YouTube VR could kickstart broader interest in virtual reality, a burgeoning trend that has captivated the tech industry through its ability to transport people into wholly different digital worlds.
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The 360-degree angle viewing for the videos has let the users of Google Cardboard to have an ecstatic experience than watching a normal video which now seems appalling.
This YouTube iOS update comes just a week after Google updated the video streaming app with bug fixes.
VR apps from Netflix, Hulu and Oculus have gone a step further to create a virtual movie theater experience that surrounds you while you watch. However, the new Google VR headset will be made of a more expensive and, will be made of, a more rigid material than cardboard, according to CNet. The only certainty is that VR’s primary head-to-head matchup will pit Google against Facebook along with Microsoft. Naturally, if you aren’t using VR, the YouTube UI won’t be changing.
Most prized is getting a piece of the virtual reality hardware market, but making VR appeal to the masses is the whole industry’s collective job.
To access the new feature, you’ll need to make sure your YouTube app is version 11.18 or later.
“On top of Android N, we’ve built a new platform for high quality mobile VR called Daydream”. Next, insert your compatible iPhone to the VR headset. You can tap on the phone’s display if the video gets lost off screen, as well as pause the video and skip around – with the press of a single button on the Cardboard.
“We’re creating the YouTube VR app to provide an easier, more immersive way to find and experience virtual reality content on YouTube”, Kurt Wilms, senior product manager for YouTube VR, wrote in a blog post.
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What’s interesting about the application is that it skips the typical virtual store approach that we’ve grown used to in Second Life and OpenSim, which is a virtual version of an actual, physical store that you can walk through. There have been rumors doing the rounds that Google might be launching a new “Android VR” domain sometime late this week.
