ability incorporate the camera features into their own apps. Think off real-time video streaming to YouTube, for example.
HTC Re will be launching in Malaysia on December 3rd. The pricing and availability is not yet known, but we will report it as soon as we get any new information. More on the Re camera here: http://www.recamera.com/sea/.
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