Virtual Reality

Mobile VR isn't pushing virtual reality forward – it's hindering it

View 5 Images
With each passing year, mobile VR takes only the tiniest steps forward
Will Shanklin/New Atlas
With each passing year, mobile VR takes only the tiniest steps forward
Will Shanklin/New Atlas
The newest Gear VR (2017)
Will Shanklin/New Atlas
Google Daydream View controller
Will Shanklin/New Atlas
Trying out the latest Gear VR and controller
Will Shanklin/New Atlas
Google Daydream View
Will Shanklin/New Atlas
View gallery - 5 images

When today's virtual reality devices first hit the scene, we expected mobile VR to progress and grow at a striking pace. Fast forward to the present: Little has changed in mobile VR – to the point that its slow evolution could be dragging down the mainstream adoption of virtual reality as a whole.

To illustrate our point, we need to look no further than the Samsung Gear VR and its only real competitor, the Google Daydream View. These two headsets are the major players in the mobile VR space, and while we found several reasons to get excited about them initially, their shortcomings and lack of progress have our enthusiasm waning.

Trying out the latest Gear VR and controller
Will Shanklin/New Atlas

Let's start with the Gear VR – a headset that came to fruition through Samsung's partnership with Oculus. Oculus (which was acquired by Facebook in 2014) is the maker of the PC-powered Rift, perhaps the best-known VR headset in the world. At CES 2015, Oculus Product VP Nate Mitchell told us to expect a game of lead-and-follow between the Rift and Gear VR – that the Gear VR would catch up to the Oculus Rift prototypes before too long.

Even if we took that claim too literally, that prediction has fallen laughably short. A third consumer edition of the Gear VR was just announced, and while it adds a controller (prompted, no doubt, by the nearly identical one from the Daydream View), our initial impressions point at the same Gear experience we've been seeing since launch. With the exception of incremental changes in field of view, connectors and color, the headset itself is nearly unchanged.

The same goes for the overall quality of its content library. While some good titles have been added over the past couple of years, we mostly see the Oculus Store proliferating with low-quality experiences, versions of mobile and arcade-influenced games that do little to reflect the capabilities and unique qualities of the medium. Many of our favorite experiences have been available since launch, or close to it.

The newest Gear VR (2017)
Will Shanklin/New Atlas

It's true that developers making games for mobile VR have to deal with the expectations of consumers: Oculus Rift owners wouldn't flinch at a $30 or $40 game, but most people don't expect to pay very much (if at all) for a mobile game. However, we think that obstacle could be overcome with truly impressive mobile headsets.

The content library for the Google Daydream is even more anemic in both quantity and quality. And despite being poised to be compatible with many more Android-running handsets, only six phones - the Pixel, Pixel XL, Moto Z, Asus ZenFone, Huawei Mate 9 and ZTE Axon 7 – are Daydream-ready. Mobile VR is clearly not a priority for most phone makers.

We do appreciate some of the Daydream's minor details, like its soft covering and easy phone mounting. However, its controller – and that of the Gear VR – highlight the inadequacies of mobile VR instead of inching it closer to its PC-powered counterparts.

Google Daydream View controller
Will Shanklin/New Atlas

For instance, why only the one motion controller? To truly simulate hands in games you need two of them (a la Oculus Touch), so the current setup is limited to Wii remote types of experiences, where you point the remote at something and click. It's a step forward from the trackpad built into the headset on previous models, but still a very far cry from "having hands" inside Rift and HTC Vive experiences.

And will we see positional tracking (where the headset tracks your movement through space, beyond just head rotation) in mobile VR anytime soon? Without it, when you move the world moves with you (instead of you moving through the world) – hardly the most immersive way to show off VR to newcomers.

Apart from underwhelming hardware and software developments, there's a very real nausea issue in mobile VR: Even if you do have a mobile VR headset and you find a game that keeps you riveted, the spins that stem from a temple-pinching, fixed-focus display could very well put you out of commission. That may be the biggest problem that positional tracking would help with.

Google Daydream View
Will Shanklin/New Atlas

The far-reaching problem with middling experiences like these is that they don't generate consumer excitement for higher-end virtual reality. Mobile VR devices are positioned to be affordable entry-level glimpses into the possibilities of VR, yet we'd be hard-pressed to pinpoint a mobile VR experience compelling enough to encourage a $1,000+ investment on a PC-powered VR setup. There even seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for it within the smartphone industry, based on the lack of flagships rushing to become Daydream-ready.

Mobile VR has trailed so far behind PC-powered experiences that the two hardly seem related. If mobile VR headsets are ever going to intrigue the masses, they need to progress forward in leaps and bounds, or else they could scare off consumers from seeing the very real potential in VR as a whole.

View gallery - 5 images
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Flipboard
  • LinkedIn
4 comments
MirekKaras
The problem is not is not functionality. That always can be upgraded. The problem is the output device - smart phone. The analogy could be that you are using your 50" tv as your phone. Yes you can do that, but how awkward and ridiculous you will look. We need dedicated small high resolution displays so the device look more like eye glass not like cabinet attach too your head.
aksdad
Alternative fact: mobile isn't slowing down VR development. It's cost, pixel resolution and performance. In fact mobile has drastically increased interest in VR. Current non-mobile headsets are only 1080x1200 resolution per eye (2160x1200) which makes for a rather pixelated experience that's on par with video games from 10 years ago, except it's actually worse because the effective resolution is lower due to being so close to your eye. Mobile headsets are slightly better at 1280 x 1440 per eye (2560x1440), but their frame rates are lower with noticeable stutter because of slower mobile processors. For a better, more immersive experience the resolution needs to at least double, but there are some serious physical resolution limits that display manufacturers are up against right now (about 500 ppi or so) that require significant changes in manufacturing processes to bump up to 1,000 ppi or more. Of course doubling the resolution requires higher bandwidth video processing which is strained already on mobile. You get better video processing, motion sensing and frame rates with dedicated headsets, but you also need a PC ($500+) with an expensive graphics card ($500 or more), plus the cost of the expensive dedicated VR headset ($400 to $800) and you're wired to the PC which can cause tangles if you lose track of how much you've turned; not exactly an immersive experience.
MicahBowen
With the new update, there is no more pixelation.. no more screen door effect, so in that regard, vr has made a giant leap forward.. and as for quality, it doesn't happen overnight.. it's only been a few years.. give it time.. A lof of people love the experience, just because apple hasn't jumped on board doesn't mean that it isn't going forward.. patience...
Daishi
I'm unlikely to get into VR. It seems a little like something out of a black mirror episode to me. I'd probably play with it for 5 minutes say "that's cool" and put it back down. I was hoping to see Samsung and others use it to embrace FPV drones with the platform which would have been cool but it doesn't seem like that was a focus area for them.