Google's Cardboard cutout VR headgear given away GRATIS by OnePlus ... SELLS OUT Google's VR face goggles, dubbed Cardboard, were being given away for free, plus shipping by OnePlus. Until – that is – the smartphone maker sold out of the devices. The marketing stunt appeared to have paid off for the Chinese firm, at least in shipment fees ($5 a pop) and publicity. OnePlus was offering a modified version …
Scam? $5 isn't too bad a price to pay to try the VR concept out for yourself, especially compared to an Oculus Rift-like device.
If I had a 5" phone I'd probably give it a go, got some architectural walkthroughs based on the Unity engine that might - or might not - benefit from being viewed stereoscopically. I don't know until I try.
I picked up a ColorCross plastic version today and I've just finished playing with it, it's a bit uncomfortable and doesn't even begin to consider anybody who wears glasses, but it's worth the tenner I paid for a bit of a mess about. If you choose this particular model, I'd suggest tacking on a few extra quid to get some foam to stick around the bit you shove on your face.
I stuffed a Galaxy SIII in it, so not exactly a super duper display by any means (4.8" 1280x720 SAMOLED), but for playing around with it's not half bad (though I suspect a 5" 1080p display would improve it). Certainly cheaper than an Oculus Rift if you already have a phone to put in it and while some types of content seems to work better than others it's nice to finally get a taste of the sort of virtual reality we were promised decades ago.
So yes, it's a cheap gimmick, but I reckon it's worth the 2-3 pints worth of pocket change.
I similarly got a cheap eBay special Google Cardboard Kit, and tried it out with an S3. Apparently that's not the best handset to use it with due to the position of the magnetometer (I had to hack the slidey-magnet-button-thing to be on the other side of the unit) and is therefore "not officially supported".
I found it quite fascinating but it quickly made me nauseous - I think from the backlight and jerky motion/head tracking. Perhaps a more powerful phone would give a better experience but I couldn't recommend it for those with a midrange Android. Still perhaps the nausea is a per-person thing and the eBay kits are certainly cheap enough to try out.
There are plenty of plans online. Well worth the effort. Or you can follow the cheap plastic knockoff route like I did.
Cardboard plus a decent bluetooth headset is a great intro to VR. Once you're set upgive VRSE or Sisters a try.
TBH once you try it, you wonder why you'd need to spend €100s on an Oculus or Gear VR. Maybe it's a gimmick and will disappear like 3d TV, but it's still a mind blowing experience and incredibly cheap to try.
Having tried the plastic route I'm not convinced I'd pay £xxx for what seems likely to be a relatively minor upgrade. From reviews and discussions I've come to the conclusion that although the Rift is nice and comfortable, it's all integrated, much less messing about, probably going to last longer, etc, the tech probably isn't worth £200 more than sticking the phone I already have in a plastic frame with some lenses in it. Latency seems to be more of an issue with the phone versions (when being fed imagery from a PC), but it's not awful via USB rather than wifi.
I might be well off the mark with my conclusion having not had my hands on a Rift, but I don't think it has much more to offer than a current high end smartphone, considering the displays in phones now and the array of internal sensors, plus you can pop the phone out after and use it as, er, a phone. Might ruin the immersion a bit though if your game of Half Life 2 is interrupted by a call and suddenly you're staring at a (virtual) 4ft caller ID display which being in 2D will confuse your eyeballs.
It's important to mention that, yes, these goggles can be DIY made from cardboard, but you'll also need the two lenses so that your eyeballs can focus on the screen an inch away. It's a mistake to focus on the plans and the cardboard, and not remind ourselves of the requirement for two lenses.
Since you'll likely have to order up the lenses off ebay for at least a dollar each, one might as well just order up the entire kit for under $3 *.
* Mine was US$2.79 with free shipping IIRC. Prices may have changed since last year.
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Oooh, I don't know about that. I have tried both and really wan't that impressed with the Occulus Rift compared to the Google Cardboard I had already tried. Moving up to a 4K res phone and it IMHO blew the rift away.
The major issue was comfort which was obviously much better on the Rift. I couldn't imagine playing a game for half an hour using cardboard but there is nothing to stop a comfortable version being made.
They include lenses. That's the only tricky part of going diy, where to get the lenses from. I bought a clone for few $ with free shipping. I was pretty impressed with how good it was considering the cost.
With your eyes being so close to the screen the higher the resolution the better as I used a less than full 1080 screen and the pixel edges were very apparent and distracting.
I was bored after a few minutes though and it ended up in the bin.
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