Samsung unveils virtual reality camera at Mobile World Congress

Hoping to create more general interest in virtual reality, Samsung on Sunday unveiled a virtual reality camera designed for average consumers to record events like family parties and vacations.

The South Korean electronics giant said it plans to start selling the Gear 360 around March 11, along with its next-generation flagship phones, the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge, which were also introduced at the big Mobile World Congress telecommunications industry conference in Barcelona.

[...] Samsung is throwing its manufacturing and marketing muscle behind its entry, a device that is the size and shape of a racquetball and includes two cameras that each capture a 195-degree view.

[...] if there are more user-created virtual reality videos to watch on YouTube and Facebook, people might be less hesitant to spend $600 or more on virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift, which is going on sale this year.

A recent survey conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates showed that 56 percent of Americans are aware of virtual reality, with 24 percent saying they are “very interested” in an at-home virtual reality experience.

Samsung has already bet on the future of virtual reality with the Gear VR, a $100 headset that also requires a newer Galaxy mobile phone to view video.

The Gear 360 also includes an SD memory card and a USB connector, which can both be used to transfer the video to a PC for further editing with the stitching software.

The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will bring back expandable memory storage, a feature favored by owners of earlier Galaxy phones but missing in recent models.