Android By Russell Holly Sep. 3, 2014 4:31 pm
One of the many things Samsung has been working on recently is a partnership with Oculus Rift. We know that Samsung has been providing the Oculus folks some displays to power their next generation developer kits, but Samsung has also been hard at work making*the Gear VR. After strapping one to my face and checking out what a mobile-friendly version of Oculus Rift would look like, I realized this technology already existed.
The Samsung Gear VR is what happens when you build a fancy case for the Galaxy Note 4 and write apps to take advantage of the fact that there’s a phone three inches from your eyeballs. Samsung has done a great job implementing head tracking. You can move your head around and to either guide a mouse pointer or become immersed in a movie or game, but in the end it’s the software that is the impressive part here.
The hardware itself is a slightly more advanced version of Google Cardboard, a 20% project that allows you to slide a phone into a cardboard casing and enjoy seeing things as you would through the*Oculus Rift. Neither Cardboard nor Gear VR can truly compete with the*Rift from a gaming perspective, and that’s because*the PC driving the displays is going to be significantly more powerful. Instead, Samsung is focusing this experience on being a content consumption device, and in that respect it has the potential to blow everything else out of the water.
In the demonstration Samsung was giving today, we saw a video clip that sent us from outer space to a Cirque De Soleil show and back again. During the experience, I could tilt my head in any direction and everything would continue to play all around me. Samsung has built a storefront that can be accessed from within the Gear VR, which allows users to purchase games and videos to enjoy in this immersive format. When combined with a comfortable couch and a decent pair of bluetooth headphones, it’s not hard at all to see how this could be a success.
Unlike Google’s Project Cardboard, this experience only works with the Galaxy Note 4. Samsung has no current plans to include other devices — even ones made by Samsung — and that seems like there’s a huge chance this project could backfire. What makes Cardboard so compelling is that ability to stick whatever phone you want, even an iPhone, into the compartment. With any luck, Samsung will announce a reasonable price for this hardware and consider allowing other devices to play in its sandbox.
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The Samsung Gear VR is what happens when you build a fancy case for the Galaxy Note 4 and write apps to take advantage of the fact that there’s a phone three inches from your eyeballs. Samsung has done a great job implementing head tracking. You can move your head around and to either guide a mouse pointer or become immersed in a movie or game, but in the end it’s the software that is the impressive part here.
The hardware itself is a slightly more advanced version of Google Cardboard, a 20% project that allows you to slide a phone into a cardboard casing and enjoy seeing things as you would through the*Oculus Rift. Neither Cardboard nor Gear VR can truly compete with the*Rift from a gaming perspective, and that’s because*the PC driving the displays is going to be significantly more powerful. Instead, Samsung is focusing this experience on being a content consumption device, and in that respect it has the potential to blow everything else out of the water.
In the demonstration Samsung was giving today, we saw a video clip that sent us from outer space to a Cirque De Soleil show and back again. During the experience, I could tilt my head in any direction and everything would continue to play all around me. Samsung has built a storefront that can be accessed from within the Gear VR, which allows users to purchase games and videos to enjoy in this immersive format. When combined with a comfortable couch and a decent pair of bluetooth headphones, it’s not hard at all to see how this could be a success.
Unlike Google’s Project Cardboard, this experience only works with the Galaxy Note 4. Samsung has no current plans to include other devices — even ones made by Samsung — and that seems like there’s a huge chance this project could backfire. What makes Cardboard so compelling is that ability to stick whatever phone you want, even an iPhone, into the compartment. With any luck, Samsung will announce a reasonable price for this hardware and consider allowing other devices to play in its sandbox.
More...
