GoPro’s reach was on full display today from Squaw Valley, Calif. with a Facebook live webcast to launch several new products.
The first was the Hero 5 Black, a camera that no longer needs GoPro’s housing as it’s waterproof up to 30 feet. It features a two-inch touch display, captures 4k video, 12 meg photos and boasts stereo audio and voice control. GoPro put serious R&D into its sound, too, in hopes of matching the company’s reputation for image quality. It’s priced at $399. “It’s the GoPro we’ve always wanted to make,” said GoPro president Nick Woodman, during video that played in between his enthusiastic hosting of the Squaw event. “It’s taken 14 years to get here but we’re here.”
The Hero5, not water housing needed.
GoPro also introduced a new Hero 5 Session, its smaller, square-shaped rig for convenient use along with new software applications to make editing easier for the everyday user.
One of GoPro’s most interesting new products is the Karma Drone. And as you’d expect, the California-based brand put its own spin on an old product: the company is selling it as a complete photo system instead of just a radio-controlled plane for carrying cameras: it’s wearable, mountable, and it flies (so GoPro). It is fairly interesting as the stabilizer comes off the drone so it can be transferred to a handheld position with the same stabalizing qualities on the ground.
Above all, GoPro’s reach was the star of the launch show (especially large for the action sports realm). Its Facebook live feed is at 550,000 and growing. It is nowhere near a record yet: that designation goes to CNN’s Facebook live broadcast of a man climbing New York’s Trump Tower that garnered over 4.7 million viewers. The event takes a while to get going as GoPro waited an hour to start to let the live feed gain traction on Facebook. Skip ahead to view deets from the show.
