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I've often made the comparison between the smartphone industry and the VR industry, likening the current crop of VR solutions (Oculus, Vive, etc.) to the first

I've often made the comparison between the smartphone industry and the VR industry, likening the current crop of VR solutions (Oculus, Vive, etc.) to the first Treos and Pocket PCs. Those devices were the some of the first phones that qualified as legitimate smartphones and could perform the tasks associated with smartphones (email, web, calendar, media playback, 3rd party apps, navigation, etc) in a manner that was acceptable to early adopters and enthusiasts. It took a while before the work done in that space could lead to more modern hardware iterations that brought the same features in a more ergonomic and streamlined device (like the iPhone and its contemporaries). If VR is going to take off, I can imagine a similar scenario. These first devices will be the first real, functioning examples of consumer VR tech that doesn't totally suck, but they'll still be a bit bulky, often require a more powerful computing device to do the heavy lifting, and won't really be appealing outside of the enthusiast and early adopter space. It'll take some time before the displays and HMDs are smaller, lighter, and don't require as much in the way of offboard processing power. Once the hardware catches up, we'll be more likely to see more mainstream telepresence, communication, and entertainment users getting into the space whereas now it seems to be focused on tinkerers, developers, and gamers.

moron4hire 11y ago
> If VR is going to take off... VR took off already.
minthd 11y ago
>> These first devices will be the first real, functioning examples of consumer VR tech that doesn't totally suck, but they'll still be a bit bulky, often require a more powerful computing device to do the heavy lifting, and won't really be appealing outside of the enthusiast and early adopter space. Looking at review videos of VR by regular people, it seems that the emotional experience it gives people is strong enough for them to live with compromises being made. Of course there's a difference between that and paying $1500 , but maybe with mobile phone based VR we can bypass that , to an extent ?
- soylentcola 11y ago
  Oh I agree completely. I've got an Oculus dev unit and mostly use it for tinkering around in Unreal Engine or playing demos. As you say, it's cool enough that many people are willing to deal with the compromises. I guess that's how I've come to the smartphone analogy. My first Treo smartphone was bulky as hell. It cost a lot more than similar "non-smart" phones at the time and it took a bit of effort to do certain things (plugging it into my PC to back certain things up, flashing updates, etc.) Still, I loved that thing. Being able to have a synced copy of my calendar in my pocket all the time, being able to browse the web and listen to streaming audio, looking up maps, keeping up with email, using IM apps to avoid (at the time) expensive texting plans...that made it all worthwhile. Still, if you look at the size of the smartphone market and compare it to the popularity of the early Treos and PocketPCs and Blackberrys, it's clear that the groundwork was laid in those early generations but it wasn't until the basics were sorted and hardware caught up (and prices went down) that the modern smartphone became available and you saw mass adoption. These HMDs are the first viable consumer VR devices that will see notable adoption but I'm really excited to see what's available in 5+ years when early sales help push hardware capabilities up and the scale of manufacturing pushes the prices down.

moron4hire 11y ago

> If VR is going to take off... VR took off already.

minthd 11y ago

>> These first devices will be the first real, functioning examples of consumer VR tech that doesn't totally suck, but they'll still be a bit bulky, often require a more powerful computing device to do the heavy lifting, and won't really be appealing outside of the enthusiast and early adopter space. Looking at review videos of VR by regular people, it seems that the emotional experience it gives people is strong enough for them to live with compromises being made. Of course there's a difference between that and paying $1500 , but maybe with mobile phone based VR we can bypass that , to an extent ?

soylentcola 11y ago
Oh I agree completely. I've got an Oculus dev unit and mostly use it for tinkering around in Unreal Engine or playing demos. As you say, it's cool enough that many people are willing to deal with the compromises. I guess that's how I've come to the smartphone analogy. My first Treo smartphone was bulky as hell. It cost a lot more than similar "non-smart" phones at the time and it took a bit of effort to do certain things (plugging it into my PC to back certain things up, flashing updates, etc.) Still, I loved that thing. Being able to have a synced copy of my calendar in my pocket all the time, being able to browse the web and listen to streaming audio, looking up maps, keeping up with email, using IM apps to avoid (at the time) expensive texting plans...that made it all worthwhile. Still, if you look at the size of the smartphone market and compare it to the popularity of the early Treos and PocketPCs and Blackberrys, it's clear that the groundwork was laid in those early generations but it wasn't until the basics were sorted and hardware caught up (and prices went down) that the modern smartphone became available and you saw mass adoption. These HMDs are the first viable consumer VR devices that will see notable adoption but I'm really excited to see what's available in 5+ years when early sales help push hardware capabilities up and the scale of manufacturing pushes the prices down.