back to article Nokia touts future of virtual reality ads... but who's the audience?

Nokia has premiered what it calls a first-of-its-kind immersive virtual reality advertising experience for its new line of digital health products. The advert is hitting two Nokia birds with one virtual stone: the ad shows off Nokia’s own burgeoning line of VR content creating hardware – the OZO camera – and its suite of digital …

  1. AMBxx Silver badge
    Stop

    White Elephant?

    Is VR/AR etc, just the 21st Century equivalent of 3D cinema/TV? Too good an idea to ignore, but never good enough to become major.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: White Elephant?

      VR sucks

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: White Elephant?

      "just the 21st Century equivalent of 3D cinema"

      I think you'll find it's the 20th century one, just being done again...and again...

      I think this is the 3rd time it's "Next big thing".

      Lawnmower man anyone?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: White Elephant?

      If you have seen Microsoft's lame presentation on hololens, desperately trying to find a problem to fit the solution, this is very similar.

      That said, I have used a PSVR headset for gaming and its very good. But outside of gaming, pretty much pointless.

  2. Rich 11

    Now we have a far deeper level of truth

    In advertising?

    Allow me to present to you this VR promotion of a bridge recently put up for sale...

  3. msknight

    Dream on...

    " as VR is the marketer’s dream for brand engagement."

    Exactly that... dream on... because they're not going to reach my eyes.

    1. Korev Silver badge

      Re: Dream on...

      It's this kind of language that leads to a Bill Hicks style outburst...

    2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: Dream on...

      " as VR is the marketer’s WET dream for brand engagement."

      There fixed it for you.

      OTOH, if the advertisers get in and ruin it for the rest of us perhaps it will die a quicker death anyway...?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    virtual reality advertising experience

    I LOVE the smell of advertising experience in the morning... :/

  5. cirby

    Almost there

    The current generation of VR hardware is almost good enough for widespread acceptance. Resolution is good, tracking works great, and the content is ramping up at an amazing rate. Developer's tools already support VR quite nicely, so the software side isn't going to hold it back.

    That said, VR won't be that common until we get higher resolution in the headsets (already in the works, from all reports), and cheaper hardware (also coming, but somewhat slower).

    The thing to remember is that the "expensive" VR rigs (like my Vive) really aren't, when you look at the total market and the history of computers. I spent about $3000 on a completely ridiculous overkill-type system (Vive + PC to run it) - but when you compare it to the Apple IIe I bought in 1983, it's about half as expensive. The Apple was about $2400, which is about $6000 in today's dollars when you account for inflation.

    Right now, that "too expensive" Vive rig is comparable to buying a Commodore 64 with a floppy drive in 1984... and you can buy prebuilt VR systems for about half of what I spent. You can get a Playstation VR system for about $1000.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Almost there

      That's one way to look at it.

      Another is that the tracking is not "almost there". It's shit, and might actually be an insurmountable problem. But even if the tracking can be solved, the walking problem definitely can't.

      Your physical movement space is limited to about 1m^2 which means walking is totally out. Games inevitably come up with some jank-ass teleport system to move though the game world. With racing or flying game, you're confined to a virtual cockpit, but that inevitably moves relative to your view making it actually inferior to a large monitor. A huge monitor is like looking though a window into a virtual world, with the added bonus of physical controls, and none of this disembodied hands nonsense.

      That poses the question: Which as of yet undiscovered genre is VR actually good for? You'd actually need a multi-way treadmill to make this a worthwhile experience, and who wants all that shit in their house? This latest attempt could just as easily trigger a VR winter, killing the technology for another 15 years before they try again.

      1. Clive Galway

        Re: Almost there

        "Your physical movement space is limited to about 1m^2"

        For what? Vive is 25x larger than that.

    2. Down not across

      Re: Almost there

      The current generation of VR hardware is almost good enough for widespread acceptance. Resolution is good, tracking works great, and the content is ramping up at an amazing rate. Developer's tools already support VR quite nicely, so the software side isn't going to hold it back.

      Except it isn't. Resolution is shit to be honest. Tracking works to certain extent, but I would not say it "works great". Then there is the framerate. It needs to be silky smooth. It isn't. Not even close.

      Sure it has come a long way. In my humble opinion resolution and framerates need to improve a lot. Other commentards also pointed out the obvious issue with regards to movement. Unless you're strapped in a lawnmower man type contraption your movement is very limited.

      1. cirby

        Re: Almost there

        You haven't actually used any of the current VR systems, have you?

        Resolution is not "shit," by any measure. I'd like it to be higher, but it's certainly enough to get past the "suspension of disbelief" part. Yes, the "screen door effect" is obvious when you start playing, but in the middle of a session, that awareness goes right out the window.

        Tracking is great on the Vive (not so with other systems). Millimeter-scale accuracy. That's better than you can manage with your own hand.

        Framerate on my Vive is 90 FPS, and yes, that's "silky smooth." It's better than the human eye can discern.

        And as pointed out above, the current Vive gives you several square meters of play room, not one.

        It sounds like you guys have been playing with Google Cardboard systems instead of the real thing...

        1. D@v3

          Re: Play room

          i think the problem of movement / play room is less what the system can handle, and more the actual physical space you have available. If i were using one of these in my living room, i would have maybe 1.5m^2 walking space to move around in before i start bumping into things i cant see.

    3. DropBear

      Re: Almost there

      "The thing to remember is that the "expensive" VR rigs (like my Vive) really aren't"

      We can discuss this again when the goggles are under $200 and I don't have to change any of the rest of my hardware. Until then it's cheap-and-cheerful Google Cardboard or nothing for me (and 99.9% of the rest of the planet, I imagine...)

  6. iron Silver badge

    Will gamers be interested...

    "Will gamers be interested in things like an Internet-connected thermometer that tracks a baby’s fever?"

    I don't have a VR headset myself but as a player of Elite Dangerous I know a lot of people with VR headsets. Given the price of the hardware most of them are 30+ and have families so yes they may well be interested in an Internet-connected thermometer that tracks a baby’s fever but they probably already spent their gadget budget on the VR rig.

  7. Clive Galway
    FAIL

    Purchases in VR

    "Please enter your credit card number..."

    By definition (For VR, not AR), you can either see the virtual keyboard, or the card, but not both.

    1. cirby

      Re: Purchases in VR

      Not even close. You can use the Vive's built-in camera to open up a view window on the display on demand, at least in a lot of software.

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