You can finally buy a virtual reality headset and use it in your home. Right now -- today -- that is possible. It doesn't cost $10,000 and it doesn't come with caveats like, "This is made for developers." Samsung is officially the first to market with an accessible, impressive virtual reality headset, all powered by software from Facebook's recently acquired Oculus VR team. That alone is very exciting: We are standing at the precipice of a new medium, finally technologically possible. Wireless, consumer-grade virtual reality! In your home! Today!
Samsung's Gear VR is both an astounding feat and an illuminating vision into our near future; it's the closest anyone's come to making virtual reality into a palatable consumer experience, and a stark example of how far we still have to go before that dream is completely realized.
PROS
- Incredibly accessible
- Light, comfortable, attractive
- Extremely impressive visuals
CONS
- Limited functionality
- Extremely limited software library
- Requires a Note 4, making it very expensive
Oculus VR and Samsung's Gear VR virtual reality headset is an enticing first taste of the potential future of a new medium. It's light, comfortable and -- most importantly -- accessible. Gear VR is the most usable virtual reality headset we've ever tried, and the first to market after several years of hype. At the same time, an extremely limited selection of software and functionality makes Gear VR live up to its "Innovator Edition" alias: It's a device intended for early adopters and virtual reality enthusiasts, not the mainstream. At least for now.
If you're looking for guidance on whether or not you should buy a $200 Gear VR headset to strap your $700 Galaxy Note 4 into, this isn't the review for you. Frankly, it's a lot to pay for the experience, and I don't feel comfortable suggesting anyone shell out that kind of cash for Gear VR. And let's be honest: The folks who would drop that kind of money for the promise of Gear VR are crazy people like me. They've already bought one.
Samsung intentionally dubbed Gear VR's first iteration the "Innovator Edition." There's good reason for that: It's more tech demo than consumer product right now. Save for a few games, the app store consists of just over a dozen "experiences"; every other "game" is a demo at this point. To be clear up front, Gear VR is not intended as a mainstream consumer device; it's a test balloon from one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers. Here's what Nick DiCarlo, VP/GM of immersive products and VR at Samsung, told me last week about his company's goal with Gear VR
It's not being sold at your local Best Buy, and for good reason.
Samsung intentionally didn't send out review units to press before Gear VR went on sale; the point wasn't to bury reviews, but to discourage them altogether. The idea is that the people who buy this early will evangelize it to their friends, helping to build a virtual reality market that companies like Samsung can profit from. There are Gear VR setups in malls all over the world. It's meant to be a demonstrative device. That it's on sale is just the easiest way for Samsung to distribute it to evangelists. But it is on sale to the public.
With that in mind, I'm taking a dual approach to this review: one perspective for the VR enthusiast, and another for the average human being.
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