The virtual reality headset developed by Samsung is closer to becoming a reality. According to Sammobile, who have also gotten their mittens on photos of GEAR VR, the device will be launched at IFA 2014.
Gear VR, as Samsung’s product is rumoredly going to be called, will function in a manner that makes it closer to Google Cardboard, rather than to Oculus Rift. Samsung’s VR headset will only be compatible with Galaxy smartphones (most probably only flagships such as S5 or Note 3), so the South Korean company has a precise target audience in mind. On top of that, this design enables Samsung to create a VR headset that doesn’t have an exorbitant price.
Galaxy smartphones will connect to Gear VR via USB 3.0. The necessity for a high-speed connection rose from high bitrate of the material that’s projected in the headset. The virtual reality effect is achieved with the help of the accelerometer, gyroscope and processing power included in the smartphone. Basically, the headset relies on the smartphone to do the head-tracking required for the VR effect.
If the above picture is real, it means that Samsung has also decided on how to call its VR headset. It’s good to see that they went for a simple name that’s incredibly easy to memorize.
Oculus currently reigns supreme in the world of VR headsets (which frankly, doesn’t really have that many members), and Samsung somehow admitted that it couldn’t have possibly developed Gear VR from the ground up, alone. More precisely, the Korean company collaborated with Oculus VR (or, in other words, with Facebook) in order to create the software for Gear VR. As far as the hardware is concerned, Samsung took the matter into its own hands, and to be honest, the headset doesn’t look bad at all.
As IFA 2014 takes place as usual, in Berlin, from September 5 to 10, we’ll have to wait till then to see if the above photos are real, and if Samsung’s device represents a threat to Facebook’s Oculus and Sony’s Morpheus VR headsets. Another star that Samsung might launch at IFA 2014 is the Galaxy Note 4, which should also work with Gear VR. The problem is that the Note phablets are made for productivity, while Gear VR is clearly built with gamers in mind, so it will be interesting to see the reaction of past and future Note users.
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