Google Releases Improved Cardboard SDK and Adds Street View (blogspot.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Google announced that its Cardboard VR app is now available in 39 languages and 100 countries for both iOS and Android. "With more than 15 million installs of Cardboard apps from Google Play, we're excited to bring VR to even more people around the world," Google Software Engineer Brandon Wuest wrote in a blog post. You can also now explore Google Street View in Cardboard with the Street View app.

Comments

It seems like paper products...

[Anonymous Coward]

don't have as much of a profit margin as technology. Why would they enter a field with lower profit margins and several very well established, long-term near monopolies?

Re:It seems like paper products...

[slazzy]

I think they want to encourage growth, and ideas within the VR area, and to do that quickly you need to make it cheap, accessible and easy to ship.

Re:It seems like paper products...

[Anonymous Coward]

Given International Paper's horrific environmental record, it's good they're getting more responsible competition. I believe they are still the largest cardboard producer in the US. Packaging Corporation and WestRock are two other huge ones that my company buys from. I think WestRock has over 50k employees so this is a huge market with more than enough room for Google to edge into even if the profit margins are small.

Re:It seems like paper products...

[youngone]

I wonder if you might have misunderstood TFA. Google are not manufacturing cardboard at all. They have released updated specs so that anyone can manufacture their own cardboard VR spectacles.

I find it hard to believe that in 2015 US Packaging cannot manufacture cardboard in a clean manner without damaging the environment. Other companies have been doing it for years.

Re: It seems like paper products...

[icebike]

Or you could visit your grandmother and borrow her stereo viewer, and hold your phone on the slide rail, and fire up street view.

Worked for me.

How does this cheap VR compare?

[UnknownSoldier]

How does the quality compare?

Has anyone actually tried this and compared with say the Oculus Rift ?

I know "cheap" VR is giving VR a "bad rep", but what are the actual quantitative differences?

Re:How does this cheap VR compare?

[rwa2]

Had a demo from one of the Oculus devs this weekend.

It's a tough call. They're both very immersive, and I'd even go so far as to say that if I didn't know what to look for, I wouldn't be able to pick out the differences qualitatively. I wouldn't go so far as to say the "cheap" VR is giving VR a bad rep, though, you can get your rocks off either way. It will be more of a challenge with the smartphone-based VR, but it's "good enough".

All of my panoramic and photosphere shots are available on my Nexus 5, and it's pretty amazing to revisit those places in Google Cardboard, even though it's not even stereoscopic 3D. The best 3D app I've seen so far is the Titans of Space , but a couple of the other demos are cute enough to be interesting. It's definitely quite usable and much more compelling than experiencing this content without Cardboard. Everyone I've shown it to is pretty amazed.

That said, the Oculus Rift experience is very cool, and you can really appreciate the extra fidelity. I did the Gears of War slow-mo teaser and The Hobbit dragon liar, and the increased resolution and head tracking does make it much more immersive. You can crouch down behind things, and bob and weave your head and try to "eat" bits of debris floating around in space. People are definitely going to get hurt, since they really get to use their head as a controller. This feature is amazing, and the "hard core" crowd will definitely build Oculus setups for themselves, but I don't think it will go mainstream for some time. There were a few times I wandered out of range of the hi-fidelity IR head tracking camera, and I barely noticed other than the quick jolt I get when going in and out of its view. I think the accelerometer sensors on board the Oculus and the Smartphone-based VR are decent enough. I didn't spend a whole lot of time in it, but I didn't experience any vertigo... I don't experience any vertigo with Cardboard either. I think people are either able to adjust or they aren't... sure maybe the Oculus induces less headaches after prolonged use because of the better head tracking and latency, but I don't think it'll be that huge of a difference for people who are predispositioned to get nauseated or no. There also seems to be focus issues that will confound people who don't bother to position the Oculus on their heads just right... there was a lot of fussing around for everyone to adjust all the straps just right, whereas Cardboard is much easier to just hold up to your face and go and share (maybe with those removable forehead strips to absorb facial oils)

The dev also had a nice Samsung VR headset. It was a bit nicer than Cardboard and had the little trackpad on the side, but it didn't add considerably to the enjoyment. The $15 Cardboard is good enough on the low end to experience most of what's out there. I see people using lots of Cardboard for shared VR experiences for the whole family... I don't know many people who have multiple beefy gaming PCs, but just about everyone and their dog has a half-decent smartphone.

