Samsung gear vr?

scojer

scojer

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Anyone have experience with it? I'm thinking about getting my wife the s7. I know it won't be nowhere near as good as vive or occulus, but is it worth it at all?
 
Keep in mind that no head tracking = increased motion induced nausea. If you've ever tried a Google Cardboard, same kind of thing. Can lead to headaches after extended use.

You'll see some screendoor effect as well. For $100 bucks, though, it's a neat if imperfect glimpse into the future of entertainment.
 
I've got one, it's pretty cool. Screen Door Effect (SDE) is going to be dependent on the phone, not sure what the PPI is for the new S7 but the S6 Edge+ is 518ppi and the SDE is like looking through a very fine mesh screen. If you're playing Gunjack then it nearly disappears completely but if you're doing something stationary you'll see it. That being said, the Gear VR is a great VR experience for $100. The only time I've felt any kind of knotting of the stomach is playing Maze Runner after about 1500-2000m. It's been fine otherwise. Being able to laydown and watch Netflix is kinda cool, the only downside, at least for me, is that I like to lay on my side, can't really do that with the Gear VR (or any HMD) as you'll end up putting pressure on one side of the HMD and moving it off your face.

You may also want to look into investing in a controller as well. The touch controls on the side are ok but it does get tiring holding your arm up to the side of your head, swiping controls.
 
Galaxy S7 is 577ppi and S7 Edge is 534ppi so it should be a slightly better experience than mine.
 
Thanks for the input!

How is it on the battery life of the phone?
 
scojer said:
Thanks for the input!

How is it on the battery life of the phone?
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Pretty bad, probably about 45 minutes if playing a game and an hour just watching a movie. It also overheats easily when gaming causing it to pause until it cools. That's my GS6 experience anyway, still really fun to use and an awesome first time experience.
 
NickJames said:
Pretty bad, probably about 45 minutes if playing a game and an hour just watching a movie. It also overheats easily when gaming causing it to pause until it cools. That's my GS6 experience anyway, still really fun to use and an awesome first time experience.
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I actually never had an issue with my phone overheating.
 
as a freebee its pretty cool. I found a Quake VR someone ported to google cardboard. Was pretty fun :)
 
I'm running my Gear with a Note5, and it's fantastic. I've got a 15,000mAh battery that I can hook up, and that solves the overheating and battery issues, so I can easily go till the limiter is only my capacity for nausea, which is already high.

Again, as others have said, it's a fantastic first try for VR, and the price is untouchable for now.
 
Definitely worth getting if you already have/want a compatible phone. However you will want a bluetooth gamepad to go along with it (many games require one anyway).
 
Opted for it instead of the watch with my S7. Will give it a try. It'll probably end up being used the first day and then sitting in the box but I also don't have any experience with VR so maybe I'll actually like it and use it. I bet you'll see a million of them end up on ebay in 4-6 weeks!
 
Steve_010 said:
Opted for it instead of the watch with my S7. Will give it a try. It'll probably end up being used the first day and then sitting in the box but I also don't have any experience with VR so maybe I'll actually like it and use it. I bet you'll see a million of them end up on ebay in 4-6 weeks!
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You may change your mind once you jump into VR, a lot of people do. Anshar Wars is supposed to be good, I've bought Gunjack and that's fun.
 
The_Oasis said:
I'm running my Gear with a Note5, and it's fantastic. I've got a 15,000mAh battery that I can hook up, and that solves the overheating and battery issues, so I can easily go till the limiter is only my capacity for nausea, which is already high.

Again, as others have said, it's a fantastic first try for VR, and the price is untouchable for now.
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How do you hook up an external battery pack. I just opened up the Gear VR last night and didn't mess around with it much but it seems to plug into the microUSB of the phone. Is there another microUSB to plug a battery pack into?
 
DeeFrag said:
How do you hook up an external battery pack. I just opened up the Gear VR last night and didn't mess around with it much but it seems to plug into the microUSB of the phone. Is there another microUSB to plug a battery pack into?
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There's a micro USB port on the bottom right of the GearVR.
 
My big issue with it was ... the size of my nose. I could not get it comfortable without hurting. I tried padding it, but it didn't work as well as I'd liked, and it introduced light gaps etc. Not comfortable, so I returned it. This was the $200 dev model initially released. I'll probably suffer the same with the real Oculus, but at least it'll be worth the investment, and the extra nose padding required ;)
 
I just picked up an S7 w/Gear VR. Phone does not overheat at all and it is much better than a simple cardboard setup. Can't wait for my Rift/Vive next month :)
 
The screen door effect just really distracted me. I got it for free in December and have only used it once. This is with a note 5.
 
I picked up a S7 Edge for my wife last night and got the VR. I just need to pick up a BT controller so I can play Dread Halls. I did play some of the free games that come with it, and some are pretty cool. Overall, much better than my Google Cardboard setup, I just wish it worked with my iPhone 6s +
 
I got the first shipment of them for the Note 4, and I can compare with the rift dev kit 1. It was really pretty decent, I used it alot until I got a big crack across my screen:(

The best expereince app is the roller coaster one, VR Coaster, was free not sure now? Dreadhalls was also really good, there is a loot RPG also. Herobound is fun. Smash Hit Plunder is a fun concept.

