My Family and the Samsung Gear VR

Avatar image for ry_ry
Ry_Ry

1929

Forum Posts

153

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#1  Edited By Ry_Ry

My backordered Samsung Gear VR arrived a few days ago for my Galaxy Note 5 (32GB). With my family in town this weekend I figured this would be a good opportunity to see what my more “mainstream” relations thought about the Gear VR and VR in general.

A few quick notes:
- Everyone got a quick overview of the controls (how to adjust the visual depth, select items, the back button & volume).
- I used a pair of $15 knockoff Beats headphones I got from China as they don’t sound too bad, and I didn’t want to use earbuds or rely on the single speaker of the Note 5.
- The phone never overheated, but I did eventually (around 2-3 hours in) have to pull out my external battery pack and plug it in to keep the system powered.

Sister 1
- Tried the “Ocean Rift” demo
- Quickly got overwhelmed in conjunction with morning sickness.

Brother-in-law 1
- Tried the “Ocean Rift” demo with the Great White Shark
- Really enjoyed it, came back to this demo multiple times
- Tried some of the Oculus 360 videos, but was more interested in the Ocean Rift demo as he could move around

Mom
- Didn’t want to try the “Ocean Rift” demo. Wanted to see 360 videos instead.
- Was very impressed with the feeling of “being” in the videos she watched

Dad
- Tried “Ocean Rift” demo. Didn’t have as much of a visceral response to what was going on as my other family members.
- Was far more interested in the Blue Angels 360 video and the Netflix theater experience

Sister 2
- Tried “Ocean Rift” demo. Very much bought into the experience (screamed a few times at the shark getting a bit close). Spent the most time in this app.
- Watched a lot of other 360 videos.

Brother-in-law 2
- Also tried “Ocean Rift” demo. Had a lot of fun with the experience. Also spent a lot of time watching other 360 videos.

Overall impressions:
- One of the interesting things about the whole thing for me was that everyone (sans sister 1) that tried it really didn’t want to stop.
- Anyone who spent more than 30 minutes in mentioned that they had to spend some time adjusting again to being out of the Gear VR.
- Both brothers-in-law and sister 2 mentioned that they would very much consider switching from their iPhones to a Samsung phone to get the Gear VR or at the very least get one off contract.
- Nobody who tried the Gear VR was interested in the idea of doing this for a PC or PS4. They all said that being able to physically move around was a big plus and that being “wired” wouldn’t be of interest to them especially at the cost of a HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.
- Interestingly (to me) nobody mentioned anything about the “screen door” effect that I for sure notice a lot on some of the things I’ve seen (mostly streaming video at lower resolutions)
- I did notice that the first few seconds in my family moved their heads around rather slowly, but then everyone who stayed in immediately started whipping their heads around as if to check if the VR would break (it didn’t). Nobody after exiting the VR could remember doing that though.
- One thing that also stood out to me was that before trying it everyone (and I do mean everyone even if they were interested) thought I was a silly idea. The experience of being “there” however sold everyone (again sans sister 1) immediately. It seems that we are at that inflection point where Virtual Reality is “good enough” that even this implementation just “works”.
- Nobody complained of the lenses fogging up. I’ve yet to have that happen either.
- Yes everyone (sans sister 1) did the "Will Smith" moment of having their mouth agape.
- The consumer Gear VR does not have an SD card slot. So having a 32GB phone is fine for what I'm doing now, but I could see that being more of an issue should I decide to get a lot of apps and videos for this.
- I'm not putting this on my 3yr old. But given how well he uses an iPad I can only imagine how quick he'd take to it when he gets older.
- My spouse has used it a few times as well, but mostly just for Netflix. She likes to multitask on just about everything, so the VR isn't very interesting for her, but she does frequently use it for Netflix.

Avatar image for mike
mike

18011

Forum Posts

23067

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: -1

User Lists: 6

Don't the phones need to be plugged in during use, though? I mean, unless you're just going to watch a short movie or play a game for a little bit, but that seems like it would drain your battery awfully fast. Gear VR seems just as limited by wires as any other VR device.

Avatar image for ry_ry
Ry_Ry

1929

Forum Posts

153

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@mike: I had to use an external battery pack towards 3 hours of use.

My family preferred the idea of "doing this largely anywhere" vs. "having to be in the PS4 or PC room"

Avatar image for ericjasonwade
Ericjasonwade

380

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#4  Edited By Ericjasonwade

This was the first VR type device that I have used, the only thing I tried was the Netflix theater experience and it was pretty neat. The thing I'm most excited for is that this experience wasn't the best, I mean put your phone in front of your face and it's almost the same, but the promise and technology behind the other VR devices coming out have a lot more potential. I think a device dedicated to doing this one thing will be able to do it 10 times better.

Avatar image for deactivated-5a00c029ab7c1
deactivated-5a00c029ab7c1

1777

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Cool it's interesting to see peoples reactions I haven't tried any VR yet but I can't wait until next year either Oculus or Vive for me not sure which one yet. I'm looking so forward to playing some of my old games in VR I just want to feel that presence that everybody talks about VR just fascinates me.

Avatar image for themanwithnoplan
TheManWithNoPlan

7843

Forum Posts

103

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 14

#6  Edited By TheManWithNoPlan

It's always interesting to hear an "outsiders" perspective on this kind of stuff and family gatherings are one of the best places to test it out. Interesting write up duder.

Avatar image for questengine
Questengine

59

Forum Posts

9

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Hey. Nice write up. Thanks.

So even with the limited horse power of the phone and it's native gyroscope you still get a rock solid surrounding image that never lags behind your movement ? Or does the gear vr have its own rotational tracking and transmits this more accurate data to the phone. ?

Avatar image for the_nubster
The_Nubster

5058

Forum Posts

21

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 1

@questengine: Gear VR has its own tracking stuff that it uses to reduce lag and increase accuracy.

It's interesting that your family said they would never want to do anything wired. It's a cool experience, but I can realize that doing this out in public would make you seem like a mad fucking weirdo, at least, and at most get you mugged to holy hell. Adding a wire, or any tethering that's sufficiently long enough, won't get in the way nearly enough to be a hassle. Certainly not with the limitations of the Gear VR itself in mind.

The lack of criticism is something I've noticed to people I've demo'd to, though. While I can see the limitations of the hard- and software and look forward to the Rift's full positional tracking, most people I show are blown away just by the rotational tracking and limited graphical capabilities. I'll be sure to keep medical professionals on stand-by when I get the full VR experience, because hearts might stop.

Avatar image for ch3burashka
ch3burashka

6086

Forum Posts

100

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

I got a Cardboard to try out. After a couple uses I put it down because I don't want to be a accustomed to an inferior experience. Palmer Luckey went on Twitter a couple days ago to warn people it's going to cost an arm and a leg, and frankly I don't care. I'll gladly overpay to be part of the first wave of adopters. Then and only then will I spread the gospel.