Not only is the entry price very low and the performance surprisingly high (I thought it was going to be nothing more than an attempt at a gimmick that only sort of worked like VR, but the immersion is rich and the visual quality can be quite high for just being a cellphone split in half,) but my guess is that you might use Gear VR on a regular basis more than Oculus or Vive or PSVR ... if VR ever amounts to anything.
Having it be as simple as slapping your phone into a headset and go is wonderful, versus every other solution where you have to clear out a standing space and wire up your head and check your wireless controllers for battery and make sure you never step out of the sensor spot. The hassle of VR in first-gen PC/Console iterations feels like something I'd never use but for only AAA amazing experiences, whereas Gear VR. I'd pull out and slap together whenever I heard a cool 360 Youtube video was out or when a neat game was getting buzz five minutes checking out. Even the controller is right there on the side of the gadget; you can get so much done with that one little touch-button. The wireless, sensorless experience is VR for me, and all of these big devices we're getting are half-steps.
But how much will you actually use Gear VR? Not sure. It didn't convince me it was something I couldn't live without, though I didn't check out nearly enough good software for it. I started to feel that every game was going to be about looking at something and clicking on it, be it a shooter or a puzzler or what have you. And the limitations are there, it's still only as powerful as a phone (and the resolution may bother you, though for my eyesight the crosshatching went away with time.) More complex VR implementation give you more body awareness and more sensors to detect motion and action, and as the sense increases, the experience improves dramatically (...until you step out of the Lighthouse's sensor space and the game grinds to a halt because the controller is out of camera range.)
I think board games especially will be awesome with Gear VR. I played the RTS Tactera, and though the demo had general point-and-click simplicity, it seems awesome to have the landscape laid out in front of you. Relaxing VR games that you can play on your couch like strategy games (especially online with friends, getting to each other through voice chat and avatar representation) could be strong on Gear VR. Racing might also be a lot of fun (provided you get a controller.) Top-down games where you're just looking at the gameplay from your own angle (like Lucky's Tale, though that's too high-spec for Gear VR) may suck you in more than you think. Being in a set space really offered long-term experience that may be Gear VR's specialty; you don't have to go anywhere in the VR world to enjoy it, in fact having just a little game space that you recognize as you sit in it may be just as much fun and may be something you'd spend more time doing since it serves a recognizable purpose. I don't always want to be "immersed in an intense world of enchantment" for hours on end; Gear VR has a wow-factor, but it also works really well for the short bits of time where you just want to kick back for a bit and play a game or check out something cool.
