Fan Cam VR Sports Zoom Goggles

Pocket Future

In-app purchases

About this app

Drop your phone into a VR headset and Fan Cam turns it into a pair of powered digital binoculars you wear on your face. The screen splits into two eyes showing the live camera, so both eyes see the same magnified view — and your hands stay free.

■ YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE THE SCREEN OUTSIDE

A phone screen in direct sun is close to useless. You cup your hand around it, tilt it, hunt for a shadow, and still lose the picture to glare. Inside a headset the screen is shaded from every angle — no glare, no reflections, no squinting. The view is as clear at noon in an open stadium as it is indoors. If you have ever given up trying to film something on a bright day, this is the difference.

■ ZOOM FROM 0.5x TO 50x

Starts on the ultra-wide lens if your phone has one, runs up through the telephoto — true optical zoom that stays sharp — then carries on past what the glass can reach. Hold UP to zoom in, DOWN to zoom out.

■ BOTH HANDS FREE

The phone is sealed inside the headset, so a small Bluetooth remote drives everything: zoom, photo, record, replay. Fan Cam learns your remote rather than assuming it: press each button three times and it records what that button really sends, whatever the label says. Change one later without redoing the rest.

■ SLOW MO REPLAY

Stop a recording and Fan Cam offers to play it straight back in both eyes at half speed, without taking the phone out of the headset. Run it from a tenth of real time up to 4x, backwards or forwards, on a loop.

■ WHAT PEOPLE USE IT FOR

AT THE GAME OR THE SHOW — stadiums, arenas and concerts, where the seat you could afford is a long way from the thing you came to watch. Zoom in on the play and record what you want to keep.

IN A LECTURE OR A CLASSROOM — the slide is small, the room is long, and the seat you got is at the back. Zoom the board or the projection right up in front of both eyes, read it comfortably, and record the whole presentation to go back over before the exam. Both hands stay free for notes. School just got an upgrade.

CLOSE WORK, BOTH HANDS FREE — sewing and needlework, and threading a needle in particular: the eye of the needle magnified in front of both eyes while both hands do the threading. No reading glasses to find, no holding a magnifier and the thread at the same time.

REPAIR AND INSPECTION — micro-electronics and board-level work, engine and vehicle jobs, machinery inspection. See small detail while you work, and get a close look at something without putting your face next to it.

SECURITY AND OBSERVATION — watch a gate, a fence line or a boundary from a distance, magnified, hands free for a radio or a notebook, and record anything worth keeping.

DOCUMENTATION — it records what you see, so it doubles as proof of a fault before a repair, or a reference for how something came apart.

■ ALSO IN THERE

• MINI PREVIEW — a small always-wide circle so you keep your bearings while zoomed right in.
• STEADY VIEW — smooths out hand and head shake at high zoom, on phones that can do it.
• LIGHT — the camera light, on while you zoom and record, for close work in a dark corner.
• SPORTS SCORES — today's NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and college football and basketball on a small card in the corner of your view. Press LEFT three times and it fetches them right then, so nothing downloads until you ask.
• BATTERY — always in view, and it warns you before it matters.
• Drag the preview and the scores card anywhere that reads well for you.
• Photos and video save straight to your gallery.

■ FAN CAM PASS — OPTIONAL

Everything works free: the whole zoom range, photos, video, slow-motion replay and the scores card. The Pass is an auto-renewing subscription that only turns off the thank-you pop-up — $1.99 weekly, $2.99 monthly or $6.99 yearly. Cancel any time in Google Play.

■ WHAT YOU NEED

Android 10 or later, a phone with a camera, a VR headset your phone fits into, and a small Bluetooth remote set to keyboard mode. Settings links to the headset, cushion and remote we use.

What’s new

Fan Cam turns your phone into binoculars you wear. Drop it into a VR headset and both eyes see the live camera, zoomed up to 50x — at the game, on the workbench, or threading a needle. The screen is shaded inside the headset, so there is no sun glare to fight.

Press LEFT three times for today's scores. Stop a recording and it plays straight back in slow motion, in both eyes.