Remember when we got some eyes-on time with Samsung's Oculus-powered VR headset earlier this year? Well, the Gear VR is now on sale in the US, though the company is making it clear that this is a product aimed at early adopters and developers, and not yet ready for mainstream consumption.
If you missed it the first time around, the Gear VR is the fruit of a collaboration between Samsung and Oculus. Instead of using a tethered PC or console for the visor's brains, though, it uses a Galaxy Note 4. That means the Note's Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440) display is split between the headset's two lenses.
The headset has a 96-degree field of view from any given position, though of course the fun lies in rotating your head to explore full 360-degree environments. In our hands-on, we found the experience to be nearly identical to that of using an Oculus VR developer kit.
![Using the Gear VR at a Samsung event earlier this year (Photo: Will Shanklin/Gizmag.com)](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/f5b50d7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2426x1906+0+0/resize/1222x960!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2Fgear-vr-availability-2.jpg)
Our other big observation from September was how underwhelming the demo content was (at the time, we only saw a non-interactive Coldplay concert). When you consider the challenge of creating content for not just a new platform, but an entirely new medium ... well, you can see why Samsung is downplaying the Gear VR as a commercial product (in fact, it's called the "Gear VR Innovator Edition"). The content condundrum may also be why the company is handing the content-downloading reins over to the Oculus VR app store.
At launch, Samsung says early adopters can choose from a dungeon adventure game called HeroBound, a multiplayer space shooter called Anshar Wars, and demos like an undersea exploration and a Cirque du Soleil show, among others.
![Top view of the Gear VR (Photo: Will Shanklin/Gizmag.com)](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/9498185/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3802x3000+0+0/resize/1217x960!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2Fgear-vr-availability-0.jpg)
The Gear VR Innovator Edition is available now from Samsung's and AT&T's websites. It costs US$200, in addition to the Galaxy Note 4 required to power it (it typically runs $300 on-contract, $700 full retail). No other smartphones are listed as being compatible.
For more, you can revisit our eyes-on with the Gear VR from back in September.
Product page: Samsung