Oculus Go: New VR viewer that does not require a PC or smartphone

Oculus Go is the new standalone VR viewer that does not require the use of a smartphone inside or the connection to a cable, nor the use of a PC to make it work. This is the first device that embodies Facebook’s vision of virtual reality, and that justifies the acquisition of the group originally formed by Palmer Luckey.

Precisely for this reason it is a device absolutely immediate and within everyone’s reach in terms of configuration and use. The first sensation is precisely that of elegance, or of a product that is part of the Facebook brand.

Oculus Go is built by Xiaomi on Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 platform, a processor that allows to give the device the nature of a standalone product, with internal memory to store the app and built-in display, which allows the use without having to install the an external smartphone like the traditional Cardboard.

Oculus Go is the easiest way to access virtual reality. It’s perfect for those who have not experienced virtual reality to play, watch movies and connect, in an alternative way with friends and family. It offers latest-generation optics, clear audio is more than a thousand different VR experiences.

Oculus Go is equipped with an orientation tracking controller and supports 3 degrees of freedom (3DOF) for controller and head tracking. This means that, unlike traditional 6-degree viewers equipped with infrared turrets for tracking the user’s position, Oculus Go simply traces in three-dimensional space.

So, to change direction, it is not enough to orient the controller towards the corners of the screen, but you have to move the head, and in the same way it is not possible to move in real space because the system does not have an external reference point. The controller is not tracked by the viewer, and this prevents it from detecting its position to the worn viewer.

It is possible to rotate the head and the hand within the VR environment to explore and interact with the virtual world, but it is not possible to move in space with the body. These are important limitations because, for example: we will not be able to turn around a strategic game scheme simply by walking into reality. It may seem like a trivial thing, but it’s not that you cannot manage the view simply by moving the controller-controlled pointer to the edge of the screen.

Oculus Go is equipped with a wireless controller that allows you to play board games like ” Settlers of Catan ” with friends, surf the Oculus TV channels (coming soon), or fight on battle ships in Anshar Online. Oculus talks about over one thousand apps already available in this launch window. These are exclusive apps from the Oculus Store, basically mobile experiences, or a little more.

This means that, for example, with Oculus Go you cannot play Fallout 4 VR or Assetto Corsa, also because it is not in any way connected to the PC (at least without invalidating the warranty). It would be wrong to define Oculus Go as an evolution of Samsung Gear VR, because we are on another level as immediacy, comfort of use and vastness of content available, but it is certainly not a surrogate of Oculus Rift, which continues to be sold to another price range.

Before we defined it as a crucial component for the Facebook strategy with virtual reality: this is because it allows access to the famous Oculus rooms. Here you can invite Facebook friends and you can interact with them through avatars. You can show photos and videos, and you can invite friends in social activities such as video games. In short, a sort of repetition of PlayStation Home in Facebook, which has the potential to revolutionize the social experience and make it much more immersive.

Oculus Go allows you to access in an innovative way to certain Netflix content and to surf the Internet using the 360-degree viewer’s involvement. Your experience with Instagram, for example, will be very different to the one you are used to.

There is also support for cross-play with Rift and Gear VR for some games like Catan VR. On the other hand, given the hardware limitations and freedom of movement, it will not be easy for developers to adapt the game experiences originally designed for Oculus Rift or HTC Vive to the new Oculus viewer.

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Oculus Go – Display

Oculus Go does a great job in terms of definition, being equipped with a display that operates at a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, only slightly lower than the resolution of Asus HC102 that we had tried on a previous occasion and that from this point of view, there had favorably affected compared to the previous generation of viewers.

Based on the Windows Mixed Reality platform, the Asus viewer has slightly different goals than Oculus Go but, despite this, wonder how the new Facebook / Xiaomi device is defined, especially in the central area. The user can read without straining any type of text and has a rewarding experience in terms of visual detail regarding the central area. For a matter of optimization the peripheral areas are rendered at a lower resolution, and this is noticeable.

The display can be updated to 60Hz or 72Hz, which leaves developers free to decide whether to favor the fluidity of the images or the graphic complexity of the experience. With the need to render two images to recreate the stereoscopic effect, virtual reality applications are always quite expensive in terms of hardware demands, forcing developers to compromise. Here we are in the presence of a ” hardware from mobile device ” and the games that Oculus Go is able to run more resemble those for Gear VR that the super-detailed titles for Oculus Rift.

