14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung launched the Galaxy S7 Edge earlier this year with much fanfare, and the company is already praising the high sales the device records mostly all over the world. And there’s no surprise that the S7 is selling like hot cakes, considering the looks + hardware + performance mix.
But Samsung’s also trying to bank on the growing popularity of the S7 in order to promote a less successful product: the Gear VR.
In essence a mobile virtual reality headset, the Gear VR was released by Samsung on November 27, 2015, to provide users with the most comfortable way to experience virtual reality without the need for any cables.
The device was developed in partnership with Oculus but is manufactured solely by Samsung, relying on a very user-friendly approach that allows pretty much any owner of a supported mobile phone to experience its capabilities without studying rocket science first.
What it does is use a mobile phone as the display and processor while the Gear VR is the controller coming with biconvex lens to make your brain think you’re in a completely different place. And thanks to the Galaxy S7 Edge, this experience is significantly improved.
Hardware
While we won’t go into too many details since the device was launched in November, so it’s not necessarily a super new product, it’s important to review the essentials.
Basically, the Gear VR is the controller that allows you to interact with images provided by the handset, which is the processing unit and the display. You have to connect your phone to the headset through the micro USB port, and the following models are supported: Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge +, and Note 5. This is one of the reasons the Galaxy S7 lineup comes with a micro USB port, despite the fact that everyone expected it to get a USB Type-C connector.
After connecting the phone to the Gear VR and installing the Oculus app, you can start using the headset with head movements, but also with the side touchpad and physical back button. Although it might be tricky at first, browsing menus is quite easy once you learn the basics. And that’s why Samsung is offering a wizard when you set up the Gear VR for the first time to help you figure out how to use it.
“The reason for a micro USB port on the Samsung Galaxy S7.”
The Gear VR uses two lenses with a range of 96 degrees, and what they do is to actually zoom the image on the display of the phone. The bigger the screen, the better the quality of the image, so if you use the Galaxy S7 Edge, you are supposed to get the best possible experience.
The device comes with a gyrometer, an accelerometer, and a so-called IMU, which stands for inertial measurement unit. This is specifically introduced for rotational tracking and allows you to enjoy 360-degree videos or play games with the headset.
Without the phone, the Gear VR weighs only 318 grams, so it’s quite light. It features both a horizontal and vertical strap to perfectly mount it on your face, but you can remove the latter for increased comfort. But you’ll always want it to be perfectly centered on your face for better quality.
The Gear VR also comes with foam cushioning, so it’s quite comfortable, but we’ve noticed that fog can easily show up if you wear it for too long. Do not touch the lenses with your fingers, and always try to keep the phone’s display as clean as possible!
The experience
If you’ve previously tried the Oculus Rift, the Gear VR might not be too impressive, not necessarily because it’s produced in partnership with Oculus, but because image quality is average, to say the least.
It takes some time to adjust the focus, and if you normally wear glasses, this could really be a challenge. There’s a controller on the headset just for that, but you can hardly find the appropriate settings. We’ve noticed that the sharpest quality is right in the center of the image, where the on-screen cursor resides, so you can use it as the main point of focus to adjust the Gear VR.
Navigating the menus is easy once you learn how to do it. Simply move your head around and tap on the side touchpad to access new content.
We recommend everyone to start with 360-degree photos just to learn the basic movements and discover what the Gear VR is capable of without getting dizzy. You can also plug some headphones in the phone to listen to any sound that might be available for the content you are playing because the phone’s speakers are clearly unable to provide a truly genuine experience.
Videos are fascinating if you find the right ones, and there’s no doubt that those that allow you to ride a roller coaster are the most popular. Without a doubt, however, it’s quite easy to get dizzy, so you are highly recommended to sit on a chair when using the headset. There’s a high risk of accidents if you don’t do that!
There’s a large collection of videos that allow you to experience the beautiful panoramas of Victoria Falls, Egypt temples, and other attractions around the world, and it’s up to you to discover what you like the most. There are some horror videos in there too, so if you like watching this kind of content, you’re going to love the Gear VR.
As far as games are concerned, playing them is quite a challenge. There’s a somewhat limited collection of games in the store, but you can still find some that are really addictive. For example, we really liked Temple Run, although playing it is a challenge because it involves swiping left and right on the touchpad every time you want to avoid obstacles.
You can’t lean left or right when playing games, so you have to rotate your head every time and use the physical controls, which is clearly unhandy during a fast-paced game.
Video quality is not the best, and that’s because the headset pretty much zooms in the content that’s displayed on your phone screen. The generated image is split into two parts, but the lenses merge them together for your brain to think that you’re looking at a single photo. But it’s still a nice and rather affordable way to experience virtual reality at this point.
The bottom line
The Samsung Gear VR is definitely an interesting project, but it’s hard to really become addicted to it. It’s the kind of product that you use for a day or two, and then you forget that it even exists.
The good thing is that Samsung has done an excellent job of bringing more content in the Oculus store, with plenty to choose from when it comes to photos, videos, and games.
There’s also a browser if you want to navigate in the most unique way, but that’s quite a challenge, especially because the image you get isn’t quite crystal clear. And yes, you can use the browser to connect to YouTube and watch some videos, but 360-degree clips are rather laggy and almost impossible to load and run smoothly.
And before you ask, yes, we’ve tried watching porn with the Gear VR (for testing purposes, obviously, :insert naughty emoticon here:), but this is quite a challenge as well. If you really want to do this, you have to stick to the 2D version of the video, which basically means that you’re watching a wall where the clip is projected.
There are some adult websites out there that are already offering Gear VR content, and some work pretty nicely, but you might have to pay to access high-quality videos. It’s a challenge to watch such movies, but we all know that you’re going to try it, so good luck with this.
All in all, the Gear VR is worth the money to have some fun and impress your friends, but otherwise, it’s very clear that virtual reality devices are still in their early phases. Samsung has done a terrific job by creating a product that can be used on the go, and although it has its drawbacks, it remains one of the best choices currently out there.
