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TECHNOLOGY A23
Saturday 21 November 2015
Review: Samsung’s Gear VR shows the promise of VR _ today
ANICK JESDANUN ___ This photo provided by Samsung shows Samsung Gear woman in distress; only lat-
AP Technology Writer ABOUT THE DEVICE VR headset. There are the promises of virtual reality in the er did I see scary creatures
NEW YORK (AP) — Sam- Your phone attaches to form of headsets that drop you into another world and offer crawling out of a play-
sung makes history of a sort the front of the Gear VR 360-degree views that shift as you turn your head. ground. You’re no longer
Friday by launching the first headset, just in front of the stuck with whatever the di-
major consumer-oriented lens for your eyes. Put the Associated Press rector chooses for you.
virtual-reality headset. (It headset on, and your sur- But one video of the Oct.
comes with an asterisk; roundings disappear as the ___ or apps will set you back $2 13 Democratic presidential
prototypes and other not- phone screen opens a win- to $10. debate was disappointing.
quite-mass-market versions dow into an unreal, three- In this June 11, 2015 file And some apps were sur- There were four VR cam-
have been available for dimensional world. As you photo, the new Oculus Rift prisingly absorbing. The eras around the room, but
a while.) And its Gear VR turn your head, the image virtual reality headset is on notion of the Netflix app, you couldn’t pick the one
headset is pretty impres- shifts accordingly to give display following a news which streams video to a to watch. And in 3-D, can-
sive as first-generation de- the sense of being there conference in San Fran- virtual TV in front of you, didates looked like dolls on
vices go. in real life. You can even cisco. initially seemed silly. Why stage. It was a novel idea,
The biggest surprise after turn all the way around to Associated Press not watch a real TV? Well, but it’ll take time to figure
using the new Gear VR for see what’s behind you. The the virtual TV is huge, much out what works and what
a few days: There’s a lot screen projects slightly dif- WHAT TO DO WITH IT larger than what I could af- doesn’t. This one was also
of stuff to watch and play ferent perspectives to your Fortunately, it was worth ford in real life. And VR also long, while the best ones
in the virtual worlds the left and right eyes to give removes the distractions were typically a few min-
headset opens up. Grant- the virtual world depth. surrounding you — such as utes each.
ed, some of that material The Gear VR wasn’t easy Facebook. A few apps also have in-
is gimmicky or amateurish. to set up. I had trouble fig- Repeat viewings some- teractive elements. One
But the best of it hints at uring out where all the Vel- times turned up unexpect- lets you walk around a
some of the mind-expand- cro straps and hooks were ed detail. Not until a sec- cafe depicted in the Vin-
ing experiences VR can supposed to go. I couldn’t ond viewing of a Cirque cent Van Gogh painting
make possible. get the phone to snap into du Soleil video did I notice “The Night Cafe.” Another
The Gear VR is relatively place. I needed the man- performers to my left and lets you explore an island
cheap, too, at just $100. ual to find a lever I had right. In a horror video, I and solve puzzles to open
You do need your own to switch because I had initially kept my eyes on a doors. It made me nau-
headphones, preferably a larger phone, the Note seous, though.
wireless, plus a recent Sam- 5. Many consumers might It’ll be great to see interac-
sung phone — the Galaxy tive storytelling, with plot
S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge Plus or need help from a tech- lines that change depend-
Note 5. If you don’t already savvy friend or kid. ing on which rooms you
have one, the package I also got frustrated having choose to explore. And
could set you back nearly to wait for apps and video eventually filmmakers will
$1,000. (Other VR systems to download — a few min- rely less on stationary cam-
will also need companion utes in some cases. The eras. A VR piece featuring
devices, such as high-end Gear VR can stream rela- a hike with Reese Wither-
personal computers.) tively few videos for instant spoon could have let you
Samsung developed the playback. hike with her, rather than
Gear VR with the virtual- watch from afar.q
reality startup Oculus (now
part of Facebook). It sup- the wait most of the time,
plants the $200 “innovator even if many of the vid-
edition” Samsung has sold eos seemed like concepts
for a year. That earlier pro- intended to demonstrate
totype was mainly intend- the Future of Virtual Real-
ed to build enthusiasm for ity or are merely promo-
VR and to help developers tions for regular movies
start producing games and and TV shows. A lot of it is
apps for it. Samsung bills free, though some videos
the new model as its first
consumer VR product, al-
though it still requires some
savvy on the consumer’s
part to use.