Oculus Go does a great job in terms of definition, being equipped with a display that operates at a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels.

The image quality is then high thanks to the use of excellent optical systems, the wide field of vision and good ergonomics, which allows you to wear the viewer easily and use it immediately. Oculus Go does not get tired even after long sessions of use but, like all similar viewers, produces, albeit minimally, nausea. Thanks to a series of easy-to-use straps, it can be adapted to any type of user’s head, and can also be used together with eyeglasses thanks to the spacer included in the package.

Oculus Go has a high-resolution fast-switching LCD panel with fast ignition, which clearly improves image clarity and greatly reduces the annoying screen door effect. The device is light, and the materials used for the padding of the visor in contact with the face are soft and breathable.

The integrated speakers provide a good-quality sound system without the need for headphones. But, considering the high level of immersion allowed by virtual reality, using headphones with greater positional depth is practically obligatory: they can be installed using the 3.5-inch jack on the right side of the device. Even with headphones connected, the comfort of the system is not affected.

Inside the Oculus Go package is the viewer, the controller with its lanyard (very similar to the Samsung Gear VR controller), the glasses spacer, the USB charging cable, an AA battery for the controller and the cloth for the lenses. The absence of the charger is curious (obviously the possession of the smartphone charger at least is taken for granted), which highlights how Oculus wanted to optimize the expenses as much as possible in order to offer Oculus Go at a truly competitive price. In fact, to charge the device, a 10W AC adapter (5V 2A) is not included.

To configure the device you must first download the new app Oculus on the smartphone, through which you establish a Bluetooth connection between smartphone and viewer. On the app, you configure your Oculus account, and you can download games and other applications, which are then downloaded to the memory inserted in the viewer (32 GB). The app allows you to set up payment methods, configure the Oculus account, manage notifications, view purchase history, and more.

The battery life of Oculus Go varies depending on the activity and the type of content that is being performed. If you watch a movie, on average, we have a duration of up to 2 and a half hours. With a game the battery can run out in 2 hours, or less depending on the complexity of the game.

At any time, you can check the battery status in the Oculus application settings or in VR using Oculus Home. This is a very slow autonomy, which will also give you a little anxiety during use, but a comprehensible limitation considering the completely standalone nature of the device. Which overheats in an important way, even if you notice it only by resting on your hand on the front after a session of intense use.

An important role in the Oculus Go offer is played by the controller: as mentioned, it is very simple, 3DOF and is not tracked by the viewer. At the top has a touchpad, which allows you to scroll right, left, up and down (think for example: to a menu), and immediately below are the keys to go back and Home.

Invisible, like the rest of the device, when in VR, but recognizable by touch thanks to specific forms for each of them. If you want to reorient the controller, instead, you must point the controller forward and hold down the Oculus Home button. Also in this case it is an absolutely immediate procedure, even if it is repeated substantially every time you wear the viewer.

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Comfort

A viewer of this kind cannot in any way avoid the rise of motion sickness, because beyond the low visual detail, there will always be a lack of correspondence between the human senses. Who more or less, all users will suffer from motion sickness with sessions of use even for half an hour.

To compensate for this problem, Oculus has inserted a comfort rating system with a rating for all applications in the store. ” Comfortable ” should be suitable for most people. These experiences usually include little or no player movement and few or no disorienting effects.

” Moderate ” should be suitable for many, but not for everyone. These experiences usually include some player movements and some disorienting effects. ” Intense ” may not be suitable for most people, especially for those new to VR. These experiences usually include significant player movement and significant disorienting effects.

” Unrated ” may contain intense content, which may not be suitable for most people, especially for those who do not have VR experience. If you experience discomfort or other effects due to the VR experience, we recommend that you select a different experience, or try an Oculus Store experience recommended for your comfort level.

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Experiences

In the Oculus Store, you can find all kinds of apps, from music to entertainment, from VR stories to racing and flights, from puzzles to sports, as well as strategy, horror and mystery, astronomy, education, travel and relaxation. meditation. A separate mention deserves the stories VR, a type of entertainment on which Oculus in the past has invested in a convinced.

