What if stand-alone headsets were, as many say, the catalyst of VR market?
Cardboards were meant to allow the public to discover and experience virtual reality. But as cool as they are, it’s not convenient to disable our call and messaging features to not be bothered during the experience. Moreover, the computing power of our smartphones is not yet sufficient to fully support VR, resulting in overheating and rapid depletion of the battery.
Finally, it is one of the oldest VR company that will be first on the stand-alone market: since May 2018, the Oculus Go is available for purchase on the Oculus Store.
Within the Minsight team, we were very excited to check if this new gem was fulfilling all its promises.
And indeed, for 219€, we were pleasantly surprised.
Cheap and fun, the latest Oculus model sets a new standard for virtual reality headsets.
For those who have missed out, the Oculus Go is a completely autonomous virtual reality headset, offering a “3 degrees of freedom” experience. There is no need for a PC, smartphone or other external box to make it work. Featuring a 5.5-inch (14 cm) screen, it offers a total resolution of 2560 x 1440 px display, more precisely 1280x1440 per eye.
However, we should note that during a 360 ° experience, our field of view only requires the display of a portion of the picture.
In the case of a 4K resolution 360 image (3160 x 2160), our 110 ° field of view maps to a portion of the image which is only 1320 x 1173.(Look at the picture below)
Cheap and fun, the latest Oculus model sets a new standard for virtual reality headsets. On the market, it’s the only one of its category to be in this price range. The Lenovo Mirage offers a similar experience, but at a much higher price (350€).
We did a lot of tests and chose to focus on five criterias:
The Depth
We felt that the device offers a real sensation of depth between the different elements of the scenery.
We recommend for the bravest of you the application “Face Your Fears” and the Stranger Things experience. Never has a living room been more terrifying to you.
The depth provides a realistic and catchy feeling of immersion, we get caught up very quickly.
Nevertheless, we must recognize that the movements allowed by the six degrees of freedom of the Mirage offer a better feeling of perspective.
The Quality
The quality is very good for a device that drifts directly from the cardboard headsets. We were particularly surprised by the Healium experience, in which one of the scenarios makes us “levitate” in a kind of large nebula. The experience is beautiful, the colors are bright, we quickly forget the grid effect.
Oculus Go apps
Quality apps are numerous (games, videos, discovery) on the Store. However, the catalog of free experiences is very limited.
The User Experience
Really easy handling of the headset and the joystick. Fluid interface, practical and ergonomic.
The wearing of the Oculus Go is not disturbing and even has an adapter for glasses.
Our conclusion
Pros: We can note that the price-quality ratio for a standalone headset is well above our expectations. It’s possible to live very convincing and immersive experiences.
They made a strong impression within the team.
Cons: The main disadvantage of the headset is its 3 degrees of freedom; the lack of spatialization means that the headset is essentially designed for seated use.
Unfortunately, we cannot yet expect 6 degrees of freedom at this price.
What we would like to see for the next model
· Better glass lenses for better images
· Make the gap disappear between the headset and the nose
· A real spatialized detection of the joystick
Our advice
Download the content and do not use the streaming which leads to a degraded quality of the experience.
One last opinion …
The Oculus Go is as enjoyable as we expected it to be, despite its technical limitations. There is something very accessible and pleasant in its simplicity. But once again, the frustration comes from the lack of free content. The available experiences are great, but you’ve seen most of them in a few hours. And this is the state of Virtual Reality today: we need more content, free quality content, to expand the virtual universe (aka the metaverse) and allow users to travel in enriched virtual worlds for as long as they want.
Yes, it became a leitmotif, but let’s say it one more time: the solution is more User Generated Content, produced through easy VR/AR creation and distribution software. That’s what Virtual Reality needs to step up its game and become more than just an enjoyable and pleasant, but short-lived experience.
Author: Majd Bennani
