Samsung Is Working On A Wireless, All-In-One VR Headset
Samsung has recognized a good footing for itself in the VR market with the Gear VR headset however its virtual reality determinations don’t end here. The company has established that it’s working on a standalone VR headset which will include positional tracking, a technology currently establish on high-end headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, this was revealed by Samsung’s head of R&D for software and services Injong Rhee at the Samsung Developer Conference 2016.
He said, “We are working on wireless and dedicated VR devices, not necessarily working with our mobile phone.”
He said, “We are working on wireless and dedicated VR devices, not necessarily working with our mobile phone.”
Samsung’s Gear VR is one of the cheaper approaches to get into good VR. Samsung's vision for the future of virtual reality is more than just phone-dependent headsets. The tech giant is currently working on developing independent wireless VR headsets that will no longer have need of users to plug in their cell phones to go into the virtual world.
Comparing sheer quality and performance, the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive will leave the Samsung Gear VR behind – mainly because the latter is dependent on the handset that it is combined with. That is not to say that Samsung’s flagship line of smartphones is not vigorous, but handling VR is not their primary purpose. The HTC Vive and Oculus Rift work better because they have gesture and hand tracking with their systems. This is probably the device Samsung will be shooting for in this project, and it may take a couple years or more before the user sees any result of this research.
Presently Samsung has its Gear VR, a virtual reality headset that uses one of the maker’s newer Galaxy or Note smartphones. This differs from headsets like the Vive and Rift, a pair of so-called standalone headsets that pack all the hardware they require into a single unit.
The Gear 360 camera will be introducing this Friday, as well, giving investors another option for developing content for virtual reality devices. Samsung plans to present the VR Upload SDK, a way for camera makers to add Samsung Milk VR uploads to their services and applications...an effort to improve the content available to Gear VR owners.
“VR is amazing,” Rhee said, “but the industry is still in its infancy.”
The advantage of a standalone VR headset will likely outweigh costs. A wireless VR headset would not just offer users without Samsung smartphones to be able to operate the device, so increasing Samsung's sales base, it would also offer better mobility, permitting users to move around more easily and involve themselves more in immersive VR content.
Not only is the Samsung working on a standalone VR headset. Google is also supposed to be working on a similar device.