Saumya Tewari
Digital

Viral Now: Samsung breathes 'life' into technology

The smartphone maker live streams child birth for an Australian husband who is away from his wife, using its Gear VR headsets.

Technology has often received a bad rap for alienating humans from each other. However, a heart-warming video created by Samsung Australia breaks this notion by live streaming virtual reality birth (VR) using Gear VR for an Australian couple.

The video has been executed by Leo Burnett and is over six minutes long. It beautifully captures the emotional trials that a Perth-based couple, Alison and Jason 'Jace' Larke, go through while welcoming their third child into the world. Jace, a 'fly in, fly out' electrical contractor, faced a hard decision when an unavoidable work commitment required him to be in Queensland on his wife's due date.

Viral Now: Samsung breathes 'life' into technology
Although in Chinchilla, a remote Queensland mining town, 4, 000 kilometers away from Perth, Jason was lucky enough to witness the birth of his child using the Samsung's Gear VR headset in real time.

As the D-day arrived, the Samsung Australia brand team created a virtual photo reality using Gear VR. The room was covered with the couple's life-size family pictures as Jason smilingly entered the room.

"In a matter of seconds, 4, 000 kilometers disappeared," he says, as he puts on the gear to witness the birth of his child.

Samsung Australia, along with Leo Burnett and production company Rapid VR, created live-stream 360-degree footage of the birth which Jason viewed on the Samsung Gear VR headset.

The documentary-style piece addresses a universal challenge that resonates with millions on a daily basis: the impossibility of being in two places at once.

Interestingly, the video uses a gaming gear to humanise technology. Essentially associated with gaming, the Samsung Gear VR is a headset that uses the screen of a Samsung Galaxy Note 4, projected through two lenses and into the wearer's eyes, to create a submersive, 360-degree environment for gaming, watching videos etc.

Posted on YouTube on March 14, the video has garnered over eight million views as on Friday (March 20) evening.

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