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[fluffydelusions]

Some sort of virtual reality device just announced on livestream here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRLy0QQI6xU

EDIT:
Samsung and Oculus partner to create Gear VR, a virtual reality headset that uses the Note 4 (hands-on)

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/03/samsung-virtual-reality/

 

[Adry9]

Megaton.

 

[SuicidalSteve]

is that a phone inside the compartment? oh my

 

[mocoworm]

For consoles or just their own devices?

[EDIT] OP now has the info. Thanks.

 

[mocoworm]

COOOOL

The most important software on Gear VR is video passthrough. By long-pressing the back button on the headset, the Note 4's 16-megapixel rear camera shows a feed of the real world (albeit a slightly delayed one). While this can be used for augmented reality applications, it's also sure to be a standard in all VR headsets going forward. Using a headset and want to sip your tasty beverage? Video passthrough. The dog's barking and you're wondering what's up? Video passthrough. You want to do literally anything without having to remove the whole headset? Video passthrough. Seriously, this is a standard-setting situation. Expect it from the competition.

 

[Menome]

Come on Microsoft, Apple et al., there's still room on the wagon. Which honestly is a good thing. The more companies there are doing it, the more acceptable it'll become and the greater amount of striving to have 'the best' headset will result in a better product overall.

Spoiler

Plus we can all laugh when Apple announces theirs with a $3,000 price-tag then gawp when people buy it anyway.

 

[d0g_bear]

it's not really a megaton, oculus has said for a long time (like years) that standalone android devics are coming. This even leaked with pictures a few weeks back.

 

[JackDebian]

Samsung has a history of poorly conceived 'Me too' devices. They usually try to be first to market with a device that barely works, so I would be very skeptical of whatever they do with this.

 

[Caelus]

I can see this being put to use.

 

[Foshy]

COOOOL

sounds interesting in theory, but i feel like you need 2 cameras for that to work well.

 

[GhostTrick]

I can see this being put to use.

"Wtf am I looking at"

 

[Cornbread78]

I can see this being put to use.

Just waiting to see the first xnxx app being released or Samsung VR use...

 

[JackDebian]

I can see this being put to use.

Carl Pilkington is that you?

 

[Newline]

Samsung has a history of poorly conceived 'Me too' devices. They usually try to be first to market with a device that barely works, so I would be very skeptical of whatever they do with this.

Well its codeveloped by Oculus so the software is going to be pretty standardised, hard for this to go wrong.

 

[SerTapTap]

Come on Microsoft, Apple et al., there's still room on the wagon. Which honestly is a good thing. The more companies there are doing it, the more acceptable it'll become and the greater amount of striving to have 'the best' headset will result in a better product overall.

Spoiler

Plus we can all laugh when Apple announces theirs with a $3,000 price-tag then gawp when people buy it anyway.

Depressingly you may be right, people already seem to be reacting to this better than morpheus/Oculus (at least the maximum hate levels seem to be lower). Which is kinda a shame, it's certainly going to be worse tech than CV1/Morpheus retail

 

[thelatestmodel]

Carl Pilkington is that you?

I was thinking it looked more like Thom Yhorkhe:

 

[soultron]

But I thought display lag was a hampering element in most Android handsets?

 

[kaching]

The video passthrough idea sounds like a good standard for others to march to, at least.

 

[dude819]

So what would you do with this thing?

I know everyone wants to just say "cool" and get hyped but they announced a device and almost nothing to do with it except watch movie trailers.

 

[Seanspeed]

is that a phone inside the compartment? oh my

That's kind of the beauty about it - its a wireless solution and you don't need to pair it up with some external device in order to power it.

That said, this *is* too early for this, no matter the article says. It should stay in a development stage until there's content for it and all the bugs and whatnot are ironed out in terms of using it. As it is, its gonna be rolled out and only the very most curious, enthusiast or ill-informed consumers are going to buy it because there's pretty much nothing to do with it yet.

The video passthrough idea sounds like a good standard for others to march to, at least.

Yea, I think this has been expected for a while now. Its simple, gets the job done, and should allay many fears that users would be too isolated with it on.

 

[Durante]

Note that this was pretty much common knowledge/expectation for a while now.

The important new information in this is 96°FoV (kind of small), 60 Hz refresh rate (so also no strobing, which is quite important), and as far as I can tell no positional tracking.

This puts it quite significantly below DK2 in terms of VR quality, without even going into the 3D rendering power driving the respective systems.

 

[Seanspeed]

Note that this was pretty much common knowledge/expectation for a while now.

