Merge VR: A Cell Phone Virtual Reality Alternative

Thursday, 07 November 2024

Merge VR: A Cell Phone Virtual Reality Alternative

Added: 20.06.2015 21:13 | 57 views | 0 comments

Franklin Lyons knows exactly where his virtual reality venture, Merge VR, sits in the emergent VR tech space. Merge VR, a gaming system for use with contemporary cell phones is aimed not at hardcore VR fans and bleeding edge tech enthusiasts, but the consumer who wants to get solid enjoyable VR experiences without breaking the bank, yet with a degree of quality that is difficult to come by in an inexpensive rig. Merge VR is a system of a VR helmet—that is meant to house a cell phone for a display—made out of a light, durable foam with adjustable lenses and a paired Bluetooth LE motion controller that is like a miniature Wii Mote and Wii nunchaku rolled into one. Everything in Merge VR is made to be extremely durable; even the harder plastic parts have a degree of elasticity (including the controller). Perhaps the biggest shock was when Lyons put on the headset and casually dropped it (with a cell phone in it) from hip height onto the ground, where it squashed and bounced harmlessly due to the soft foam—the same property that makes it both lighter than most headsets and easier to fit on a user. "The gyros in the iPhone are good enough," Lyons told me, speaking of getting accurate head tracking off of the phones. "And Samsung's are almost as good. I talked to them recently about getting the accuracy they have for Gear VR, but havenÄ‚ËĂ˘â€šÂ¬Ă˘â€žËt heard back yet." Samsung may not want to get back to Lyons, since heÄ‚ËĂ˘â€šÂ¬Ă˘â€žËs producing a non-proprietary version of the same tech as their own Gear VR, created with Oculus support to house Samsung Galaxy phones. But with the addition of the controller and an app store for early cell phone VR gaming apps. This is also Merge VRÄ‚ËĂ˘â€šÂ¬Ă˘â€žËs greatest asset, with the foam headset simplifying the process. Lyons told me their goal was to have as few parts as possible, and that they removed 31 parts from the set once it was properly molded.