The future of virtual reality is in smartphones

At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held in Las Vegas in 2013, for the first time, we believed that virtual reality might become a future trend. You put on a huge protective mirror, you can enter into the virtual world, it is truly scary, and then Oculus Rift only the first generation of prototype products.

Two years have passed, HTC also launched its own Vive helmet, but Oculus Rift is still the best and most well-known virtual reality equipment, but still can not buy, Of course, you can't buy Sony's Morpheus and Vive. But if you have a smartphone, you may not need the equipment.

At the Google I/O conference in June 2014, smartphones became a virtual reality device. Participants were given a "cardboard package" cardboard after they attended the meeting. After a real puzzle, we found that it was a facial helmet designed for mobile phones, with a dedicated cell phone slot that binds two devices together and wears them in front of you. Suddenly, you fly into the virtual environment of Google Street View and YouTube video. Cardboard is clearly the coolest of all innovative technologies compared to other products.

From the beginning of 2013 to the Google I/O conference, in just 16 months time, virtual reality technology has been realized from the "heavy helmet" into a mobile device can be stuffed into the pocket.

Mobile phones become the engine of virtual reality

Mobile phones have become the most important stand-alone device for virtual reality. Both Samsung, Avegant, Zeiss (Carl Zeiss) and apple shell manufacturer DodoCase are starting to use smartphones as the core engine of virtual reality technology. Even Oculus himself embraced the virtual reality of smartphones by working with Samsung to develop gear VR.

In fact, according to Nick DiCarlo, the head of Samsung's virtual reality team, it was thanks to the Samsung Gear VR that he persuaded the famous programming legend John Carmack to join Oculus.

"We showed him the mobile version of the virtual reality device," he said at the time, ' Wow! With it, I can get a bigger vision! ’”

At the Game Developers Conference last week, Carmack that Oculus would have to face up to mobile strategy in the next release cycle if it wanted to scale up and become a consumer electronics product.

The emphasis on smartphone virtual reality is not surprising, as it has long been a new paradise for virtual reality technology.

First, the smartphone has a good screen quality and a strong enough processing capacity to support a virtual reality movie or game.

In addition, smart-phone built-in accelerators and gyroscopes can also support head tracking. It took Oculus two years to transform his prototype into a commercial product, and Google sold 500,000 cardboard devices in about a year.

More importantly, the next generation of smartphones will really be very, very powerful, and they may be equipped with 4K or even more high-definition screens.

Mobile computing power is unusually strong, in DiCarlo's words,

"Smartphones are even more capable of processing than Xbox 360, and they are much faster than our current habits, and the performance of the phone will improve every few years." ”

Samsung decided to continue to develop gear VR because it hopes to make a difference in the new field, Dicarolo that if consumers want to use virtual reality, mobile phones will be a good way because people are both familiar with smartphones and also like to use them.

"If you want virtual reality to be a big boost in the short term, smartphones are definitely a good channel." ”

Ed Tang said he was the founder and chief strategist of Avegant, who developed virtual reality devices that glyph look like future versions of headphones. It uses mobile phones to display movies and games, and all virtual reality experiences are done in headphones. We can get the virtual reality experience by simply connecting the phone.

Zeiss also agrees with the application of smartphones in the field of virtual reality. The company has a history of ultra high-definition camera lenses, and it is normal for them to extend technology to the realm of virtual reality. They have developed a VR one for virtual reality accessories that can be compatible with all 4.7-inch to 5.2-inch screens of smartphones.

The Zeiss and avegant two companies also want to take a step further in virtual reality, focusing on developing display technology rather than virtual reality software based on smartphones, and hoping to eventually achieve a perfect fusion with smartphones.

The future of virtual reality is wearable equipment?

However, we see virtual reality start-ups Magic Leap, Microsoft's HoloLens, and even Google Glass, none of which make smartphones the core device for virtual reality. Tang, founder of Avegant company, said

Virtual reality technology may be applied to wearable devices. It may be a pair of glasses, or it may be a piece of screen tied to your head. We've seen some virtual reality experiences embedded in computers. If this is really a popular trend, does it make sense to develop virtual reality products based on smartphones today? ”

But DiCarlo, a Samsung company, says it will take a long time and a lot of work to do if virtual reality can be worn as a future trend.

"The 4 screen is now the smallest screen that can be accepted by virtual reality technology, which can provide enough resolution to play 10K High-definition video at 30 frames per second, very fluent." The most important thing now is to solve the problem of Internet infrastructure. ”

Indeed, we still have a lot of work to do. Even the most immersive application--the game--is not ready. Virtual reality game is too expensive, the film is also very time-consuming consumption of resources, this is a 360-degree full immersion video, so that the audience is completely in it, is a kind of experience people have never had.

However, the development of virtual reality is still very fast. Games are one of the most familiar virtual reality markets, but they can also be applied in many other fields, such as movies.

Recently Oculus at the Sundance Film Festival, and their launch of a film depicting robots and dogs has been well-received.

Qantas Airways, which provide Gear VR equipment for first class passengers to watch virtual reality movies on their journeys.

Oculus and Samsung are also starting to dabble in the "casual virtual reality" field, and Avegant also wants to develop more stylish virtual reality kits that will not only look less ridiculous, but also meet the needs of people on short train trips.

In fact, we are still in the initial stage of virtual reality development, the technology needs to be thoroughly tempered to truly mature. A few years from now, maybe your virtual reality device will be on the frame, or it could be recharged by a button on the shirt, or even by brain waves.

Virtual reality is a hugely disruptive technique, and it's revolutionary when you lean on your couch and feel like you're in a movie theater. Also, people have smartphones that are strong enough and affordable. You can watch the show on your mobile phone, and the screen is not only 5 inches small, but also can be connected with good friends.

Of course, people also need to really understand the potential of the revolutionary subversion of virtual reality technology and start thinking about virtual reality applications. At present, people's enthusiasm for virtual reality technology is not high, this is a problem to be solved in the future.

Why can't we try virtual reality technology? All you have to do is take your phone out of your pocket.

VIA Wired

(Responsible editor: Lvguang)