Not too long ago, Samsung released its not-quite-ready-for-consumer version of its Virtual Reality (VR) headset, the Gear VR Innovator Edition. The RM799 device wasn’t exactly what we’d call cheap and it’s limitation of only being compatible with certain Samsung smartphones was also a big bummer. Now it seems, Samsung thinks we’re ready for a full blown consumer version and they’ve even dropped the price to get us all onto the VR bandwagon.
The new Samsung Gear VR was unveiled at the Oculus Connect 2 developer conference in Los Angeles and Peter Koo, Samsung’s VP of Mobile, announced that we’re getting a cheaper Gear VR headset at a pretty affordable US$99 (RM437) price tag. That’s almost half of what the Gear VR Innovator Edition was priced at and when you also compare it to Oculus’ own Rift headset, it seems the new Gear VR sounds like a pretty good deal.
To top it off, Samsung isn’t going to pull a douchey stunt by making different versions of the Gear VR for every single one of their smartphone models. Instead this new headset will be compatible with all their 2015 flagship smartphones. That’s going to be good news for those of you who have recently ponied up for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge or Galaxy S6 Edge +. As for it being forward compatible with upcoming smartphones, well that wasn’t mentioned.
The broad flagship smartphone compatibility isn’t the only improvement that this new Gear VR has. Samsung and Oculus have put in some improvements to the headset in order to increase comfort. That includes making the hardware a good 22% lighter than before and new foam cushioning. This is all to make the Gear VR more comfy to wear over long periods of time. It also seems that the side touchpad has undergone some improvement to provide greater control, though no elaboration of what those improvements are have been given.
So when should we be able to get our hands on this new, improved and cheaper Gear VR? According to Samsung, the headset will be shipping in November in the US, and will head worldwide shortly after that. Hopefully it’ll reach Malaysia just before Christmas because we’re pretty sure there are some Samsung Galaxy Note 5, S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+ owners who can’t wait to get their hands on it here.
Source: Samsung