The important new information in this is 96°FoV (kind of small), 60 Hz refresh rate (so also no strobing, which is quite important), and as far as I can tell no positional tracking.

This puts it quite significantly below DK2 in terms of VR quality, without even going into the 3D rendering power driving the respective systems.

Why is the FoV so small anyways? Isn't this the same display expected for CV1, basically?

 

[Durante]

Why is the FoV so small anyways? Isn't this the same display expected for CV1, basically?

The FoV is a function of the display size, its position, and the optics. I'd assume the latter 2 differ compared to what will be in CV1.

 

[Remark]

Depressingly you may be right, people already seem to be reacting to this better than morpheus/Oculus (at least the maximum hate levels seem to be lower). Which is kinda a shame, it's certainly going to be worse tech than CV1/Morpheus retail

True but with association of video games with morpheus/oculus turns some people off in that mass market. with this they dont see that and start to see the other oppurtunites that can be done with this even though most likely the tech for this will not be the best.

 

[Kysen]

Samsung has a history of poorly conceived 'Me too' devices. They usually try to be first to market with a device that barely works, so I would be very skeptical of whatever they do with this.

Yep I'm firmly in the avoid camp. Just look at their terrible attempts at smart watches.

 

[nib95]

This might not seem like it'd work well, but it really does. Tested something similar using my friends Nexus and his cardboard Google box (which basically turns the phone in to DIY VR) and it's an amazing experience, even if it is much less refined.

Samsung are essentially just taking this concept to the next affordable evolutionary stage.

 

[SerTapTap]

Why is the FoV so small anyways? Isn't this the same display expected for CV1, basically?

The display is a phone. They're not going to release a 32:9 phone just so you can have a nice FOV.

This might not seem like it'd work well, but it really does. Tested it using my friends Nexus and his cardboard Google box (which basically turns the phone in to DIY VR) and it's an amazing experience, even if it is much less refined.
Samsung are essentially just taking it to the next affordable evolutionary stage.

Cardboard was for devs to screw around with VR not a consumer product

 

[metareferential]

Note 4 has a rumoured 4k screen, right?

Too bad it's 60hz with low FoV.

The display is a phone. They're not going to release a 32:9 phone just so you can have a nice FOV.

The display in the DK2 is a phone too.

 

[georly]

I was planning on getting a note 4 anyway, i'm due for an upgrade. If this is less than 70-80 bucks, since it's just a holster for the phone, I might pick it up for the convenience of watching movies while lying down in bed.

 

[$h@d0w]

Holy shit, it's happening.

 

[Ty4on]

Note that this was pretty much common knowledge/expectation for a while now.

The important new information in this is 96°FoV (kind of small), 60 Hz refresh rate (so also no strobing, which is quite important), and as far as I can tell no positional tracking.

This puts it quite significantly below DK2 in terms of VR quality, without even going into the 3D rendering power driving the respective systems.

It is 1440p though. One place where 500+PPI makes sense, but I hope the real consumer version gets a display with three, large subpixels.

I find it hilarious how the way we solve most issues nowadays is by throwing a phone at it. The DK2 already is a Note 3 display with different electronics

 

[FlyinJ]

I hope this thing has positional tracking or people are going to be puking.

Looks to me that it just uses the phone's gyros for rotational...

 

[BrokenIcarus]

Saw something very similar last year at GamesCom, wasn't very impressed to be honest, but nevertheless a nice idea.

 

[Vuze]

Ocean Rift will be a launch title for GearVR it seems. (Dev account)

 

[nib95]

Cardboard was for devs to screw around with VR not a consumer product

Try it. You'll realise there's mass potential consumer application for it. Not everyone is going to rush out to buy a $300(+/-) proper stand alone VR kit. However so many these days already have a hi tech mobile, and might consider buying a $40 piece of kit that turns it in to a make-shift VR device.

 

[SerTapTap]

Note 4 has a rumoured 4k screen, right?

Too bad it's 60hz with low FoV.



The display in the DK2 is a phone too.

1440p. And DK2 has all of 4 degrees on this device.

Does positional tracking help make the FOV less of an issue? You could just move your head as well as your eyes that way. Though this apparently doesn't have it

Try it. You'll realise there's mass potential consumer application for it. Not everyone is going to rush out to buy a $300(+/-) proper VR kit. However so many these days already have a hi tech mobile, and might consider buying a $40 piece of kit that turns it in to a make-shift VR device.

