Skip to main content

Samsung Steps Into The World Of Virtual Reality With The Gear VR Headset



Samsung is venturing boldly into the world of virtual reality, but not without one of its trusty smartphones strapped along for the ride. The company today introduced the Samsung Gear VR, a headset that plugs into the Galaxy Note 4 to create a virtual reality experience not unlike that of the Oculus Rift.

The Gear VR itself is filled with various sensors, while the processor and the battery of the Galaxy Note 4 handle all the heavy lifting. After removing the visor, users can plug in their Galaxy Note 4 into the device and the 2k display will take over.

Samsung is tapping Oculus to power the device, which uses Oculus’ VR store to give users access to content. The Gear VR will also be able to give users access to concerts, 360 degree tours of cities and locations, among other things.

Since the Gear VR splits the resolution of the Galaxy Note 4’s 518ppi display, the experience isn’t super HD. However, in the short time we had to try out the headset, it certainly offers an interesting virtual reality experience for those who are looking for a more lightweight option.

Oculus and Samsung worked diligently on this together, which gives Oculus further distribution in the market with the Oculus store and gives Samsung some credibility and established content hitting a brand new market for the first time.

At launch, the Gear VR will come with some special content including a tour of Tony Stark’s Lab (as a part of a partnership with Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron). IMAX is also offering trailers and samples of films to watch in a virtual theater, as well as 360-degree live-action 3D VR for perormances like Cirque Du Soleil and Zarkana.

Vevo is also offering access to more than 100,000 HD music videos, live concert events, etc.

Why is Samsung releasing a VR headset now? That’s anyone’s guess. I suppose the only answer is that it can. The phones are powerful enough to act as the guts for this thing and I could foresee a time when VR headsets are essentially dumb pieces of plastic that you slip your phone into to create a similar experience, with all the in-phone sensors doing all the work. Until then, you have his.

VR is an exciting option for big electronics companies, with Facebook buying Oculus, Google getting more deeply immersed in Glass, and now Samsung hopping in the boat. Time will tell how the category matures, but in the short term, you can look for the Gear VR in the fall. No pricing information has been released.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How To Hide Text In Microsoft Word 2007, Reveal It & Protect It

Sometimes what we hide is more important than what we reveal. Especially, documents with sensitive information, some things are supposed to be ‘for some eyes only’. Such scenarios are quite common, even for the more un-secretive among us. You want to show someone a letter composed in MS Word, but want to keep some of the content private; or it’s an official letter with some part of it having critical data. As important as these two are, the most common use could involve a normal printing job. Many a time we have to print different versions of a document, one copy for one set of eyes and others for other sets. Rather than creating multiple copies and therefore multiple printing jobs, what if we could just do it from the same document?  That too, without the hassle of repeated cut and paste. We can, with a simple feature in MS Word – it’s just called Hidden and let me show you how to use it to hide text in Microsoft Word 2007. It’s a simple single click process. Open the docum...
1 comment
Read more

Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin

Have you heard about Boom? Boom is a relatively new startup that’s aiming to build something pretty crazy. They’re not building an app… or a social network… or even some new gadget for the Kickstarter crowd. Boom wants to build planes. Really, really, really fast planes. Specifically, they’re trying to design and build a supersonic passenger plane that goes 2.2x the speed of sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be able to shuttle people from New York to London in 3.5 hours, and SF to Tokyo in 4.5. Sound crazy? I wouldn’t disagree. It’s worth noting that the company is in the very early days for something as intensive, massive, and hugely expensive as designing and producing a passenger aircraft. They’re still working on their first prototype, and hope to fly it by late next year. But it’s also worth noting that the team behind the plane has some serious talent in its blood: the company’s 11 employees have collectively contributed to over 30 aircrafts — having worked on thin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Build Your Own Awesome Personal 3D Avatar with Avatara

Do you use social networks and want to build your own awesome 3D avatar? Maybe you want to send someone a cute cuddly image of yourself (kind of)? Or maybe you have your own ideas of what you would do with an Avatar… Well look no further than Avatara which I discovered from the MakeUseOf directory . You can create 3d avatars out of pre-set up templates or create your own from scratch. To start, visit Avatara’s homepage . You will see this screen: Click Get Started to umm, get started! That will take you to this screen: You see that you can build your own Avatar using an uploaded head shot like the Obama one above (just an example, guys). Or roll with one of their awesome avatars. I chose to start with a blank avatar by clicking Start with a blank avatar at the bottom of the screen. That takes you to here: I clicked on the filter at the top and told it to filter out everything but male characters and then I saw this: I rolled with Buck and continued. You need to click Select...
1 comment
Read more