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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday February 11 2016, @09:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the glass-on-steroids dept.

Google will reportedly release a smartphone-assisted virtual reality headset in 2016 and build virtual reality software features into Android rather than rely on an app. The device will use plastic casing, add extra sensors, and include better lenses than those distributed with Google Cardboard:

We've said a few times now that Google's virtual reality initiative is too big for the company to just be working on Google Cardboard, and now The Financial Times has published a report detailing what seems to be the next phase of Google's VR push. The report says that Google is working on "a successor to Cardboard," creating a higher-quality headset and building VR software directly into Android.

The device sounds like a Google version of Samsung's Gear VR. Like Cardboard, the headset will be powered by your existing smartphone, with a "more solid plastic casing" along with better lenses and sensors. Also like Cardboard, this won't be limited to just a handful of devices, with the report saying that the headset "will be compatible with a much broader range of Android devices than Gear VR."

Such a device sounds like it would occupy a compelling spot in the market. The Gear VR is a great device—the $100 headset is a powerful entry-level VR experience—but it only works with Samsung phones. Cardboard has much wider phone compatibility, but it comes with a huge list of compromises that lead to a subpar experience. Taking the Gear VR model and expanding it to accept most popular smartphones sounds like a solid idea.


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  • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Thursday February 11 2016, @10:40PM

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 11 2016, @10:40PM (#302991)

    Cardboard actually works OK but it's pretty bare bones. It's neat but not something you could use for even a short period of time comfortably. Still, it serves a purpose. One being it's a great way to get people to try VR out. Even with the little bit it can do I was impressed and much more interested in getting a "real" VR set. For another it's one of the few VR "devices" released to consumer at this point (COME ON ALREADY!)

    I see this as being the next step for them and probably will do well if it has a broad support for different handsets. And, you know, ships sometime this century. Of course the big question is WTF is Google going to do with it. I mean, at the end of the day they are a company, not a charity and this hardware isn't going to be super profitable for them. They have to have some plan for it.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 11 2016, @11:26PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday February 11 2016, @11:26PM (#303010) Journal

    YouTube already has support for VR videos. On the desktop you can use your mouse to drag and change the view, as well as WASD, I've just learned. So they will be distributing content via YouTube and Google Play to these devices, meaning ad revenue or even direct revenue.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0-89v4Fk-M [youtube.com]

    Incidentally VR looks terrible in the 480p (labeled 480s here) that I defaulted to. The video above has a 2160s option that my 2011 integrated GPU would choke and die on.

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