BubbleScope - instant 360˚ stills and video on your smartphone

The BubbleScope is an optical accessory that can be attached to your smartphone enabling you to capture, share and enjoy instant 360° panoramic images and videos in a single shot – one in the eye for old style shoot and stitch 360° photography! At £49.99 inc. VAT for the BubbleScope itself and £14.99 inc. VAT for a compatible smartphone case, it also makes instant 360˚ stills and video accessible to everybody for the first time.

Instant 360° imaging on a mobile phone is innovative, but what really sets the BubbleScope project apart is its supporting BubblePix App and online community – what use is it being able to take instant 360° bubbles if you can’t share them? Our BubblePix App lets you preview images before you capture them and there’s no stitching or image processing to slow things down before you can review and share them.

First up, I’d like to ask you to check out the video above (if you haven’t already) to get a real feel for what the BubbleScope is all about.

Then, why not check out some real life bubbles at: http://bubblescope.com/examples

How did our story start?

The BubbleScope smartphone accessory and the BubblePix App and online community is the culmination of a ten year journey by young British inventor Tom Lawton (that’s me!). In the past decade I have tirelessly pursued the dream of creating the perfect, instant 360° photography device. During this time I’ve worked with the very best minds in the optical technology, digital and the business community to get to where I am today.

Where am I today? I’m surrounded by experts, with a great product in my hand. Now, I just need one final push to bring the BubbleScope to market and instant 360° photography and video to the masses.

What have we got?

We’ve got a lot – an instant 360° imaging accessory for smartphones, an App and an online community – here’s a breakdown.

The BubbleScope

• Compact optical attachment for a smartphone that captures seamless 360° images and video in an instant – check out the pix of our prototype at the bottom of this pitch!
• Works in conjunction with BubblePix App (developed by the nice guys at Fluid Pixels in conjunction with a renowned 3D computer vision expert!) to display the panoramic scene on the phone in real time, for instant scene capture and sharing.
• Unique omni-directional imaging system with a 360° x 120° field-of-view (that’s the science – ask me if you have more q’s!).
• Superior imaging using all precision engineered glass optics.
• Hard case capsule design with locking cap protects optics by stowing when not in use. Opens with a twist, spring release optics slide out ready for use.
• Universal tripod mount in base of the BubbleScope so you can use the App’s self timer to get the perfect bubble or just leave it capturing video of everything going on around it. The product also free-stands on a table top for use without a tripod.
• Simple to use, quick-release connection locks to phone case in either landscape or portrait orientation.
• Future proof, designed not to become obsolete with your next phone upgrade through the use of cases that are BubbleScope compatible for each phone model.
• Full international patents are currently pending that cover the BubbleScope product design and technology.

Cases will be sold separately and allow the BubbleScope to fit multiple phone types.

• iPhone (iPhone 4 case fits both black & white versions, 3GS case scheduled for Autumn)
• All leading Android handsets (App and cases scheduled for Autumn)
• All leading Windows Mobile handsets (App and cases scheduled for late 2011)

The BubblePix App

• Real time panoramic viewfinder, sees everything all the time.
• Capture 360° images and video with a click.
• Instant bubble sharing. Integration with our web services allows users to upload content to all major social media platforms from your phone.
• Our RTV (Real Time Viewer) technology means that not only can you for the first time preview a 360˚ image before you capture it, but there is no processing delay after capture so you can review and share instantly or just shoot some more! No stitching, no waiting, no hassle.

The BubblePix community

• A personal online library of all uploaded bubbles which can remain private or can be shared.
• Anybody can search, explore and share – tell the story!
• Think of it as YouTube for beautiful 360° photography and video.
• Using the online library you can also share bubbles to your other devices such as PC, iPad, Tablet etc.

The image quality in some of the examples shown hasn’t got the clarity I’d like, is that how they will be?

In a word - no. The example images and video we have used in our pitch are captured by our pre-production sample. As a result of testing with the prototype we have made some very subtle changes to the case design and the optical arrangement that make a big difference to end-image quality. The changes we have made reduce ambient light levels and also eliminate the colour separation that was occurring on the edges of the image. We don’t believe in trying to represent the output falsely in any way so what you see is exactly what we captured. From our prototyping and testing process we know that these issues are resolvable so the bubbles from our final manufactured units will be crisp clean and beautiful! Our manufacturing pre-production units are in progress and we’ll publish some more examples from these as soon as we have them, but in the mean time we didn’t want to delay getting the ball rolling.

