Samsung Gear VR Headset Update With Handheld Controller
Samsung’s mobile virtual
reality effort, the Gear VR, has been an important product to the company in
terms of drumming up excitement around the company’s innovation on next-gen
platforms.
Since the earliest
version of the headset was first announced in 2014, we’ve seen a few largely
incremental updates to the company’s VR platform. Today, we see another.
At Mobile World
Congress, Samsung teased a new version of its Gear VR and while details were
mostly scant, the highlight of the announcement is definitely the new handheld motion
controller.
At this point, Samsung
is really just playing catch-up to Google’s Daydream View headset which also
includes a motion controller. Much like the offering from Daydream, the new
Gear VR controller isn’t going to deliver the level of precision that one gets
from using the controllers on the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift with Touch.
The purpose of this
controller is to give players a couple more methods of navigating menus via
gestures and interact with VR content without having to paw at the headset's buttons.
The controller, which
looks nothing like Oculus' own Touch peripherals, also comes with a wrist
strap, offering a Wii-esque form of safety against flying controllers. The new
Gear VR headset packs in 42mm lenses with a 101-degree field of view and
improved distortion correction tech to further reduce motion sickness, and if
you don't need the controller, there's a strap built into the headset to house
it. The controller itself doesn't need charging - you just need to replace a
AAA battery inside. A spokesperson says that more than 70 new controller titles
are already in development, and existing touchpad apps will also work with the
remote.
Alongside a clickable
touchpad, there's a trigger, home, back and volume keys. The controller also
has an accelerometer, gyrometer and magnetic sensors built-in.
The new Gear VR will be
compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 edge, Note 5, S6, S6 edge, and S6
edge+.
Samsung has tried to
push forward use of external gamepads on the Gear VR, especially for more
complex titles like Minecraft, but adoption hasn’t been all that significant.
Samsung really didn’t
give too many details out about the device in terms of pricing or availability,
though the company said it would be opening up and SDK to developers in the
coming weeks. This announcement was likely a bit premature but given the lack
of a smartphone launch for Samsung at MWC, there was probably some need for a
little VR excitement.
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