Report: Samsung Building VR Headset For Its Phones & Tablets

An anonymous reader writes "Engadget reports that Samsung is working on virtual reality technology to compete with the Oculus Rift. Their work is fairly far along, and it's expected to be announced this year. It's being built to function in tandem with Samsung's flagship mobile devices, most likely their upcoming Galaxy phones and tablets. From the article: 'We're told it has an OLED screen, as good or better than in the second Rift dev kit; it's not clear how the headset connects to your phone/tablet, but we're guessing it's a wired connection rather than wireless. ...This is a device meant for use with games. What type of games? Android games! Sure, but which ones? That's certainly the question. Great games make the platform, and VR games are especially tough to crack given the newness of the medium. One thing's for sure: most major games won't work on VR as direct ports.' The report also suggests Samsung is targeting a lower price point than its competitors. True or not, it will hopefully help drive down prices for all upcoming VR tech." Meanwhile, DARPA is experimenting with the Oculus Rift for cyberwar visualization.

Comments

Re:It.. can't be true!

[jasno]

No, VR has been around in many forms for many years, but OR has made huge improvements. Acting like this isn't true shows your malfunction.

Sure, OR made improvements, just like Sony, Samsung, and other companies not fawned upon by the tech media and ignorant techno-fanbois.

Close, but very misleading. OR did serious work in solving major issues with VR.

Oh sweet, just point me to all those patents they're sitting on then...

The article invalidates what you're saying. OR isn't special. They just showed their hand early in an attempt to get free marketing. What they're doing isn't technologically difficult given the advances in things like 3d rendering, compact displays, low-cost motion sensors, and lower-latency inputs.

Re:What If

[jasno]

Or (C) patent it all and license it for free, which would ensure that patent trolls don't move in and cripple the industry.

The amount of 'religion' surrounding OR is starting to reach the level of Apple products. You're all trying so hard to make the company the next big thing but they're just a hardware integrator. They're not your best friend. They aren't on your side. VR was and is coming when the tech allows it. When we all strap VR goggles on it won't be thanks to OR or any one individual behind it.

If you want to raise someone on a pedestal, start with the nameless engineers who dedicated their careers to making displays and sensors smaller, faster and cheaper.