It was the 1992 film The Lawnmower Man
which propelled the idea of virtual reality into the mainstream
consciousness, long before any real hardware was capable of anything
especially useful.
That's not to
suggest that people hadn’t been working on it for quite some time: the
first example of real technology, rather than Hollywood depictions,
dates back to a 1968 device built at MIT.
It could only create simple wireframe graphics and the hardware was so
large and heavy that it had to be attached to the ceiling above the
user’s head, hence its nickname The Sword of Damocles.
Nonetheless, the idea enjoyed a lot of attention throughout the 90s
despite unsophisticated hardware and software making it expensive,
unimpressive and unconvincing.
Behind the scenes, though, at R&D departments and universities
around the world, the required technology was being slowly miniaturised,
made more cheaply and growing in capability.
It’s now enjoying a resurgence, sparked in no small part by Oculus
Rift, as the technology becomes advanced enough to make VR practical and
affordable.
Let’s run through some of the competing devices on the market.
Oculus Rift
Price: $350 (for latest developer kit)
In 2011 a 19-year-old Californian student, Palmer Luckey, had the foresight and talent to cobble together a prototype that would capture the imagination of thousands of investors who poured $2.4 million into a Kickstarter campaign to get it manufactured.
Years later, and the Rift headset still hasn’t been launched commercially – it’s expected later this year - but two different models for developers to create software on have been sold, in preparation for the consumer version. The idea being that software will be ready when it hits the market.
The first device had a separate control box attached by a wire, but the second did away with this, as well as upping the resolution to 960 x 1,080 pixels for each eye. It actually uses the same screen as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which makes sense as the company is actually working with Samsung on another device.
The company was bought in 2014 by Facebook for a reported $400m, so it’s certainly not lacking in cash or backing. Oculus has the expertise and the might of Facebook behind it - but how would a social network use 3D? That has yet to be made clear.
Samsung Gear VR
Price: $199
The Gear VR is produced with the expertise of Oculus. Rather than using a built-in screen, like the Rift, this device actually uses a smartphone – you slot it into the side of the device. Currently only the Galaxy Note 4 fits.
Gear VR connects to the phone with a USB cable and provides a touchpad and physical buttons for navigation and volume control. The software on the phone handles the creation of two separate images, one shown to each eye, to create the illusion of three dimensions.
By using the phone costs have been slashed compared to the Rift, at the expense of a little polish.
A new version of the Gear VR was announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month, designed for use with the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge and called the Gear VR Innovator Edition.
The new headset is 15 per cent smaller than its predecessor, and features a 96 degree field of view, but a UK release date and price is yet to be announced.
Google Cardboard
Price: around £10
This product was developed as a gift for attendees of the I/O conference and designed to turn a smartphone into a VR headset. The device itself is little more than a way of holding a phone up to the eyes and separating the view into two halves – developers can then make apps to take advantage of this stereo image and the built-in motion sensors to create 3D effects.
It comes as one single, flat sheet of cardboard which you fold up into a set of goggles. The only non-cardboard parts are the magnifying lenses, a rubber band, a magnet and some Velcro. It all goes together easily (see the video below) and the finished product is surprisingly usable.
Longevity is an issue: the one we tested already showed signs of wear after just a few days. But it is cheap. In fact, the design has been made open source, and several people sell kits of parts online from around a tenner.
It’s certainly not as polished as the Oculus Rift and you can see light and cardboard in your peripheral vision, so it’s not as immersive. But despite its foibles it's a quite impressive experience, especially considering its cost. The 3D effect is subtle but convincing. The really important part is that it puts VR goggles into the hands of anyone with a desire to tinker, and should foster a lot of experimentation.
HTC Vive
Price: unknown
At this year’s MWC the smartphone maker was expected to launch a new phone, and maybe a smart watch. Instead, out of the blue, it unveiled the Vive VR headset – developed in collaboration with games company Valve.
The goggles are supplemented with two handheld controllers, and two wall-mounted sensors that can detect when you move or duck. It’s also connected to a PC rather than all-in-one. This makes it considerably more cumbersome than the smaller devices, but also more powerful.
Telegraph journalist Rhiannon Williams tried the device and wrote: “The whole experience was oddly breath-taking. I lost awareness of the headset, which fitted comfortably, and the plastic of the controllers in my palms and for around 15 minutes really felt as though I was in another world.
“I drew amazing 3D shapes in the air using my right hand as a paintbrush and my left as a pallet, then walked through and around them. I attempted to fix a poorly robot who then promptly fell apart, before eventually turning on me and enveloping me in a cube before crushing me.”
It's likely to be expensive when it eventually goes on sale, and because the sensors have to be mounted on a wall it won't be easily portable.
Sony Morpheus
Price: unknown
Sony – as a console maker – perhaps has more motivation than most to create a VR headset. Gaming is, after all, one of the key areas that the technology is likely to be applied to. It’s offering is called Morpheus.
