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YouTube expands its VR app to Samsung's Gear VR device and lets you watch videos with strangers
YouTube is expanding its virtual reality app to support Samsung's Gear VR devices, and it's also adding a new feature that lets users watch a video together and chat. If you own a Gear VR device, you'll be able to download the app from the Oculus Store beginning this week, Google announced today in a blog post.
YouTube has been conspicuously absent from the Oculus Store, and it's been a significant selling point for Google's Daydream VR platform, although it's also available on PlayStation VR headsets, and Oculus Rift or HTC Vive users can access it through SteamVR. You could access YouTube through the Gear VR's web browser, but this update still closes a notable gap in the Gear VR's video ecosystem. YouTube doesn't mention supporting Oculus' new mobile device, the standalone Oculus Go.
Users can now also party up with friends or strangers to watch and chat about videos together in a VR space. In the example YouTube gave, users can ride a virtual car together or watch other VR videos. To access the feature, tap the Watch Together icon located under the play controls on your Daydream View or Gear VR headset.
Meanwhile, Facebook has added a "Watch Party" feature that syncs video streams and adds a chat box.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 27 2018, @04:17PM
Well, you can go a lot lower. Down to the Cardboard level, or those $10-15 cheap headsets you see advertised in the paper.
I think that the Gear VR approach is a good idea. What do most people have on their body at all time? A smartphone. They can tuck the empty headset into a backpack or wherever. The resulting headset is standalone, uses your existing data connection, etc. All Samsung has to do is improve the capabilities of the phone in order to make Gear VR better. That could mean releasing a flagship that does a maximum 90-120 Hz instead of 60. They could up the resolution from the 2960×1440 of the Galaxy S9(+). The aspect ratio of the phone has already widened to 18.5:9, which should improve field of view when inserted into a headset. If they ever make a two screen folding phone like they've teased, they could use that to potentially double the field of view (won't work if the large side of the phone is the hinge).
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