The Verge: GoPro Hero 4 Session

Strapped to my hand was GoPro’s new camera: the $399 Hero 4 Session, available next week. It’s cube-shaped and measures less than 1.5 inches long on every side. It shoots 1440p video at 30 frames per second, 1080p up to 60 frames per second, and 720p up to 100 frames per second. It’s waterproof up to 10 meters so it doesn’t require a bulky housing, which made it the perfect camera to stick on the hand that I was using on top of my paddle. It got the shot.

The Session is extremely simple to use: you start and stop it with just one press of a button. In fact, the Session only has two buttons. The main one is a red, circular button found on the top side of the camera. Tap it, and the Session turns on and starts recording. Tap it again to stop recording, and the Session turns off.

YOU OPERATE THE SESSION WITH ONE BUTTON, AND IT HELPS SAVE BATTERY
This helps with battery life — a problem GoPro has long battled with its cameras. The Session’s internal battery should last between one to two hours running consistently, but turning it on and off each time stretches the battery life much further. When I started the hour-and-a-half rafting trip, the Session had two-thirds of its battery life remaining, and by the end, it had outlasted a fully charged Hero 4 Black and Hero+ LCD.