I'm sure the newer one with the better screens is better, you will always see the SDE. It's hard with these games/apps because they are so short, not much to get sucked into.
 
Also, there is some great explorable photos in Matterport, pretty crazy esp for people new to VR.
 
My S7 is arriving tomorrow. Already have the Gear vr sitting here along with a bluetooth controller.
 
Woot. Finally got notification that nutty gear vr will be shopping by the first. Also ordered a steelseries free bt game pad.

I don't expect a whole lot since I have bad astigmatism but I'm still excited to try this out.
 
bastage said:
Woot. Finally got notification that nutty gear vr will be shopping by the first. Also ordered a steelseries free bt game pad.

I don't expect a whole lot since I have bad astigmatism but I'm still excited to try this out.
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Sweet. Me too! Says it's going to ship on 4/1. I don't expect much either but I'll give it a try. Worst case is I sell it.
 
Good timing on those shipments, too. Oculus has released some nice updates to the software which added some more features (social trivia and DLNA video streaming, for example). I was lucky enough to just walk into a BestBuy on March 8 and walk out with an S7 and GearVR in hand - so far the Gear VR has been pretty impressive for what it is. Can't wait for Rift/Vive.

I would recommend getting a gamepad, though. Lots of games/software could benefit from better controls (and some require it).
 
EricGRIT said:
...so far the Gear VR has been pretty impressive for what it is. Can't wait for Rift/Vive.

I would recommend getting a gamepad, though. Lots of games/software could benefit from better controls (and some require it).
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This. The Gear VR is surprisingly good for what it is, though you ARE paying somewhere around $700-750 dollars for it, just not all at once.
 
EricGRIT said:
Good timing on those shipments, too. Oculus has released some nice updates to the software which added some more features (social trivia and DLNA video streaming, for example). I was lucky enough to just walk into a BestBuy on March 8 and walk out with an S7 and GearVR in hand - so far the Gear VR has been pretty impressive for what it is. Can't wait for Rift/Vive.

I would recommend getting a gamepad, though. Lots of games/software could benefit from better controls (and some require it).
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I ordered a steel series free game pad. Send to be compatible with most games and I think the small size will make it easy to store with the vr
 
This is interesting, I might have to jump into this. When your watching netflix, youtube, mkv files on your phone, does it play it as 3d??
 
tracer11LB said:
This is interesting, I might have to jump into this. When your watching netflix, youtube, mkv files on your phone, does it play it as 3d??
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No, it sticks you in a room and plays it on a screen. You can also play it "in the void" which will make the screen follow wherever your head looks so you can lay down and it still be in front of you.
 
So my rx is too far off in my eyes so I couldn't use my gear vr. Was only able to get one eye into focus at a time so as you can imagine that wasn't a pleasant experience.. Then I jumped out of my s7 and note have a gear vr sitting in my office doing nothing, so if anyone wants to name a fair offer send new a pm
 
bastage said:
So my rx is too far off in my eyes so I couldn't use my gear vr. Was only able to get one eye into focus at a time so as you can imagine that wasn't a pleasant experience.. Then I jumped out of my s7 and note have a gear vr sitting in my office doing nothing, so if anyone wants to name a fair offer send new a pm
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I have the same issue though I don't wear any corrective lenses. Like 10 years ago when I did have something, I think my eyes were .5 and 1.5 diopters or something like that. I've been considering contact lenses though because it IS slightly annoying having an eye out of focus.
 
USMCGrunt said:
I have the same issue though I don't wear any corrective lenses. Like 10 years ago when I did have something, I think my eyes were .5 and 1.5 diopters or something like that. I've been considering contact lenses though because it IS slightly annoying having an eye out of focus.
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I can't wear contacts, but if I could I sure as hell would. My eyes suck for tech stuff. I also can't watch 3d movies without squinting the whole movie and still coming out with a migraine.
 
bastage said:
So my rx is too far off in my eyes so I couldn't use my gear vr. Was only able to get one eye into focus at a time so as you can imagine that wasn't a pleasant experience.. Then I jumped out of my s7 and note have a gear vr sitting in my office doing nothing, so if anyone wants to name a fair offer send new a pm
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Cant you wear your glasses while using the GVR?

As for focus, you'll never be able to get the entire lens into focus - only the "sweet spot" right in the middle. It sounds bad but you really get used to it quickly and after a few minutes you don't even realize it anymore.
 
TheSmJ said:
Cant you wear your glasses while using the GVR?

As for focus, you'll never be able to get the entire lens into focus - only the "sweet spot" right in the middle. It sounds bad but you really get used to it quickly and after a few minutes you don't even realize it anymore.
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Negative. I tried to wear my glasses under the gear, but they were crammed against my face.
 
Just got one today to use with my s6 Edge+. Must say it's the best tech purchase ive made in a very long time. You can use it with cardboard apps also

What I did was get package disabler pro so I can use it with my emulator to play games in VR. About to play legend of dragoon in vr it's amazong
 
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