{"id":474,"date":"2019-11-05T21:29:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T21:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vrobserver.wpengine.com\/?p=474"},"modified":"2021-11-20T10:35:39","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T18:35:39","slug":"smartphone-vr-on-its-death-bed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virtualrealityobserver.com\/smartphone-vr-on-its-death-bed\/","title":{"rendered":"Smartphone VR on its Death Bed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At September\u2019s Oculus Connect 6 conference, John Carmack delivered his eulogy for the Samsung Gear VR, calling it a \u201cmissed opportunity\u201d and saying its days of official support were coming to an end. Meanwhile, Google decided to discontinue<\/a> its Daydream VR platform, citing the \u201cimmense friction\u201d felt by users required to place their phone in a headset and cut off access to its regular functions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly smartphones are just too essential to be inaccessible, even when you\u2019re deep in a VR environment. With these two announcements, it appeared the death of smartphone VR was no longer greatly exaggerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John
John Carmack announces the end of Gear VR at OC6 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Where It Went Wrong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Widespread adoption of any new or developing technology is heavily reliant on timing. Sadly, an overly aggressive push for mainstreaming VR may have soured untold numbers of users of Virtual Reality\u2019s potential. A free Google Cardboard arriving with your New York Times subscription<\/a> is convenient and intriguing, but the results aren\u2019t exactly peak VR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A grainy 360-degree video played on a device offering poor head tracking, limited freedom of movement, and system operation that proved cumbersome at best isn\u2019t likely to blow anyone\u2019s mind. The richly rendered and fully immersive experience provided by higher-end VR gear, though, has a much better success rate. It’s just too expensive.  As more complex VR devices aimed at experienced users lower prices and fall within reach of average consumers, there\u2019ll be even fewer reasons to keep dropping your phone into an empty plastic head shell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple: Smartphone VR Saviors?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Apple has been teasing its VR\/AR future.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Rumors and rumblings concerning Apple\u2019s Augmented and Virtual Reality plans<\/a> point towards an iPhone-based AR system that places the bulk of the processing responsibility on the next-gen smartphone, not a standalone headset or viewer. Apple has long broken through apparent development slumps with key products. It stands to reason that if any company can prove smartphone-based VR and AR still has a future, it\u2019s Apple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, with the price of fully-featured VR devices like Oculus Quest now within reach of a growing number of consumers, it\u2019s unlikely we\u2019ll be dwelling in the smartphone-VR world for much longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At September\u2019s Oculus Connect 6 conference, John Carmack delivered his eulogy for the Samsung Gear VR, calling it a \u201cmissed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[65,43,66,46,83],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-technology","tag-apple","tag-ar","tag-ar-vr","tag-google-daydream","tag-oculus"],"yoast_head":"\nSmartphone VR on its Death Bed - Virtual Reality (VR) News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/virtualrealityobserver.com\/smartphone-vr-on-its-death-bed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smartphone VR on its Death Bed - 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