 This is Insta360's One R, and yes, it is a 360 degree camera, but it's also a 4K action camera too. So for someone who's on the fence about buying a 360 degree camera, this might be the perfect gateway. Let's get into it. But oh, one more thing. This is a pre-production model, which means that it's near final hardware, but they're still tweaking the software. So think of this as like an extended hands-on rather than a full-fledged review. Now let's get into it. The Insta360 One R is made up of three components. The core, which houses the screen, power, and record buttons, USB-C port, and microSD card slot, and then the battery base and the lens mods. There are two ports on the core that coincide with the prongs of the lens mods, and the battery just snaps onto the bottom. Once built, it all feels really solid and compact. As a unit, the One R is waterproof up to five meters. Now on my unit, you'll notice there's a gap between the battery grip and the rest of the camera. Insta360 tells me that does not affect waterproofing. Now, in the final versions of this camera, that won't be there at all. They're getting rid of it for aesthetic reasons, they say. The One R also comes with a plastic housing for mounting, and there are two very familiar prongs on the bottom of that, which connect to pretty much any mount you could possibly want. Let's talk the 360 mod first, because it was by far my favorite to use. It shoots 5.7K up to 30 FPS spherical video. If you're coming from the One X, the footage on the One R looks almost identical. They've really only updated nighttime stabilization, and then they've added HDR video. But the real difference is having a screen built right onto the camera. It is a very low res screen at that, but you can change frame rates, view playback, and scroll around your frame. If you double tap on the screen, it will change between lenses. I found the screen to be extremely responsive. Its biggest downfall though is its size. I have small fingers, so this wasn't a total deal breaker, but I could see how someone with gloves, or anyone with bigger hands really, could find the small screen frustrating. During my test, I was switching between the GoPro Max and the One R, and going back to the GoPro Max felt like a relief, because the screen is almost twice its size. Alright now this 4K sensor. Its best quality is that the screen can be both a rear facing screen, and a front facing screen. Because you can just flip it around and put it back on. It's kinda cool. The 4K mod shoots at up to 60 frames per second in 4K, and up to 200 frames per second in 1080p. As a typical action camera, it's fine. If it didn't come with a 360 mod, this definitely would not be my first choice for an action camera though. First, I just prefer the color that a GoPro puts out way more than the One R. GoPro isn't afraid of the blacks and the shadows, and it will really let that pop, creating a nice contrast in image. And second, FlowState just isn't as good as Hypersmooth. You can really see it here in this clip of me running. In the One R's frame, look at the building on the left. You can see it just jittering around, whereas in the GoPro keeps it extremely stable all throughout the image. I found myself using the 4K mod mostly just to take photos though. I found there was a lot of smoothing happening, especially in the backgrounds, and Insta360 is evening out the low and highlights. I also thought the auto mode was a bit slow, often leading to blurry subjects, even in daylight. Overall, the 4K mod is fine, but it's definitely not the star feature of the One R. Insta360 is coming out with a 1-inch 5.3K Leica branded sensor. I mean, that's huge for an action camera, but we'll have to test it out and see how it holds up. Honestly, what people don't know is that Vegas is actually beautiful. I mean, come on. The audio is pretty crisp, and it definitely prioritizes voices over everything else. You just have to be super cautious of the sounds of, say, extending the selfie stick or hitting record on the camera. Those are really loud. The editing workflow really hasn't changed since the One X. The desktop app is still not intuitive, but it does have added ProRes and H.265 export options, and the app is still super easy to use with a few added tricks. There's deep track, active tracking, auto framing, and cin shots, which are like fun storytelling tools. I was most impressed by the tracking, though. It really holds people or objects right in the center of the frame without having to lay key frames. And then the other big new feature is being able to edit your footage without having to first download it onto your phone. You can use deep track and set key frames all without having to wait for the file to download. It's all like super snappy with no noticeable lag, and it didn't kill the camera's battery in the process. The One R's battery is right on par with the One X. You can definitely get a full day out of it if you're careful to shut it down when you're not using it, but the One R also supports fast charging. So if you do get low, you can use a two amp charger and charge it up to 80% in just 30 minutes. I'll take that. The Twin Edition of Insta360's One R is available now starting at $480, and that comes with one core, one battery, a 360 camera mod, and a 4K camera mod. And then the One X edition will be shipping mid-February, and that'll cost $550. And that comes with just the One X camera mod. So that's Insta360's One R. I mean, for someone who's curious about 360 but not sure they're ready to take the leap into having two lenses constantly sticking off their camera, well, this might be the perfect form factor for you. Let's just see if it's as durable as, well, it feels. Keep it locked to the verge. That's all I got to say about that. I'm going to go climb a rock. This one right here. Actually, oh shoot. Oh shoot. Oh, it's been a long week and it hasn't even started. Okay, I'm getting down.