Powered Samsung Gear VR
Good news, Samsung Galaxy owners: Now you can see for yourself if virtual reality is really worth the hype.
Samsung on Tuesday started taking pre-orders for its new, $99
Oculus-powered Gear VR headset. The device works with Samsung's 2015
flagship smartphones, including the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 Edge.
The Gear VR uses your phone's display to provide "the color, clarity
and performance needed for an amazing virtual reality experience,"
Samsung said. The new consumer-version Gear VR up for pre-order today is
19 percent lighter than the Innovator Edition,
and includes a new foam cushioning to make it more comfy to wear. The
new model also includes improvements for the touchpad, which should
offer geater control and easier navigation.
The headset can play "dozens of new made-for-VR games" headed to the
Oculus platform this year, including CCP's Gunjack and Ustwo Games'
Lands End. You'll also be able to watch content from Samsung's premium Milk VR
service, Netflix, and Oculus Video, which offers "thousands" of videos
and films from Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox, Twitch, and Vimeo.
The Gear VR is now available for pre-order in the U.S. via Samsung,
Amazon, and Best Buy, and is slated to begin shipping on Nov. 20. It
will also be available in Best Buy stores Nov. 20, T-Mobile on Nov. 27,
and AT&T will carry it at some point in the near future as well.
For more, check out PCMag's Hands On With the Oculus Touch and New Gear VR.
Meanwhile on the VR front, Google on Monday expanded
its Expeditions Pioneer Program for students to 15 new cities. The
program is designed to enhance the in-class experience by letting
students visit places they're learning about in school — like the bottom
of the sea or the surface of Mars — in VR.
The Expeditions Pioneer Program will now be available in Alexandria,
Va.; Baltimore; Cincinnati; Detroit; Indianapolis; Las Vegas; New
Orleans; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City; and
Washington D.C. Outside of the U.S., Google is also launching the
program in Toronto, Canada as well as Denmark and Singapore.
