Google Intensifies Focus on Its Cardboard Virtual Reality Device

NYSlimes ^ | CONOR DOUGHERTY

[RoosterRedux]

Google has seen the future, and it is littered with cardboard boxes.

At its Google I/O developer conference here on Thursday, the search giant announced several programs that aim to put its virtual reality viewer, called Cardboard, at the center of a growing online world in which people can use their smartphone and YouTube to watch videos rendered in 3-D.

Google introduced its virtual reality viewer — a cardboard box, with some lenses and a magnet, that looks a lot like a plastic View-Master toy — as a gift at last year’s I/O conference.

The idea was to create an inexpensive virtual reality device that allowed anyone with a smartphone to do things like fly through a Google Earth map of Chicago or view personal pictures in three dimensions.

It is a comically simple contraption: A smartphone slips into the front so it sits just inches from a user’s eyes. Peering through a pair of cheap, plastic lenses renders the images on the phone’s screen in 3-D. It costs around $4.

[rarestia]

I’ve had an Oculus Rift for almost a year now, and I will say that the cardboard setup is pretty darn close to the same experience. There’s no head tracking like there is with the Rift, but the experience is identical.

[RoosterRedux]

Great.

What can you say about the Rift? Is it as good as they say?

[rarestia]

They’re going to make a lot of changes that will improve it. Overall, I think the biggest headache is finding games that support it natively. Many Steam games such as TF2 and Half Life 2 support it natively with little more than a few configuration tweaks while games like Minecraft will work with it, but it requires some finagling to get it how you want it.

The biggest surprise for me was how comfortable it was as an experience. Once you get the lenses focused and your eyes settle in, it’s almost unnoticeable. Playing Minecraft in 3D is absolutely unreal. I found myself generating maps and just flying around looking at everything. Being inside of a large cave or going into castles I’ve built is like nothing I can explain. Having everything that you built in a 2D world gain volume and depth is mind blowing. There are some shortcomings with it, but I know they’re working through them.

As far as teleconferencing, I did play around with some video chat software that allowed me to be in a virtual conference while looking around a virtual room and being able to see other people. Sadly, those people also had Rift headsets on, so it was like looking at a bunch of clones. Cool tech, though.

A co-worker of mine got a Leap Motion which allows you to use your hands in conjunction with the Rift. That was very cool but it needs work. My first thoughts were of the old movie The Lawnmower Man.

All told, I wouldn’t recommend anyone run out and buy a dev kit. It’s really more of a hassle, and unless you’re a tinkerer, you’ll find it pretty unfriendly for your average home user. The applications are going to be mindbending as it becomes more mainstream.