Forget high-powered PCs, mobile is the future of VR, says Google

Thursday 19th May 2016 22:45 GMT Camilla Smythe

Time to go back to 12" B&W CRT TV.

After a couple of days or less you cannot spot the difference.

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Thursday 19th May 2016 23:04 GMT Captain DaFt

Ah yes...

The future with Google VR

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Friday 20th May 2016 05:15 GMT Anonymous Coward

Don't forget

that when you are wearing the headset you are a totally captive audience for Google's main product namely, Adverts. Short of taking the thing off you are going to see those pesky bits of irritation even if you don't want to.

Personally, any wearable device that slings ads at me is not going to be worn by me.

I am not in the 'target market' for pretty well anything the adslingers want to promote. I never ever buy anything that is advertised directly to me. Yes, I'm an awkward old sod but that is how I am.

Stop the world, I wanna get off (or atleast away from all forms of advertising)

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1. Friday 20th May 2016 09:12 GMT RyokuMas
  
  Re: Don't forget
  
  Adverts... yeah, they're irritating. But this has the potential to be way more sinister...
  
  This will only serve to increase the already huge pool of data Google collects on everyone whenever possible for behavioral analysis... so instead of the blatent, in-your-face pesky bits of irritation that we all know and loathe, I would expect something a lot more subtle - your VR world slowly being adapted and morphed to influence you into buying.
  
  The world according to Google... <shudder> hell awaits...
  
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Friday 20th May 2016 07:17 GMT Timmy B

Good Freekin Lord!

Ok - so fighting dragons not so much - but all of the stuff in that video can (for most people) actually be done the for realz outdoors! We are turning into the people in Wall-e. <sigh>

Ok - rant over - I'll immerse myself in the calming sound of birdsong - where are my headphones?

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Friday 20th May 2016 13:00 GMT Anonymous Coward

As ever vr will be pushed into the mainstream thanks to porn, like most things in the computer world, as vr porn is whats largely driving the cardboard market at the mo.

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1. Friday 20th May 2016 20:21 GMT anoco
  
  It's easy to say no
  
  VR porn is horrible. Watching people bounce in your face up close without being able to touch is frustrating, not exciting.
  
  But VR games is to headsets what minesweep and solitaire were to windows. A way to get people comfortable handling a mouse or a VR pad.
  
  Maybe not in the next 5 years, but in 10 to 15 years we will all be wearing some sort of VR device, maybe as small as the Google Glasses with leather side shields. Heck you could have a whole VR university and save a lot of money on building maintenance alone.
  
  Put your thinking caps on the possibilities. Immersive movies, work meetings, jury trials, shopping, skill practicing. I wonder how many people were negative to Graham Bell when he showed them the telephone. Yeah, but you have to scream, but you have to be near a wall, but it's better to see them in person, it's not going to kill you to just walk over there... Little he knew what the phone would look like 100 years later. Little we know now!
  
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Friday 20th May 2016 14:20 GMT User McUser

Don't need a high-end PC...

Just a high-end smartphone... Which will probably cost just as much as a high-end PC.

Also, I'm not terribly keen on having a potentially explodable Lithium battery in such proximity to my face. Speaking of which, VR is a resource hog - heavy CPU and GPU usage will very quickly drain the battery of any smartphone light enough to be worn for any length of time.

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1. Friday 20th May 2016 14:25 GMT Lamont Cranston
  
  Re: Don't need a high-end PC...
  
  Extra batteries round the back of the headset, to offset the weight of the contraption covering your eyes?
  
  Most people find 3D to be too much effort, and that's just a pair of plastic specs. I can't see VR taking off in a big way.
  
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Friday 20th May 2016 23:20 GMT Innocent-Bystander*

This one's going the way of 3D TV's

People refuse to wear the dork glasses for 3D TV... what makes manufacturers believe that they'll go for full-on nerdblinders?

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Saturday 21st May 2016 04:41 GMT Updraft102

"Just a high-end smartphone... Which will probably cost just as much as a high-end PC."

And have the same performance as a much cheaper PC (that will still be up to date with security patches in three years).

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Saturday 21st May 2016 11:24 GMT YARR

Does a virtual phone appear when you need to answer a call?

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Sunday 22nd May 2016 18:59 GMT DerekCurrie

Clunky old 3D quality. That's supposed to impress me?

After decades of waiting for high quality VR, how about we have some actual high quality VR?

Seeing triangles, squares and circles with textures plastered on top does NOT qualify as high quality VR. I'm yawning. That's what I was looking at back in 1996, twenty years ago. -zzzzz

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Monday 23rd May 2016 08:35 GMT curi0s1

But will it also do AR?

If Google's VR headset could be configurable to switch to AR by simply clipping the smartphone to your belt/pocket/etc., and allowing a transparent display driven by the phone to be inserted into the headset it would, IMO, make this a VERY attractive platform to develop for - sort of a Glass/HoloLens hybrid. I know that down the road Google's got its bets on the Magic Leap tech, but until that's viable, something like Glass with some of the 3D of VR would be really welcome.

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