TourWrist
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TourWrist puts a twist on the photo sphere (hands-on video)
You've heard of Instagram, right? Are you familiar with Microsoft's Photosynth and Google's Photo Sphere on Nexus phones and tablets? How about Apple's brilliant continuous-scan panorama mode on iOS devices? Well mash all this up and you get TourWrist, an app / social network for sharing photo spheres. The app started life as a social network for virtual tourism and gained one million users since launching in 2010. Here in Las Vegas, the company just launched the latest version of TourWrist with a focus on capturing photos spheres. Unlike Microsoft's and Google's approach, which stitches 360-degree images from discrete pictures, the app uses continuous-scan like Apple's panorama mode. The resulting photo spheres are truly impressive and look significantly better than the competition, especially when captured in tricky lighting conditions. All 360-degree images can be shared with other TourWrist users, Instagram-style, and with other social networks by linking to an HTML5-compatible viewer. Take a look at our gallery below and peek after the break for our hands-on video and sample photo sphere captured on site.
Daily iPad App: Tour Wrist
I have to say, of all the product names that I heard and saw at CES 2012 last week (and there were plenty of them), TourWrist was by far my favorite. And the app is pretty interesting as well. It's a free download for iPhone and iPad that allows you to view the company's interactive 360 degree panoramic photos of various locations and interiors. Using the iOS' gyroscope and compass, you can move your iPhone or iPad around in real space, and view TourWrist's panoramas in full 360 degree splendor. Yes, it's a little gimmicky (and obviously looking through the window of your iPad is no substitute for being somewhere, despite their marketing), but it works quite well, and heck, it's free anyway. TourWrist told us at CES that the company wants to use this kind of software for real estate tours or brand marketing, and in the app right now, you can see inside some homes for sale, or have a look around some famous retail locations, which essentially serve as paid ads for whatever brands they represent. Unfortunately, you can't move around the locations -- these are just photos, not actual 3D environments. But you can click from room to room to see various photos of wherever you're virtually touring. TourWrist is, again, a free download from the App Store. There are some reported issues with crashing in the iTunes comments, but if you have an iPhone 4 or iPad 2, it should work just fine. "TourWrist"! How great is that name?
