New Darling smartphone can shoot 720-degree VR photos, videos

A man takes photos of Protruly's virtual reality-enabled smartphone. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Shenzhen-based technology company Protruly has upgraded its virtual reality-enabled smartphones with a bunch of new features, in the hope of better luring consumers who love to shoot panorama videos and photos.

The company, which excels in image processing and computer vision technology, said the new phone, dubbed "Darling", can deliver immersive entertainment experience as consumers can use it to capture 720-degree VR photos and videos by just touching a virtual button. The model Protruly unveiled last year can only support 360-degree photos.

The phone is equipped with four cameras, yet slimmer than its predecessor. It is also energy- efficient, consuming 25 percent less power than last year's model.

According to the company, to target different segments that want such features, the device has two versions, priced at 9,999 yuan ($1,513) and 4,999 yuan, respectively. The deluxe version will be even shipped with gold and diamond decorations on its shell.

The Bejing-based consulting firm iResearch forecast about 8.2 million units VR-enabled devices will be shipped to China in 2020, with about 25 million users by then.

Protruly Darling VR Smartphone is also able to remotely detect the human body temperature without touching, and provide a cloud platform to store the settings data locally and remotely.