What the Oculus Go means for Virtual Reality in Architecture

The launch of OCULUS GO by Facebook — the first standalone VR device has been all over the news in tech circles. A price point of $200US, no PC or mobile devices required and a premium VR experience sounds good for consumers to think about VR. But what does it mean for VR in AEC ?

We reflect on the impact this device could have on the AEC industry. The 3 clear benefits we see this device can bring to the industry are shared below:

Reducing the cost to commit

A major barrier for the industry to commit to VR has been an understable one — price of entry. Buying an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive or even a Gear VR with a phone is an investment of $1000 dollars or more. By not having to buy additional hardware — just one device, the Oculus Go brings the cost to commit to VR by a significant margin. If you are an AEC company, big or small, chances are you will get value by a minimum investment of $200USD for presenting your projects immersively.

Faster and less clumsy presentations

We are aware of client presentations where there are uncomfortable waiting moments while you setup the cables or just get the phone to work inside the Gear VR. Nevermind, disabling the notifications or ensuring the phone is charged if your are using mobile VR. Oculus Go makes life easier in such situations — just one device that needs to be charged. Wireless and without any hassles — it should make it easier for more and more architects to feel confident that no hardware slip-ups or complications will make their presentations tricky with clients. Speed matters — and Go delivers that.

(Almost) getting the job done

We say almost, because let’s be honest that there is still no alternative to Oculus Rift or HTC Vive if you are looking for supreme VR experiences. We refer to walkthroughs of 3D models that have a huge number of polygons or big file sizes or being able to do advanced actions like markups. So, yes while the Oculus Go can handle walkthroughs of simpler, less complex 3D models or presenting using 360 renders — it doesn’t yet fulfill the dream of picking up a device with no wires or phones and moving into any 3D model right from your desktop to a VR device. We may have to wait a little more for that reality to happen !

Sign up free for a trial period of SentioVR and try it yourself HERE