Google Ships 5M Cardboard Virtual Reality Devices

Google has shipped five million of these things? That's a whole lot of recycled pizza boxes. Any of you guys have any hands-on time with one of these?

Alphabet Inc's Google said it had shipped 5 million units of the Google Cardboard viewer, a wearable device that allows users to experience virtual reality through mobile apps. The company, which launched the Cardboard viewer a year and a half earlier, said on Wednesday that there had been 25 million downloads of Cardboard apps from its Google Play app store.

I've only ever watched porn and a couple test demos on my Google Cardboard. I really dug the porn.

I have a pair and I'm very impressed for what it is. It may be leaps and bounds away from the Oculus but already it has me jazzed up for the future of VR.

Since it's on iOS (and has always been on Android), I recommend everyone even remotely interested in VR get one as I believe it is a solid introductory showcase of the possibilities.

Probably majority of these are going to the education market where it's popular for virtual world tour.

https://youtu.be/mlYJdZeA9w4

I've tried out some of the demos - it looks really cool. My problem (and not just specific to the cardboard versions) - I get vertigo and motion sickness when using these.

I have used the Samsung Gear VR (which licenses stuff from Oculus) - drastic reduction in the motion sickness. I think the Gear VR is about $99 (and and you need a nice Samsung phone to go with it). I'll be very curious to read reviews on the real-deal Rift when they come out.

For all the VR naysayers, things are shaping up for it to succeed this time around. Selling 5 million units and 25 million software downloads for a cheap piece of folded cardboard to use with your cell phone is hard to ignore. I was still a really young kid when Nintendo released its terrible VR thing...can't recall the name at the moment...but I think this time around everyone involved is aware of the difficulty of creating VR and much more informed about what it takes to make a cohesive experience. It's for this reason I think it will succeed. Nobody out there is saying, "Hey, from an engineering standpoint, you can create stereoscopic imagery that looks life-like. Let's slap that in some cheap plastic and sell it as the coolest thing around."

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, 2016 is shaping up to be the year that decides whether or not VR is ready for take-off.

Forgive my ignorance in VR. But do these still work on red/green filters? I never got "3d" movies when I was younger and I didn't find out till I joined the military that I am red/green colorblind... So "3d" movies are a no go. Does this work the same way?

Koncrete said:

Forgive my ignorance in VR. But do these still work on red/green filters? I never got "3d" movies when I was younger and I didn't find out till I joined the military that I am red/green colorblind... So "3d" movies are a no go. Does this work the same way?

Click to expand...

In short, no. Neither do modern 3d movies at home or in the cinema.

Went to a VR seminar at AU last December. The guy had 20 or so competing versions on his desk. He considers these devices to be the gateway drug for the more expensive tech like Rift.