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Ars: Samsung Gear VR Is Today's Best Virtual Reality
An anonymous reader writes: Samsung took a distinctly different tack from Oculus VR in developing virtual reality tech. Whereas Oculus has a dedicated device, Samsung simply has a high-tech piece of headgear that you strap a Galaxy Note 4 phone into. A review popped up at Ars Technica after a month using the device, and they say it works surprisingly well. Quoting: "Though the weight of the two units is comparable, the Gear VR benefits from a strap system that distributes that weight on the upper forehead and the back of the skull rather than through an elastic death grip around the eye area."
They still say a purchase is hard to justify, simply because the content selection is lacking. But as that improves, the price tag will become worth it. "Simple, minimally interactive virtual reality experiences like The Deep, BluVR, and Titans of Space have become go-to apps when passing the Gear VR around a party for friends to check out. It's incredible just sitting in place and following along with your gaze as sea life or entire planets fly by in sharp, well-rendered, 360-degree glory."
They still say a purchase is hard to justify, simply because the content selection is lacking. But as that improves, the price tag will become worth it. "Simple, minimally interactive virtual reality experiences like The Deep, BluVR, and Titans of Space have become go-to apps when passing the Gear VR around a party for friends to check out. It's incredible just sitting in place and following along with your gaze as sea life or entire planets fly by in sharp, well-rendered, 360-degree glory."
The holodeck can simulate fully fuckable hard light androids.
There are some impressive things in the works.
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
yeah it sounds some asshat just wrote the blurb without following any of the story for the past year.
next month he'll write about the revolutionary google solution....
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Heck, can even order a 'nice' version from Amazon for 20 bucks, drop in your phone, done, you've got a VR headset. Pretty amazing how well it actually works.
Waiting for an amusing sig.
Call me old fashioned, but once I get home from work, I want to sit on the couch, grab a gamepad and a beer, and play games. Not jump like a fucking monkey, not wave hands in the air like a cheerleader, etc.
VR seems to be more work than fun, especially if you want to get the fully immersive shebang, which will likely require that 360-degree treadmill thingy and a nice surround sound system.
Thanks, but no thanks.
Out of curiosity I bought the Stooksy VR set for my iphone 6+. It is a Google cardboard variant from plastic foam, and despite its crude appearance it has some good features: ability to adapt for the distance between your eyes, a focus ability and very useful for me: big enough to accommodate my glasses.
In practice it is really impressive (considering that there are not that many great apps on the ios store that can handle google cardboard), the first time I tried Hiroshi Jump and the Zeiss cinema app I was grinning like an idiot.
But I soon found that I was quickly getting dizzy when using the more interactive apps or rollercoaster side by side movies,as the difference between what you see and feel is so big. Think about playing Doom for the first time, but in my case an even stronger dizziness. How do others experience this?
"Sorry, we don't support the Galaxy 4 firmware anymore, better upgrade! Don't forget to link your account to your new device!"
I want a monitor, not a phone, thanks.
VR seems to be more work than fun, especially if you want to get the fully immersive shebang, which will likely require that 360-degree treadmill thingy and a nice surround sound system.
It is more work than most realize. I was working on VR tech 15 years ago. The graphics have gotten better but the fundamental problems with it remain. Foremost is that the use cases for it are VERY limited and even as a piece of kit for entertainment the novelty wears of very quickly. It's one of those technologies that sounds pretty cool (and is cool up to a point) but most people are going to go "huh, neat" and then never bother with it again. There is almost no use for it in most businesses aside from some high end simulations which very few businesses need. There is no use for it in the home except for some computer games which will only appeal to a relatively small group. Maybe some uses in virtual tours like for museums but that's pretty tiny too.
I think there is a potentially huge market for augmented reality. I can think of all kinds of applications that most people would find useful. I think the market for immersive VR is quite small and mostly centers around computer games for geeks like us.
Then Avoid HTC. they have a throbbing tumor called Sense and the freaking Blinkfeed crap.
Oh and HTC M8.. STILL on 4.4.3 because they cant bother with rolling out updates. Typical scumbag HTC.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Do you believe that the dizziness has more to do with tracking latency, 3D display perspective, or a combination of both?
It's a combination effect and you forgot the disconnect between perceived motion and actual motion which is what gives most people motion sickness. The proportions of each depend on the particular person. I used to work with this stuff in my day job some years back. The stronger you make the 3D effect (increasing perspective) the harder it is for people to adjust and the more likely you are to cause headaches and disorientation. I know for me I could increase it to a point and then my brain simply had problem adapting to/from the VR environment. Tended to cause a splitting headache for me kind of like putting on the glasses of someone with a strong prescription. If you are doing a motion simulation that is reasonably realistic it isn't hard to cause motion sickness. Your butt is telling you something different than your eyes and that makes a lot of people motion sick. Latency can have a similar effect. It's not a problem you can really solve for everyone though you can minimize it with improved tech.
Basically if you are prone to motion sickness in the real world, odds are good you will be prone to it in a VR environment too.
That's something I would hate. Who cleans the holo deck after Kirk/Riker bang holo characters ? Since you are fucking a force field the pressure is probably prefect however when you are done, you junk would all just drop to the floor.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
I like Samsung hardware but their forced bloatware is really pissing me off.
My Note 4 gives me a "Unfortunately, Touchwiz Home has stopped" or somesuch error about every 3 minutes of use... Really annoying.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
The occulus team have put a massive amount of resource and effort into identifying and minimizing motion blur, input lag, head tracking lag and other artifacts that cause nausea and other subconcious effects that make their unit less useable and/or realistic.
Consequently there is literally no way that you do or even could ever get the same experience just from strapping a phone to your head. This is yet another example of sloppy unprofessional reviewing based on only the most superficial and immediately apparent aspects of the product.
At the conclusion of each holodeck session all "extraneous" matter is automatically transported to Geordi's personal quarters. Don't ask why.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
I worked on a PDA-phone hybrid 15 years ago. These things are ugly and useless and expensive and will never take off!
Ok prove me wrong. Tell me what the killer app for immersive VR is that will make it something more than a geeky niche toy. I'd be happy to be proven wrong so dazzle me with the use case that I'm not thinking of. Show me with examples specific to VR rather than snarky examples of unrelated technologies. I'm all ears.
Seriously, I'd be happy to be wrong but I doubt I will be.