Virtual reality faces first big consumer test in $99 Samsung Gear VR
SAN FRANCISCO – Predictions always carry risks. But there’s a good bet that November 20, 2015, will go down in tech history as the day the humans truly went virtual.
Sure, the press had gotten glimpses of expensive virtual reality gear such as Oculus Rift, which is expected to debut next year at a reported $1,500. And a decent portion of the public may even possess inexpensive VR devices such as Google Cardboard, a paper holder for VR-app enabled smartphones.
But Friday’s launch of the Samsung’s $99 Gear VR Powered by Oculus headset represents the first time the promise of sophisticated VR is being delivered at a populist price.
VR is increasingly a powerful storytelling option for businesses including video game companies, film studios, ad agencies and media outlets. According to advisory firm Digi-Capital, by 2020 VR will represent a $30 billion market, as long as the viewing experience is good, ubiquitous and affordable. So-called augmented reality, AR, will follow, featuring eyewear that overlays digital data over the real world and representing a mammoth $120 billion business in five years.
Samsung Gear VR is cool, imperfect, mid-priced virtual reality
If Google Glass was a premature foray into AR, Samsung Gear VR is a thermometer that will gauge just how feverish consumers are for an out-of-body experience courtesy of eyewear. It paves the way for an onslaught of VR tech in 2016 that includes Sony PlayStation VR (powered by the gaming console), HTC Vive (powered by a PC), and VR content from the likes of Jaunt and GoPro.
“Early consumer VR (experiences) will determine VR’s long term future, and hugely influence consumer AR roadmaps,” says Tim Merel, CEO of Digi-Capital and AR/VR software company Eyetouch Reality. “AR and VR are the next wave of disruption, and will follow a similar path to smartphones and tablets in terms of price and performance.”
Let’s get some basics out of the way. Virtual reality goggles allow you to play games or watch 360-degree videos while feeling like you’re at the center of the action. Look up, look back, look anywhere and software instantly populates your field of view.
As with the hand-held Cardboard, Samsung’s headset, which was created in concert with Facebook-owned Oculus, uses your smartphone as a viewer. But for $99 you get a comfortable, image-magnifying headpiece that is strapped to your head, as well as side-mounted controls for toggling through on-screen menus. A handheld gamers' control panel is also part of the package.
The most important caveat is that iPhone owners need not get excited. Samsung Gear VR is compatible only with Samsung’s flagship phones, the Galaxy Note 5, S6, S6 edge and 6s edge+. The reason? Pixels, says Nick DiCarlo, Samsung’s vice president for immersive products.
“Apple’s phones come in at around 326 pixels per inch where we’re at 525 to 577, which is important in helping eliminate the screen-door effect,” he says. The screen-door effect describes a fine cross-hatching that can populate VR videos, the greater the processing power the lesser the effect. More on this in a moment.
DiCarlo is hopeful that the company’s new product will indeed represent “a big moment for the idea of VR as a consumer product,” noting that eventually VR will migrate to our laptops and even present us with virtual worlds that we can walk into without headsets, akin to the Holodeck on the Star Trek: Next Generation TV series.
CONTENT INCLUDES GAMES, VIDEOS AND DINOS
As always with any new tech, the most pressing question is, what can I do with it? When Steve Jobs first launched the iPhone, it looked amazing, but with only a handful of apps available, its true promise still loomed on the horizon.
Samsung held off on releasing its VR headset – which media have been able to sample throughout this year – until it had a critical mass of content for the device.
To that end, Gear VR Powered by Oculus gives users access to a half-dozen custom-created video games, a you-are-there Jurassic Park World encounter with a dino and a trip to Africa with the Global Clinton Initiative.
There are also user-uploaded 360-degrees videos accessible via Samsung’s MilkVR platform, as well as a selection of music and entertainment videos from Vrse, the most amusing of which is being able to virtually sit in the audience amid celebrities for the taping of Saturday Night Live’s 40th Anniversary show last year.
Augmented reality set to dominate virtual variety by 2020
Oculus doubles as a virtual movie theater, whether for long flights or when your significant other wants the lights out. Around 70 feature films are available for download for a fee, while Netflix subscribers can enter the Netflix lounge inside Samsung VR. Although the movies are in two dimensions, the room you're watching them in seems like a cozy chalet, complete with snow falling outside a window, movie posters on walls and, dead ahead, a giant-screen TV.
SAMSUNG, OCULUS TEAM TO BEAT VR DRUM
Oculus was started in 2012 by Palmer Luckey, now 23, who sold it to Facebook two years later for $2 billion. Oculus provides Samsung with the software magic that helps make VR a pleasant experience.
"The simplest way to frame this is that Oculus technology drives both of these experiences, but the Rift is about power and presence, whereas the Gear VR shines through portability," says Max Cohen, head of mobile for Oculus.
Early iterations of Luckey’s prototype tended to make users sick, as their brains were processing visual information faster than computers could render it and the resulting lag proved nauseating.
None of that is present in Samsung Gear VR, although the screen-door effect is noticeable at least when compared to watching a Netflix video on any tablet or smartphone. In time, this will disappear as technology continues it Moore's Law-driven charge toward constant refinement at lower prices.
“Of course everyone wants smaller, lighter and higher performance, and eventually that will come,” says DiCarlo. “In fact, we want to give you hands and even fingers, and maybe even the ability to walk around in these virtual worlds.”
Meet Osterhout and its $2,700 AR glasses
But that’s down the road. For the moment, Samsung Gear VR represents an eye-opening moment that is a bit reminiscent of the 1980s, when the first brick-sized cellphones came out. Were they elegant? No. Did they presage a titanic shift in both the culture and communications? Undoubtedly.
So if you see someone looking a little ridiculous sporting an oversized, white plastic pair of eye-obscuring goggles, cut them some slack. They’re busy trying out the future.
Follow USA TODAY technology reporter Marco della Cava on Twitter @marcodellacava.