Shonin Wearable Camera

  • iReviews
  • September 06,2017
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Shonin Wearable Camera

Live streaming is very popular among bloggers, regular users, and celebrities these days. This is a big market for businesses as the service continues to grow across social media. Toronto-based Shonin created Streamcam: a live-recording camera that stays on your body or backpack without issue. It isn’t just a smart wearable electronic; it’s a body cam for anyone who wants to protect their side of the story.

Ease of Use

The creators of the Shonin Streamcam designed it to “capture your side of the story”. With increased documented cases of police brutality and group crimes in large settings (like a concert or festival), Shonin wants you to remain safe. The company also offers several possible uses beyond encounters with the police: walking alone at night, documenting road rage, abuse of power, protests, threats, assaults, and more. Of course, no one’s stopping you from recording that beautiful weekend hike either!

 

Shonin built every feature about the Streamcam purposefully to ease your mind in a stressful situation. “We’re proud of what we have built, and look forward to making the Shonin Streamcam available for anyone who wants to feel safer as they go about their day,” says Sameer Hasan, CEO & Founder of Shonin.

 

There’s a large button that takes up half of the front of the device. Pressing it once starts recording in crisp, wide-angle video and streams it to the cloud.

Versatility and Range

Attach the camera with either a clip or magnetic backing. It is GPS-enabled. One battery charge will last 2.5 hours. The battery power can be doubled with an additional magnetic battery. The Shonin app lets you view your videos as soon as they’re recorded. You can even make edits in the app without losing the original raw footage, until you decide to delete the original.

 

The app allows you to share instantly with your friends or social media channels. Lastly, the app gives you the ability to customize almost everything about the capture or device behavior, like toggling the recording light, adjusting resolution, toggling cloud upload, and more. After choosing your settings, the app saves everything and changes your device accordingly.

“Much abuse and injustice still goes unaddressed, and in many cases perpetrators believe they can get away with it because it’s their word against ours, unless we have video proof. Shonin helps people secure video proof in situations where using their smartphones is not practical,” says Hasan.

Quality

Thankfully, the camera is waterproof. It is IP67-certified; the camera is protected from dust and up to 1 meter (about 3.3 feet) deep of static water for up to 30 minutes.

 

With video quality up to 1080p on local SD card and up to 720p on streaming or uploading to the cloud, you can see almost every detail of your experience. Shonin will test the device rigorously before launch so that customers can wear it worry-free.

Cost

The company raised $278,929 of their $30,000 goal on Kickstarter, which unlocked the time-lapse, image stabilization, and custom cloud features. At $300,000 raised, Shonin will release a low-light mode feature too.

 

As of this writing, there are only 2 $149 Wi-Fi devices and 9 $179 cellular data Streamcams left to reserve as an early backer on Kickstarter. A $169 Wi-Fi version is also still available with no specified quantity limit. Shonin estimates delivery in February 2018.

 

The company plans to offer free or heavily-discounted devices to several non-profit organizations. “We want to help non-profits that are on the front lines, driving real societal change,” says Hasan. “The work these organizations do is inspiring, and we would love to see their members equipped with the right tools. By providing them with free devices and associated services, we can do our part to help make those necessary changes a reality.”

Storage

Your video uploads to the Shonin cloud if you’re connected to Wi-Fi, a hotspot, or your mobile device’s data connection. Press a button on the app and send the video to Facebook Live and YouTube, all in real-time. And if you’re unable to connect to the cloud or Internet, the camera stores encrypted footage to its internal 8GB SD card. The SD card is expandable in memory up to 64GB.

 

Storage on the Shonin cloud will cost nothing for Kickstarter backers: 2 years of free 10GB. For other customers, cloud storage will come at a fee.

Last Thoughts

This looks like a great device to try out, especially if you’ve ever wanted to upload recordings super fast. With the app available on both iOS and Android, Shonin jam-packed this little camera with many useful features. If you’re more of a vlogger or video production buff with numerous cameras, check out our review of the Elgato Cam Link, which effectively gives high-end cameras live-stream capabilities.

 

Sources: The Verge, Crowdfunding PR, Kickstarter

PROS
  • High Quality Video Streaming (1080p to SD card, 720p to cloud/live platform)
  • Low Introductory Price
  • Image Stabilization, Time-Lapse, and Custom Cloud Options
  • Clips to Clothes or Bag Magnetically
CONS
  • May Be Too Obvious for Recording Dangerous Situations
  • Not Fully Tested With Consumers; May Have Connectivity or Power Issues