Acer Holo 360 is an Android camera... but also a phone

The Acer Holo 360 camera was unveiled today at a special event held by Acer and broadcast around the world. This device works with Wi-Fi connectivity and can also connect to mobile data (LTE speed) with a SIM card. The device itself is not a phone, necessarily, but it does run Android and is able to make calls without being connected to a separate device – without being connected to a proper smartphone, that is to say.

According to Acer, the Holo 360 is a "Connected 360-degree Camera" – which makes it a rather unique device. It has its own touchscreen display and has to massive cameras on it – one on the front and another around the back. It's able to capture spherical video as well as spherical photos with built-in stitching software.

This device is able to run apps aplenty – onstage, Acer indicted that Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest would work, at least. Instead of saying that this device runs Android directly, Acer said that it has an Android OS Solution. We'll see what it actually runs soon.

On the outside, this device has at least one microphone (probably more), and physical buttons for volume, power (and lockscreen), and camera shutter. On its back it's a plain metallic gray, its edges are a darker gray metallic color, and each button is chrome and shiny. While Acer calls this a camera, the only thing it doesn't have that a normal smartphone does is cellular service.

Does a smartphone really need cellular service here in the year 2017? That's a good question for the Millennial masses – and everyone else. How often do you use your smartphone's Phone app?

At this time we do not know when the Acer Holo 360 will be released, but we can safely assume it'll be within the next few months, if not weeks. This is part of Acer's #nextatacer event and will be part of the company's 360-degree, spherical, virtual reality, augmented reality push in hardware this upcoming season. Have a peek at our Acer tag portal for more information as this event continues and the products come running!