But there are other 360˚ imaging solutions for smartphones aren’t there?

Yes there are, but none in the same league! Most are App solutions that allow you to capture multiple images or video sweeps, and then stitch them together into a panoramic, or partially panoramic image. These take time to capture and then to stitch so you don’t actually use them much. And of course you never capture everything around you in a single click so any moving subjects and certainly 360˚ video are impossible to capture. A few optical accessories along more similar lines have appeared very recently to capture video but here is why the BubbleScope is a world first and yet to have any real competition:

• The BubbleScope captures instant still images and video.
• The BubbleScope has been designed from conception to work on multiple handsets and a device specific case is all that it takes to move the BubbleScope between devices or onto your next phone. The Apple iOS BubblePix App and iPhone 4 cases will be available first (hence we are only able to offer those products to investors and beta test group) but Android and Windows Mobile Apps will be released before the end of the year along with cases for the leading handsets using those operating systems.
• The BubbleScope produces high-resolution stills and video but of course the final resolution depends on the specific smartphone being used. The BubbleScope uses precision glass optics and a maximum reflective surface area to ensure that the best possible result is achieved for the camera resolution available. Put simply we use as much of the camera’s field of view as possible and make sure the optics maintain the best light and clarity possible by using a glass mirror and optics throughout.Upgraded to a new phone? No problem, even if you changed platforms, simply upgrade your case and as your camera resolution probably just got better, as a result so did your bubble quality!
• The BubbleScope has a 360° (horizontal) x 120° (vertical) field of view, which creates a bubble-like image. No other smartphone accesory available has a vertical field of view that deep and certainly not for both stills and video!
• BubbleScope is stylish and minimalist in design with a retractable mirror and optic set for vital protection of the delicate optics and easy portability... OK, OK it looks cool even if I do say so myself and the way the mirror pops up and down is awesome. The mechanism works really cleanly, is very robust and we’re really happy with the end result because it’s not too big and when retracted it fits really nicely into your pocket.
• The BubblePix App has been developed to be as easy to use as possible. The real time preview allows you for the first time ever to be able to see a 360˚ image before you actually capture it. Not an unwrapped image, a proper panoramic bubble and with the phone the right way up! This same App technology also means you don’t have to wait when you have captured a video or still image to either take another or to instantly review and then share the end result. It’s like using the normal camera because there is no stitching or image processing to be done once you have clicked the shutter. You really can snap a bubble and tweet it within seconds, not minutes!
• Social media sharing has been an integral part of the product development right from the start so sharing your bubbles with friends, family and the world is as easy as capturing them in the first place!

What do we need to complete the story?

Up to this point we’ve worked with some great partners to develop the BubbleScope and the BubblePix related App and systems. Marvellous!

Unfortunately having a great product is sometimes not enough. We now need to raise £10k to help fund the initial BubbleScope production run.

We are lucky enough to have some great contacts in the mobile phone accessory industry and so distribution after this should not be a problem – it’s just a case of having the product to sell! If we can hit this target, the BubbleScope will hit retail shelves in Autumn 2011.

We’re sorry we can only support iPhone4 for the beta testing units but we needed to focus on a single case and App variant to ensure we hit the minimum production numbers and also had the community and integrated beta testing App completed in time. We will be moving straight onto Android and Windows Mobile Apps, as well as the device cases, so there won’t be long to wait. If you register at bubblepix.com we can keep you up-to-date with developments and we will be taking pre-sales on those products later in the year.

Any more questions?

If you’ve got an inquisitive mind like me, I’m sure you’ll have lots of questions. Please do ask them in the forum section of this pitch and I’ll do my best to answer them as soon as possible.

If you’ve read this far, here’s a little bonus for you – check out my last ten years of experimental bubble photography here: www.tomsbubbleblog.co.uk

...and if you’re yearning for more, please read my product development story here:

www.tomlawton.com/inventions/bubblescope (a must for anyone interested in design)

Oh, and you can follow us at @bubblepix

How can you get a starring role in our Bubblespectacular?

The pledges made will kick off our first manufacturing production run, which will produce BubbleScopes and iPhone 4 cases. We will then supply these to our supporters so that not only will you be the first in the world to get your hands on a BubbleScope, but also be part of our BubblePix App and community beta test group. We will then use feedback to test and shape the services we offer, before launching the cases and App for other mobile operating systems and devices.