There is a history with the possibility of reduced interaction, which takes place all around the spectator: in some places, if the spectator does not perform specific actions, the story stops. All with the unique level of identification that virtual reality can give.

Catan VR is instead aimed at fans of board games, allowing you to experience the Tabletop of the moment in a new way and certainly more immersive. You can face opponents regardless of the Oculus device they possess: so Oculus Go, Rift and Gear VR.

Coaster Combat is halfway between a roller coaster experience and an action game. With an unlimited number of combinations, Coaster Combat is fun even for a single game.

Anshar Online is instead of a multiplayer space shooter with co-op mode, challenge and deathmatch. Starting as a fighter, you can customize the ship to your liking by mounting equipment obtained through loot won during the game, as you can select upgrades to get resources. Anshar Online is also available on Rift and Gear VR.

Melody VR allows you to go on stage in a sold-out show or participate as the only spectator in a VIP performance or listen to the favorite band at a festival on the other side of the world. You can move between many different venues and listen to a full-bodied line-up of artists.

Oculus Room is a place to spend time with friends in VR while enjoying social activities such as board games, watching TV and movies, sharing photos and listening to music. There is also a way to jump into other VR applications together with friends when you want to start a new adventure. With Oculus Go, we have a completely redesigned and customizable environment, Hasbro board games (coming soon) and the opportunity to watch films bought and rented from the hundreds of major titles featured in Oculus Store.

Virtual reality, as is well known, offers important learning opportunities. Space Explorers (NASA) by Felix & Paul is a VR film series on the new era of space exploration. Masterworks: Journey Through History allows to travel in the most amazing places in the world, covering more than 3,000 years of human history from pre-Inca temples to the ancient capital of Thailand.

As for the news, CNN, New York Times, Fox Sports and Al Jazeera Contrast VR have started managing their virtual reality update channels. If you love to see your photos and videos in VR, you can use Oculus Gallery that, among other things, allows you to view photos, videos and multimedia content to 360 degrees from the contents of Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, from the phone or from the home media server (DLNA) to be able to view them in a new and engaging way.

In the future will come other types of experiences on the Oculus Store like Oculus Venues, which will allow you to watch live concerts, sports, comedies and other events with friends and other people. It’s a way to get closer to your interests by connecting with other fans, experiencing the sounds, lights and experience as if you were really there. They will collaborate with Major League Baseball, artists like Vance Joy, emerging musicians from School Night at the Bardot in collaboration with NextVR, standup events like Gotham Comedy Club, and many others.

Oculus TV, on the other hand, will represent a new way of living and watching favorite TV shows. Oculus TV can also serve as an environment to launch VR entertainment applications such as Netflix and Hulu.

With Oculus Go you will not be able to play Fallout 4 VR or Assetto Corsa, also because it is in no way connected to the PC.

With Oculus Go we have tried above all to overcome what is considered to be the main obstacle to the diffusion of virtual reality today: that is, the complex procedures of observation and the lack of immediacy in use. Oculus Go, on the other hand, should simply be removed from the packaging and switched on, then it can already be used.

It is a device geared more towards the general public, who loves attending a VR story or who wants to take advantage of the new social tools that involve VR, rather than a player audience. The secret of Oculus Go is the structured environment on which it is based: a closed system that works well for a certain type of public, and that makes enjoyment pleasant and immediate.

	Oculus Go
Product size	190mm x 105mm x 115mm
Product weight	467g
Battery	Lithium-ion battery, Charging time ~ 3 hours with a 10W AC adapter (5V 2A)
Display	538ppi; 5.5 ” 2560 x 1440 WQHD standard resolution with fast-switch to the LCD screen
Display Refresh	60Hz or 72Hz, depending on the app (developers can define the degree of refresh)
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Mobile VR Platform
USB port	Micro-B with USB 2.0
Facial interface + Tears	Jersey, nylon microfiber, Spandex materials
Controller Dimensions	111mm x 37mm x 57mm
Controller weight	65g (including AA size batteries – 25g)

 

The ease of use makes it interesting and, unlike what happens with more complex virtual reality solutions. It puts you the desire to resume the helmet deposited on the desk and to make another experience. Which then in the end is the only thing that matters.

Product prices and availability are subject to change. Any price and availablility information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of any products.

83%

Awesome

• Display
• Comfort
• Experiences