Mobile phone users can now enjoy practically every function one can think of with their devices. The need for a PC was done away with when checking and responding to emails and browsing the internet became feasible with one’s fingertips. Then, even more so with the addition of cameras to smartphone devices.
Now, Facebook has brought in a 360 photo-clicking and sharing feature on its mobile platform. If you are a regular user of the Facebook mobile app, you can try this feature out starting immediately—since the facility is already activated, and depending on the kind of device you are using and your geographical location, it can be available on your smartphone as well.
A New Introduction
While the facility to capture and share images or videos in the 360 mode is already available on external devices, the latest introduction by Facebook is to help you capture an image or record a video within the Facebook app on your mobile phone, and then share it as such.
This makes your handheld device a standalone tool to execute the whole process, without having to resort to any external device. The facility is rolled out to smartphone users running on both the iOS and Android operating systems.
The Process Explained Step-by-Step
Facebook has explained to users how to go about using the 360 photo feature within the app. Once you are inside the Facebook application on your mobile phone, you can see the 360 photo option on top of the window. If you tap on it, you are ready to go.
The option is located on the News Feed icon. The customary blue button has to be pressed to start recording the image, and then you have to keep the rear camera on your mobile phone focused on the panorama around you to make a slow circular motion. You can then send the 360 photo you have taken from within the app to anyone you choose.
Make Minor Edits Before Forwarding
The 360 photo feature even allows you to do some minor editing of the panoramic view. You can, for example, fix the starting point from where the image will be viewed at the receiver’s end.
There are occasions when you might be overwhelmed by the view around you and you might want to take a nice look around as you then record the image within your Facebook app. When you view it back, you might find it looks just as beautiful as it was when you captured it. So, it’s only natural that you would want your friend or relative to get the same experience.
Make it your Cover Photo
In addition to recording the panoramic view of any setting, a natural surrounding or a lively party or any such 360 image, you can also mark it as your Cover Photo. Tagging the image with any of your Facebook contacts as you would normally do with any other image can be attempted with this 360 photo feature as well.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
Facebook has also used artificial intelligence in designing this 360 photo feature. That is the reason you won’t need a camera with the 360 lens to capture such views. The concept of machine learning is applied here, and the app begins to understand the user’s needs and makes the essential adjustments in focusing the lens and registering the image in the right mode.
Simultaneously, the app has to keep stitching the photos one over the other. When viewed subsequently, you get a seamless panorama, the same way you viewed the scene with your naked eyes.
This is the real essence of the new 360 photo technique and no doubt once it becomes popular, other popular social media programs will try and develop similar facilities within their applications as well.
User-Friendliness the Hallmark
Ultimately, it is the user that benefits from such new features added to mobile apps. If you are planning an outing into the wild open and you wish to transmit images of what you experience in real-time to folks back home, all you have to do is just bring your smartphone and Facebook app, and consider the rest done.
