World's first VR-taking phone launches in China

Protruly's "Darling" smartphone is displayed by model during the product's launch event held on Oct 24, 2016 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Shenzhen-based technology company Protruly unveiled a smartphone with a panorama video shooter on Monday, highlighting the device as the world's first smartphone that can capture virtual reality (VR) video.

Dubbed "Darling", the smartphone can take 360 degree panorama video and photo which is viewable as the viewing angle changes, delivering immersive entertainment experiences to its users.

Protruly's "Darling" smartphones are displayed during the products' launch event held on Oct 24, 2016 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

According to the company, to target a market segment that would want such a feature, the device is priced at 8,800 yuan ($1299) and 3,980 yuan, respectively, and the phone will go on sale and start shipping by the end of November. The deluxe version will be even shipped with gold and diamond decorations on its shell.

The phone comes with an AMOLED 5.5-inch display and is powered by a deca cored CPU - Helio X20 - running at up to 2.5GHz speed.

Protruly Darling VR Smartphone is also able to remotely detect the human body temperature without touching, and provide a cloud platform to store the settings data locally and remotely.

Neo Zheng, a research manager of client system research at IDC told chinadaily.com.cn that the device will most probably not go mainstream at the moment. He predicts that massive duo camera smartphones equipped with augmented reality (AR) functions will hit the market first.