About Alcatel's New (VR) Smartphone & Mobile VR
Alcatel OneTouch made packaging for its new Idol 4 smartphone double up as a VR headset. The entry level Idol 4S (with 5.2-inch screen) comes with a VR headset, JBL speakers and a phone case, costing just €279...
"Google: please steal this idea for your next round of Nexuses."
Chris Velazco, Engadget
Now there's a term in VR community calls "poison in the well"...
In the last few years or so, the phrase “poison in the well” has been used to mean that bad virtual reality could harm good virtual reality by failing to meet the public’s expectation. If a company designs a clearly bad device or experience, it harms the VR industry in general.
I must point out there are number of parameters that matter to have good experience with Mobile VR:
- Optics.
The most important parts are optics: good headsets all use custom fresnel optics to have wider FOV and sharp, not pixelated experience. - Ventilation
The lens tend to get foggy otherwise. - Precision.
For example in Samsung's Gear VR extra sensors are used inside the headset for more precise tracking. - Cooling.
Many games and apps tend to heat up the phone, eventually crashing. We have tried to use Samsung Gear VR straight out of deep-freezer and it performs up to 30% longer (while using processor intensive apps). - Extra power.
Not a must, but recommended. At least possibility to have access to the port for having the convenience connecting a PowerBank. - Above all: Positional Tracking
This is way too much to expect from current, low-end VR headset, but it is a fundamental need for future mobile VR (as currently only the direction of user's viewing can be tracked, not the position in the room). Real Time built-in positional tracking probably requires a SLAM solution of some sort and surely all big developers have their plans to solve it. Google will most probably utilise their Project Tango technology.
So I really hope it really is a carefully crafted product not just a cheap copy of Samsung's Gear VR. Otherwise I see it as a company using the hype: they go for a marketing stunt undermining everyone trying to do real innovation.
Photo credits: Ben Wood
As a VR professional with strong ties to hardware design I can't really see - considering the ultra-low price point - how it could be much more than a plastic case with basic optics. And I truly hope it isn't a plastic version of a Google Cardboard. This space is saturated already, search in Alibaba if you don't take my word for it.
* * *
P.S.
If anyone has direct experience with the HMD, please get on touch! :)