For VR? Yes. For Cardboard? No. They'll sell something like the "Gear VR", just a cell phone strap basically and probably integrate some VR tech into Android core. But cardboard was an experiment for developers to play with, I'm sure their "experiment" for consumers to try will be next year or so and require no assembly beyond tossing your phone in it.

 

[georly]

It is 1440p though.

I find it hilarious how the way we solve most issues nowadays is by throwing a phone at it. The DK2 already is a Note 3 display with different electronics

Everyone has a phone (at least in the US and other first world countries), phones are an established thing that you can assume almost everyone will have. Any problem you can solve with a phone, even if there's a better, non-phone solution for it, the phone will win - so long as it solves it 'well enough.' It's just a convenience thing.

 

[GavinUK86]

Everyone has a phone (at least in the US and other first world countries), phones are an established thing that you can assume almost everyone will have. Any problem you can solve with a phone, even if there's a better, non-phone solution for it, the phone will win - so long as it solves it 'well enough.' It's just a convenience thing.

Not true. I don't.

 

[Ty4on]

Everyone has a phone (at least in the US and other first world countries), phones are an established thing that you can assume almost everyone will have. Any problem you can solve with a phone, even if there's a better, non-phone solution for it, the phone will win - so long as it solves it 'well enough.' It's just a convenience thing.

Not just that, the DK2 which could use any display has a stock Note 3 display in it. Phones are so important that's where all the technology development goes.

 

[Betta Lines]

Very interesting to see the Oculus branding on the side, and the touchpad. Perhaps the Rift CV1 having something like that too. Also passthrough mode... that pretty much confirms CV1 will have it too (you wouldn't want the premium VR headset to lack a feature of Samsung's Android-based version).

 

[Business]

Lack of raw power and battery will keep this from being a high end gaming solution for many years, but that's mainstream VR right here. Pretty neat concept, plus wireless.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

Wow. Video pass sounds great

Everything else sounds kinda gimped :/

 

[UpDownLeftRight]

It's a clever idea and I can see the mass appeal compared to the main feast a lot of people have been waiting on, I just hope it doesn't detract from OR. With it now being the property of Facebook, is there not a possibility that the Oculus could become a sideshow to this?

 

[Ty4on]

I wonder how much pentile is to blame:

This comes out to 515 PPI, which should be high enough for general smartphone usage but in my experience with the Gear VR it isn’t enough for VR usage, which holds the display as close as possible to the eye.

 

[plainr_]

Nice. I would get a Note 4 this.

 

[Lionheart]

Everyone has a phone (at least in the US and other first world countries), phones are an established thing that you can assume almost everyone will have. Any problem you can solve with a phone, even if there's a better, non-phone solution for it, the phone will win - so long as it solves it 'well enough.' It's just a convenience thing.

That is only true if you can solve it with any (or many different types of) phone though imo. A solution that only works for one expensive phone won't stand a chance against a standalone solution with a lot of support, a reasonable price and which offers much better experiences.

 

[nib95]

For VR? Yes. For Cardboard? No. They'll sell something like the "Gear VR", just a cell phone strap basically and probably integrate some VR tech into Android core. But cardboard was an experiment for developers to play with, I'm sure their "experiment" for consumers to try will be next year or so and require no assembly beyond tossing your phone in it.

I meant with respect to a Gear VR type encasing lol. Obviously they're not going to mass market a cardboard box….

As you rightly said, that was just an experiment, and as I said, this is just Samsung taking that experiment to the next level. I was very skeptical myself, but even the initial cardboard versions work surprisingly well.

 

[metareferential]

Lack of raw power and battery will keep this from being a high end gaming solution for many years, but that's mainstream VR right here. Pretty neat concept, plus wireless.

Games with low gpu requirements are going to be massively popular on those devices.

Especially passive experiences.

 

[SerTapTap]

I really hope the "mobile" aspect of this doesn't make everyone shy away from stationary tech like cameras for positional tracking. Technically this is using a phone but the use case is still mostly going to be at home-sit-down, so stationary hardware isn't a big ask. Ugh, mobile is great in some ways but it's caused some major regressions in input and other areas.

 

[Lady Siara]

I wasn't expecting them to announce this so early, let alone launch it this year. I'm pretty sure they partnered up in a way so that Oculus would help Samsung with Gear VR software wise, and Samsung is providing them with their top of the line displays for the inevitable consumer version.

Gear VR seems like that haphazard HMZ Sony dropped last year. I can't imagine the price will be too bad seeing as how all of the hardware is in the phone itself, it's just a matter of if there's a market for it. I suppose it would be nice for watching movies and such, but 60hz is not ideal for anything game related.