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So I tried the Samsung gear vr for the first time, didn't think much of it, too pixelated and didn't feel much immersion. Some Cirque du Soleil stuff and some other demo thing about skiing down the slop of a snowy mountain. How much different are real HMD like HTC Vive and Oculus from the phone HMD's?
I own both Gear VR and a Vive, so I can answer that.
Vive and Rift both suffer from what you are calling pixelated, the screen door effect, just like the Gear VR. The pixels in the devices are spread out and do not have sub-pixels to fill in the blanks. In my experience, once you get involved in a good game or experience, they become like letterboxing on movies; You know it is there, but you subconsciously block it out.
As far as experiences, Rift and Gear VR share most of the same API tech, so their experiences are simpler to port from the big one. Vive is designed to be room scale right off the bat, so some experiences work better there than Rift.
I used the gear VR when we first got the demo at the att store I used to work at. I'm definitely one of those people that VR has a greater affect on! I did a scary one that I think was called Sisters and it scared me to death! It was really funny watching customers try it out for the first time.
My memorable first impression is "Boy this thing is very heavy! Seriously!"
I will never buy a gear vr simply becoz of its weight.
After trying gear vr only then I realised how important what Google does with Daydream View. Its fabric material, lightweight. Even with it, reviewers on YouTube still says "Its lacking an over the head band is not enough to support the weight of the phone!"
I own an Oculus and don't seem to have a problem especially when I use an S7 edge. I get the pixelation you describe when i use the Note5. I was looking forward to try it with the Note7, but we all know how that ended!
I tried Nexus 6P on Google's cardboard VR but didn't see any pixelation. The phone gets too damn hot though.
Many phones get overheated. My best trick is to use a cold pack and keep the phone plugged in. Works with my Note 5.
My first experience was at a best buy when they were showing the new S7 models before you could buy them. I did a quick demo of a helicopter tour and the mini game/video about The Martian with Matt Damon. it hooked me enough to have me pre-order the phone so i could get a free Gear VR.
not a big fan of Sammy VR based on my own experience and no solid apps
For me the gear vr is just a higher quality google cardboard because both just give a affable vr experience. The vive and the rift is far better, but at a much higher price.
I am curious what you mean by "no solid apps"? Minecraft, Salvo Six, Netflix, Hulu, The Body VR, and more are all solid experiences. I'm not trying to discount your opinion, I'm just trying to understand it. I'm not sure what your expectations are. Please let us know what you think in a bit more detail.
Ling, that's right. You cannot expect mobile VR experiences to hold up to the raw power and capabilities of dedicated HMD units like the Vive. At this point, I use my Gear VR for watching movies and looking at pics, and playing a few games when I have a minute. My majority of my work is wrapped up in my Vive. In fact, I'm using Virtual Desktop to write this reply so I can shut off all the lights in my home.
The lens of gear VR trends to become dirty
I've found that my S7 does most VR just fine in power saving mode. When you are running Oculus, you must turn that off.
Use power from a charger to help keep the phone cooler. You can buy 10'/3m USB extension cords.
Don't touch them. ;)
Speaking as someone who has just purchased the gear vr and having a son who has the Vive, I can honestly say that although the vive is an awesome piece of kit (1st time I used it I was blown away literally...) the gear vr isn't too far behind it and is totally portable, something that the vive will never be unless everyone has a decent pc setup.
This is something that everyone needs to remember: there are different classes of VR equipment and experiences. There will always be the high end (Vive, Rift, HoloLens), the high end mobile (Gear VR and Daydream), and the entry level (Cardboard). People keep comparing these three classes to each other and get expectations too high for lower end systems. That's not good for any of this.
I knew when I bought the gear vr that it wasn't going to be in the same league as the vive because of my initial experience with the vive was so amazing but saying that, the gear vr is still a great bit of kit (I did buy it blind I must admit...) Naïve people WILL expect the cardboard to be on a similar level to the vive etc like you say Kris and they will end up being disappointed.
This is my experience also. I've tried the Vive a few times and it's very, very cool, but I notice the fresnel lens rings each and every time. The main difference for me is the controllers and the game selection. The NoloVR kickstarter will hopefully fix one of those issues and there are some good games out there for it right now and I fully expect even more as time goes on.
does this really cause sever nausea?
Thats far easier said than done lol. Even though my laptop screen is NOT touch enabled. Somehow, thousands of fingerprints just magically appear overtime haha. I think it's good to get into a habit of just wiping down the lens before you use it each time. :)
This is actually one of the reasons i like the Gear VR. Not the SDE, but the fact that i can simply pop in a higher res smartphone display and I've 'upgraded' my system. Whereas if you have a PSVR, you cant really change anything. The Galaxy S7 is still the best IMO for VR. (577 PPI)
I think it depends on a couple reasons, I've only listed 2 below. There are other things. Generally if you are using it for under 20 minutes, you should be fine. :)
1) The person who is using it
2) Frame Rate / Refresh rate (preferably 90 or higher)
Some VR devices are better than others. I wouldn't recommend the Google Cardboard if you are susceptible. Each year that goes by from now on things will greatly improve :) There is a great article HERE which explains some of the stuff.
And the S7 unlike the S6 has a SD card slot which Im forever struggling with.
I agree about the PSVR comment we can definitely improve hours easily.
Thanks for the info