Samsung and Oculus announced the launch of a new “consumer” version of the Gear VR virtual reality glasses.
Advertisement
Though details about the final release were scarce, Koo told the crowd that the new headset will be “22 percent lighter” than the prior model and will receive improvements to the side-of-head touchpad and “overall feel“.
What we have here is the Samsung producing Gear VR that uses the smartphone as a display for the VR headset, whereas the HTC has made one that has sensors detecting lasers and the surroundings.
This was announced at the Oculus Connect conference earlier today.
Oculus is trying to change that by selling the latest model of its Gear VR headset for just $99. This time around it’s the 2015 lineup which includes the Galaxy S6, Galaxy Note 5 and their variants. “We’re thinking about advertising our own product out in the world to get more people to grab a Rift or a Gear VR but in-VR advertising is not something is not something we’re considering at all right now”.
The mobile giant has teamed up with VR experts Oculus for the release of the device, which it hopes will help push its top space in the wearables sector when it goes on sale later this year. It will cost $99 (roughly £64) when it launches in November.
The upcoming Gear VR headset will be priced at half the cost of the previous versions of the virtual reality device, according to Trusted Reviews. Oculus is also hard at work on their Rift headset, which will require a relatively powerful computer to function properly. Consumers will also be able to stream over 100 movies from Fox through an Oculus Cinema app and games through the Oculus Arcade.
Advertisement
Samsung Gear VR, a virtual reality headset that is paired with the company’s smartphones, is poised to expand its media menu with the addition of compatible apps from Netflix, Hulu and Twitch, with several more partners on deck. Ergonomic appeal looks set to be one of the biggest challenges that VR as a whole faces on its journey towards mainstream adoption, and so it’s smart for resources to be concentrated on this aspect of the device.