That said, I'm certainly going to get an Oculus setup when they come out, because I'm that kind of guy (but not enough of that kind of guy to get the DK2). I'll probably also have to upgrade my elderly Geforce 560Ti before then, though, so it's going to set me back plenty. In the meantime, by all means get a $15 Cardboard to go with your current smartphone. Plenty of decent content is already there, and more is always on the way. It's a great time for VR no matter what your equipment.

Re:How does this cheap VR compare?

[FatdogHaiku]

I know "cheap" VR is giving VR a "bad rep", but what are the actual quantitative differences?

Slight horizontal misalignment due to fatter wallet?

Re:How does this cheap VR compare?

[locopuyo]

This doesn't compare, just like many of the other bad VR sets it doesn't tackle the two biggest and hardest problems, motion blur, and input lag.

Motion blur will give you a headache and the input lag completely ruins immersion.

Re:How does this cheap VR compare?

[UnknownSoldier]

Thanks for the mini review! It's been ~2 years since I've tried the Oculus so interested to hear how it compares with the Google Cardboard.

I'm still waiting to see if VR takes off (it has been that way for 20 years; the main problems are still problems, although less so). I have my doubts if it will get the mass consensus. Hoping, but "wait-and-see."

> but I didn't experience any vertigo.

Hmm, that's interesting. I've been gaming since the early 80's and never get vertigo. I did with the Oculus within the first few minutes. My brain had a hard time trying to decouple the inconsistent and mixed messages that the eyes + hears were sending.

> The $15 Cardboard is good enough on the low end to experience most of what's out there.

That is good to hear !

> I see people using lots of Cardboard for shared VR experiences for the whole family.

I could totally see that. I just wonder if VR won't end up like the 3D glasses though? Sure it is dam cool to experience but there is no "killer app" and lack of content doen't push it over the edge as a "necessity".

> I'll probably also have to upgrade my elderly Geforce 560Ti before then

My last dev + gaming rig (Athlon Phenom II 955BE @ 3.5 GHz), 16 GB, 128 GB SSD, used a GTX 560Ti w/ 448 cores. I upgraded to an i7-4770K + GTX 980 Ti + 32 GB RAM + 256 GB SSD. Playing on Starcraft 2, Elite: Dangerous, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, etc. all on Ultra settings at 4K is **awesome.** Save up! Upgrading is totally worth it !!

> Plenty of decent content is already there, and more is always on the way. It's a great time for VR no matter what your equipment.

I guess I should check out some of the newer content. Elite: Dangerous supports the Oculus -- might have to get one earlier rather then later. :-)

Re:How does this cheap VR compare?

[Anonymous Coward]

One way in which Cardboard actually beats Occulus Rift is that it's wireless. This means you can stand in a room and have full 360 degree freedom without strangling yourself with a cable.

Quality wise, I guess it depends what phone you stick in the cardboard. I found my old Nexus 4 is pretty good. I tried a Sony (don't know the model) and it was much more laggy.

Re:How does this cheap VR compare?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey man, I'm still gaming with my trusty gtx560ti! Does Battlefield 3 pretty decently still in HD.

Re:How does this cheap VR compare?

[DrXym]

The experience is quite reasonable if you have a high resolution display. Head tracking is good and a modern phone has a enough power to deliver some impressive demos. The biggest issue is there is very limited interaction - there is a "button" on the side (basically a rubber band attached to an nfc chip) but otherwise interaction is performed by pointing your head at some timer activated control and waiting long enough for it to trigger.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that cardboard demonstrates how shallow VR actually is. While the demos are neat the novelty soon wears off and you're left wondering what the heck the fuss is about. At least it's only a few bucks. I expect the buyer's remorse felt from those buying a dedicated VR headset will be far worse.

Auto Reading the Inference

[Zanadou]

Am I the only one who read "Google" then immediately read "Ads [for] Cardboard"?

#signofthetimes

Re:Auto Reading the Inference

[Anonymous Coward]

Cardboard is unrelated to Glass. One is a cheap VR headset designed to allow for a home-wearable 3D display. The other is an AR headset designed to wear out in the world and feed you information in an active, mostly hands-free way. Apart from both involving looking at things and both being by Google, there're really no similarities.

They could have improved the name

[Flavianoep]

Every time I see the words "Google Cardboard", I think of a cell phone mounted on a cardboard, that people can wear on their heads. I can't help thinking of something made of actual cardboard, whereas English is not even my first language!