Making virtual reality that bit more real, Google’s new Daydream View turns your smartphone into a virtual wonderland.
At $149, Daydream View 2017 is one of the more affordable ways to make the leap into VR because it lacks a built-in screen. Instead, you slip your phone into the headset to offer a slightly different view to each eye.
The device works as a simple VR viewer with any iOS or Android smartphone that can run the basic Google Cardboard app, but you’ll get the best results from Daydream-compatible Android handsets, such as Google’s new Pixel 2. These run advanced VR apps and take advantage of the Daydream View’s tiny handheld controller to make apps more interactive.
The upside of this design is that it’s completely wireless, unlike the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or PlayStation VR, which leave you tethered to a computer or console. The trade-off is that these other headsets are “free-roaming”, using external cameras to track your real-world movements, so you can walk around.
Google is developing a free-roaming headset, but for now you’re rooted to the spot with the Daydream View. Sitting in a swivel chair works best, because you can look in any direction, but ducking down or stepping to the side doesn’t change your point of view. It’s frustrating if you’ve experienced free-roaming VR, but thankfully Daydream apps employ tricks to overcome this limitation, such as pointing at a spot with the controller and clicking the button to teleport.
Dive into the Google Play app store and you’ll find Google’s apps such as Daydream, YouTubeVR and Street View, along with a growing range of slick third-party Daydream VR apps. You can walk through the world’s great museums and then explore the fantasy world of JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, or else get hands-on with games like LegoBrickheadz Builder and the mind-bending Virtual Virtual Reality.
To make VR more of a group experience it’s also possible to send what you can see to your television via a Google Chromecast streaming stick. You’ll also find multi-player games like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, which puts you in a room with a bomb while your friends talk you through defusing it.
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Source: The Sydney Morning Herald