It's been a while since there's been a week in which virtual reality it is not present in our feeds or timelines, although we have recently spoken about Apple's visible interest in this technology, now it is Google who speaks.
And it is not for less, only Google with its Cardboard, they have already achieved more than 5 million units soldThis is without counting Carl Zeiss, Homido, Lakento and many other companies that have thrown themselves into the pool with virtual reality glasses for our mobile devices.
With this figure, Google comes to tell us that the leading platform in the use of virtual reality is smartphones, well above Oculus Rift, Playstation VR (Project Morpheus) and even HTC Vive.
Of course, this is a trap on its part, Oculus Rift is very recent in the market to the general public, Playstation VR or HTC Vive have not even come out, and taking into account the difference in cost of some Google Cardboard ($ 5) some Oculus Rift ($ 400), the abysmal difference in units sold is perfectly normal and totally justifiable.
From this we get several things clear, and it is that although it is true that the experience of a Google Cardboard has nothing to do with that of a Oculus RiftThis does not mean that one will win over the other, rather it shows that both products can coexist.
An ordinary person, with a limited budget and who does not like video games excessively, is not going to do with an Oculus Rift or a Playstation VR, however it is possible that he will buy some Google Cardboard or a Carl Zeiss VR ONE to experience virtual reality from your smartphone.
What these data also give us a glimpse is that 2016 and 2017 are going to be the years of virtual reality, since between these two years the greatest efforts will be made and there will be the greatest boom in this technology since its birth.
Yo personally i think that both forms must advance, virtual reality in our smartphones has a future, and right now despite the efforts of companies it is still in its infancy, however, as a gateway to this new technology, VR glasses for smartphones are a cheap product and useful, based on my experience I can say several things:
- The Immersive 360-degree high-resolution videos With virtual reality glasses for smartphones they are a very attractive point that can mean a substantial improvement in the multimedia consumption that we do in our day to day.
- If companies put the batteries, VR glasses can help with issues such as telepresence or to greatly improve the gaming experience on smartphones by improving the experience of games that encourage exercise or exploration of places (can you imagine Pokémon Go! in augmented / virtual reality?).
- Video games that seek to impress the user due to the level of detail of virtual worlds, that seek to make the user feel that they are within that world and try to present an alternative reality or involve the user within their universe they have no place (for now) in smartphones and pocket virtual reality, these devices lack screens of a size around 6 inches and really high resolutions combined with a multitude of sensors that really manage to trick our brain into believing us within that experience, today with these games in Our mobiles, the worlds created are too simple, you can see the pixels on the screen, the visual field is narrow and there is a small delay from when you move your head until the game reacts.
Anyway, companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Sony, Samsung and many more are doing their part in this technology, so quite possibly a couple of years from now the picture has changed a lot, we will check its status again at that time.
Today the closest we have is the MWC 2016 held in Barcelona next February and where if all goes well we hope to see products related to this technology and many more news.