Design wise, the new Gear VR looks pretty much like Samsung’s previous virtual reality headsets, though it does have a revamped trackpad.
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First up: Samsung’s Gear VR is getting an update.
Samsung is gearing up for the holiday shopping season with a new, affordable toy for virtual reality enthusiasts. But the Gear VR and other mobile headsets like Google Cardboard that people can carry around with them and easily share with VR n00bs are what will bring the medium to the masses.
The series of announcements represents attempts to push the platform beyond a video-gamer-focused niche. Plus, Hollywood studios Fox and Lionsgate are partnering with Gear VR.
“Samsung has been at the forefront of delivering mobile experiences and “Gear VR Innovator Edition” launched previous year was no exception”, J.K. Shin, chief executive officer and president of IT and Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics, said in a statement. And now, at the keynote of the biggest VR conference – Oculus Connect – Palmer Luckey announced that Minecraft will be adding official Oculus Rift support next year.
The new Gear VR will start shipping in the United States from November.
Oculus has indicated that the GearVR and the Rift will both have access to the Oculus Platform, which will allow for third-party developers.
The new Gear VR was created for ensuring a great virtual reality experience to users. The Gear VR, which requires users to insert the latest version of a Samsung smartphone into the headset, will ship in November.
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The new headset will work with all of Samsung’s 2015-model smartphones, and is described as lighter and more comfortable than the existing “Innovator Edition”. The Gear VR, which is developed with the Facebook-owned VR company Oculus, will go on sale this autumn for (£65).
