Being one of the very few people in the world (outside of Samsung and Oculus) to have had access to the Samsung Gear VR, I’ve been both excited about telling the world about my impressions of this very cool piece of gear (pun intended) as well as not wanting to overstep the mark in terms of what can or should be released.
So with that, all of my videos have been absent of any screenshots of games or vidcaps of the VR environments I’ve been using, out of total respect for the developers and the fact that this is still a “demo” model that will surely be polished even further before it is released, and even then as a developer/”innovator” edition.
However, the comments and questions I’ve been fielding after each video, (which have essentially been monologues about the Gear VR) have been interesting and detailed, and so far no one has complained about not seeing any actual gameplay, or the Oculus Cinema, or any of the other functions that are used within the Gear VR system.
So aside from the first look video that I posted as the initial one in the series, below are the rest of the Youtube segments that I have uploaded, as well as a radio segment I did on a popular radio station in Sydney. If you are interested in more details each of the segments have a comprehensive comments area that I’ve been answering on all posts.
This is the 10 minute question and answer session on the Gear VR:
A lot of the questions on that video seemed to be related to the movie watching experience, as opposed to gaming, so I did what any good researcher would – loaded up my Note 4 with a 2 hour movie, and watched the entire feature film from beginning to end using the Oculus Cinema with the Gear VR. Here are my unadulterated, immediate impressions of that experience:
That video fed even MORE questions and interest, and it’s obvious that content will be a prime factor in the success of this device. A few people asked me how the Gear VR experience compared to going to a cinema, so I decided to front the camera once again and deliver my opinion on that as well:
As I mentioned previously, I also had the pleasure of showing this to the host of the radio show that I have a weekly tech talk on, and his reaction is worthy of replaying here:
Suffice to say, for those that have a Note 4, there is ample content and entertainment to at least be blown away on the initial experience. The follow up from a developer and content perspective will ensure there is continued support for this very exciting category that is in its infancy, and I for one feel like I did when I first saw the original iPhone all those years ago – this could potentially be the biggest turning point in mobile tech. With Samsung’s financial backing for smartphone hardware, and Oculus’ financial backing, I’m extremely eager to see where where this heads in the next year. 2015 is going to be a blockbuster year, I predict.
[…] (which I’ve documented many times), I’ve been most impressed with the combination of the Samsung Gear VR with their Galaxy S6 line up (along with the Note 4 and […]