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Company Ubiquiti has announced the launch of FrontRow: a pendant-shaped life-logging camera designed to record your life experiences automatically. As with other life-logging cameras, FrontRow doesn’t require user interaction; instead, it faces outward from your necklace and records everything that takes place in front of you automatically. The content is then assembled with a mobile app and can be shared with the world at will.
Life-logging cameras are not new, and they are arguably not very popular either, leaving Ubiquiti with an uphill battle if it hopes to see any substantial success with FrontRow.
Unlike past life-logging cameras, FrontRow is designed to dangle from a lanyard rather than clip onto a shirt or backpack strap—a design that is ostensibly more convenient when you’re talking about something that is supposed to be worn all day or for many hours at a time.
FrontRow features an 8MP F2.2 main camera with a 148-degree FOV, as well as a 5MP F2.0 reverse camera. Unlike some other life-logging cameras, FrontRow also boasts a round touchscreen display not unlike what you’d find on a smartwatch. The display has a 640 x 572 resolution with full color and multi-touch support.
Other features include USB-C, a stereo microphone, 1W integrated speaker, Bluetooth 4.1, WiFi, a quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
This camera is compatible with both Android and iOS, and supports both live streaming video and creating time-lapses as part of its ‘Story Mode’—supported platforms include YouTube Live, Twitter Live, and Facebook Live. FrontRow is currently listed as ‘coming soon’ on its product website, where both Black and Rose color options are presented with a $ 400 USD price tag.
Whether consumers will be willing to pay such a high price for what is essentially a novelty camera is yet to be seen. Previous life-logging cameras from other manufacturers have largely struggled to survive in a market dominated by smartphones, and they have been the subject of fierce criticism over their perceived threat to the privacy of both users and anyone who comes into contact with them.
Press Release
Introducing FrontRow: The Camera Re-Invented
NEW YORK—Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT) today announced FrontRow, a new camera technology enabling the effortless capture and sharing of life’s experiences.
Truly Wearable
FrontRow’s sleek, 55-gram (less than the weight of a typical smart-watch) form-factor was specifically designed to wear conveniently. Unlike traditional cameras and smartphones requiring manual operation, FrontRow can operate fully autonomously — allowing one to capture life’s experiences while completely staying in the moment.
The Design
A subtle interlocking connector provides the flexibility to wear FrontRow using the included stylish lanyard or multi-purpose magnetic clip, or third party chains. Upcoming accessories include a car window mount and flexible coil mount. FrontRow features cameras on both sides of the device. The primary camera features a 140 degree wide-view lens (roughly double that of a typical smartphone) that, combined with FrontRow’s microphone array, allows for more complete capturing of experiences. The device features a speaker for local playback and an easy-access clickable media button that can be used to quickly start and stop many of FrontRow’s capture functions. FrontRow has a standby time of up to 48 hours and is capable of capturing in Story Mode (time-lapse capture of experiences) for up to 16 hours and in Live-Streaming Mode for up to 2 hours. With its USB Type-C connector, the device can be charged on the go using other Type-C smartphones and has a quick-charge time of around 20 minutes.
The User-Experience
FrontRow’s user experience is unlike any camera brought to market. Built around a custom 2-inch circular hi-resolution touch screen, FrontRow’s user interface allows instant live streaming on social networks including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as integration with a variety of popular applications like Dropbox, Spotify, and more. Fast Bluetooth allows effortless connectivity to smartphones running the FrontRow App (iOS and Android compatible) and provides seamless captured media transfer along with powerful remote control capabilities. The device can also be accessed (even remotely) through the Internet using the web UI controller at frontrow.com.
Not Just a Device, A New Platform
Although FrontRow’s user experience and graphical user interface are unique, its underlying operating system was designed to be Android-compatible in an effort to open up 3rd party application development. Users and developers are welcome to openly discuss new applications and shape the future of the platform — directly with the FrontRow’s engineering team on community.frontrow.com.
FrontRow is available now on FrontRow.com and Amazon.com. A full press kit is available for download here. Follow FrontRow on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
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