Mattel and Google have signed a collaboration agreement to develop View-Master, a virtual reality glasses that use our mobile to view images in stereoscopic format and that will make use of the technology used in Google Cardboard VR.
For those who do not know Google Card Board VRIt is a simple Virtual Reality glasses made from cardboard and a pair of lenses. Once the product is assembled, the Google CardBoard VR provides a virtual reality experience using some applications available on Google Play, something that restricted its use to Android devices.
As standard, the View-Master will come with four discs, each with one 360 degree virtual experience. As announced by Mattel, we can enjoy a space navigator, the San Francisco bridge, an environment with a dinosaur or the Alcatraz prison.
Without a doubt, it is an affordable product with which to enjoy virtual reality, however, its possibilities seem slim to us. Fortunately, in the App Store there are some applications that allow us to enjoy more VR content, although even so, the apps that are adapted to be used with this type of products are counted on the fingers of our hands, being in many cases demos of several minutes. Hopefully with its popularization, more alternatives will arrive.
Thanks to Mattel, that restriction is removed and the iPhone can also enjoy a similar experience with View-Master. The product will be available at the end of the year, just for the 2015 Christmas campaign. Its price will be about U.S. dollar 30, somewhat high considering that the hardware is provided by the iPhone itself.