Like the Rift, Morpheus will provide resolution of 960 by 1,080 pixels for each eye, and boasts a frame rate of 120fps. That last figure is key, because smooth motion is one of the things needed to trick our brain. One stutter and the illusion can be broken.
It was announced in March last year, but still hasn’t been launched commercially. At the time the Telegraph said it was “slicker and more polished than Oculus”.
The company has been working on it behind the scenes since then and promised last week that it would go on sale in the first half of 2016 with a “good number” of game titles which support it. It’s likely that you’ll need either a PlayStation 4 or Vita to use it.
Let’s run through some of the competing devices on the market.
Oculus Rift
Price: $350 (for latest developer kit)
In 2011 a 19-year-old Californian student, Palmer Luckey, had the foresight and talent to cobble together a prototype that would capture the imagination of thousands of investors who poured $2.4 million into a Kickstarter campaign to get it manufactured.
Years later, and the Rift headset still hasn’t been launched commercially – it’s expected later this year - but two different models for developers to create software on have been sold, in preparation for the consumer version. The idea being that software will be ready when it hits the market.
The first device had a separate control box attached by a wire, but the second did away with this, as well as upping the resolution to 960 x 1,080 pixels for each eye. It actually uses the same screen as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which makes sense as the company is actually working with Samsung on another device.
The company was bought in 2014 by Facebook for a reported $400m, so it’s certainly not lacking in cash or backing. Oculus has the expertise and the might of Facebook behind it - but how would a social network use 3D? That has yet to be made clear.
Samsung Gear VR
Price: $199
The Gear VR is produced with the expertise of Oculus. Rather than using a built-in screen, like the Rift, this device actually uses a smartphone – you slot it into the side of the device. Currently only the Galaxy Note 4 fits.
Gear VR connects to the phone with a USB cable and provides a touchpad and physical buttons for navigation and volume control. The software on the phone handles the creation of two separate images, one shown to each eye, to create the illusion of three dimensions.
By using the phone costs have been slashed compared to the Rift, at the expense of a little polish.
A new version of the Gear VR was announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month, designed for use with the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge and called the Gear VR Innovator Edition.
The new headset is 15 per cent smaller than its predecessor, and features a 96 degree field of view, but a UK release date and price is yet to be announced.
Google Cardboard
Price: around £10
This product was developed as a gift for attendees of the I/O conference and designed to turn a smartphone into a VR headset. The device itself is little more than a way of holding a phone up to the eyes and separating the view into two halves – developers can then make apps to take advantage of this stereo image and the built-in motion sensors to create 3D effects.
It comes as one single, flat sheet of cardboard which you fold up into a set of goggles. The only non-cardboard parts are the magnifying lenses, a rubber band, a magnet and some Velcro. It all goes together easily (see the video below) and the finished product is surprisingly usable.
Longevity is an issue: the one we tested already showed signs of wear after just a few days. But it is cheap. In fact, the design has been made open source, and several people sell kits of parts online from around a tenner.
It’s certainly not as polished as the Oculus Rift and you can see light and cardboard in your peripheral vision, so it’s not as immersive. But despite its foibles it's a quite impressive experience, especially considering its cost. The 3D effect is subtle but convincing. The really important part is that it puts VR goggles into the hands of anyone with a desire to tinker, and should foster a lot of experimentation.
Price: unknown
At this year’s MWC the smartphone maker was expected to launch a new phone, and maybe a smart watch. Instead, out of the blue, it unveiled the Vive VR headset – developed in collaboration with games company Valve.
The goggles are supplemented with two handheld controllers, and two wall-mounted sensors that can detect when you move or duck. It’s also connected to a PC rather than all-in-one. This makes it considerably more cumbersome than the smaller devices, but also more powerful.
Telegraph journalist Rhiannon Williams tried the device and wrote: “The whole experience was oddly breath-taking. I lost awareness of the headset, which fitted comfortably, and the plastic of the controllers in my palms and for around 15 minutes really felt as though I was in another world.
“I drew amazing 3D shapes in the air using my right hand as a paintbrush and my left as a pallet, then walked through and around them. I attempted to fix a poorly robot who then promptly fell apart, before eventually turning on me and enveloping me in a cube before crushing me.”
It's likely to be expensive when it eventually goes on sale, and because the sensors have to be mounted on a wall it won't be easily portable.
Sony Morpheus
Price: unknown
Sony – as a console maker – perhaps has more motivation than most to create a VR headset. Gaming is, after all, one of the key areas that the technology is likely to be applied to. It’s offering is called Morpheus.
Like the Rift, Morpheus will provide resolution of 960 by 1,080 pixels for each eye, and boasts a frame rate of 120fps. That last figure is key, because smooth motion is one of the things needed to trick our brain. One stutter and the illusion can be broken.
It was announced in March last year, but still hasn’t been launched commercially. At the time the Telegraph said it was “slicker and more polished than Oculus”.
The company has been working on it behind the scenes since then and promised last week that it would go on sale in the first half of 2016 with a “good number” of game titles which support it. It’s likely that you’ll need either a PlayStation 4 or Vita to use it.
