Today, October 4, Google finally shared the full details of its VR platform, Daydream, and its next headset, the Daydream View.
Although this might seem like an announcement most appealing to VR audiences, it should be equally as important to VR creators, as it will work with a wide variety of smartphones, aims to streamline and improve VR experiences, and has a low price point of $79.
Although Google’s new smartphone, Pixel, is the first Daydream-ready device, Google’s partners already have Daydream-ready phones on the way. Daydream-ready devices will offer accurate head tracking and low latency, as well as high-resolution displays and smooth graphics fine-tuned for VR applications.
Another goal of Google’s VR team was to make VR experiences more comfortable.
“It doesn’t look like other VR headsets,” said Google’s Clay Bavor, “and that’s because in designing it, we weren’t inspired by gadgets. We looked at what people actually wear. We wear stuff that’s soft, flexible and breathable. So we crafted our headset out of the same stuff.”
The microfiber headset, at 200 grams, is 30 percent lighter than similar headsets and offers enough space for the bespectacled among us to wear glasses inside the headset. The face mask is attached to the headset with velcro, making it easy to remove and wash. Google also hopes to make VR easier to experience with the Daydream View.
“It has to be easy to get into VR,” Bavor said. “People don’t want to think about cables, connectors, etc. You just want to pop your phone in and watch it.” To simplify the process, the headset and phone connect wirelessly and automatically align stereoscopic experiences.
Once you’re in the headset, as Bavor said, you’re going to want to see new things. That’s where the Daydream controller comes into play. The controller has a menu button, a home button, volume buttons and a clickable trackpad. Its motion sensors allow you to point, swing and draw. It even offers the precision required to write your name. There’s also a little slot for the controller inside the headset to prevent the more forgetful of us from losing it.
Google has also worked with a handful of partners to create unique experiences for the Daydream platform. For example, users can visit the “wizarding world” of J.K. Rowling with the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them VR experience, where the controller becomes a wand. There are 150 curated tours of places around the world to explore in Streetview.
Perhaps more appealing to VR newcomers is the ability to watch titles from Hulu, Netflix and HBO, as well as every single video on YouTube on a big screen in the headset—your own individual (and virtual) movie theater.
Daydream and its controller will be available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Australia and the UK in November for $79, but is available for pre-order in the U.S. starting October 20. It will initially be available only in slate gray, with colors snow and crimson becoming available later this year.
The Daydream is just one part of the larger VR ecosystem Google wants to be a part of—from Cardboard to Tilt Brush—but it’s a really important step to make VR as ubiquitous and consumable as any other form of content.
