Was this flawless Photo Sphere panorama taken with a Google Nexus 4 on a tripod?

Google posted a new advertisement on its YouTube page several hours ago showing off a cool new feature of its Nexus 4 smartphone – the Photo Sphere. For those not familiar, Photo Sphere is used to capture 360-degree panorama photos, and here we have a few examples as to how they look. Now, you're probably aware of the method for producing panoramic photos – the user swipes the phone horizontally while it takes multiple photographs, which then get stitched together resulting in a single image. This technique might require a steady hand, however, if you want your photos to be ideal. 

And speaking of steady hands, Google might have actually used a tripod to take the photo you see below. An eagle-eyed reader of ours pointed out a strange shadow in the middle of the photo, which appears to be cast by a tripod and a person taking the shot, even though if the advertisement is to be trusted, the Photo Sphere is supposedly being taken by a pretty lady holding a Google Nexus 4 in her hands. The mysterious shadow is visible in the video as well. 

Of course, we aren't entirely sure whether a tripod was really used, but the evidence is there and we have to bring it forth. Sometimes images captured with Photo Sphere aren't stitched well, unless the user stands almost perfectly still, but the ad demonstrates how an ideal panorama can be taken with no effort at all. That's a case of an advertisement being misleading, some might argue, and we tend to agree, although its is probably not as bad as that Nokia Lumia 920 ad that wasn't taken with a smartphone at all.

What do you, guys, think? Is that a tripod in the middle of the photo, or could it be something else? Let us know down in the comments!

Thanks for sending this in!

source: Google (YouTube)

Was this Photo Sphere image taken with a Google Nexus 4 on a tripod?