from Hacker News

Why Google Cardboard Not Occulus Will Drive VR

by prbuckley on 10/19/15, 11:18 PM with 1 comments

  • by shostack on 10/20/15, 12:24 AM

    I bought an Unofficial Cardboard 2+ after being blown away by the Samsung GearVR demo I tried. I've used it maybe twice since then.

    Granted I am using it with my old Nexus 4 which doesn't have the greatest resolution, but the experience still is way off. There is a certain level of tracking that is very noticeably missing when going from a GearVR to the Cardboard, and I can only imagine a similar gap between the high-end dedicated desktop-driven headsets about to hit the market and the GearVR.

    The gap is the difference between "crap, it's out of alignment again--maybe if I just keep my head slightly tilted..." and "whoah, I just jumped when I turned around and saw a shark swimming at me."

    I agree that in the future low-end headsets will likely be dominant, but the motion tracking needs to get a lot better with them to even be worth going through the hassle. The app experience also needs to dramatically improve in terms of quality and input options.