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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.
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.
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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.
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. :-)
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.
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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.