This article was 1st published on our sister Site, Digital World Native.
During Google’s annual I/O developers’ conference, the search giant unveiled Daydream, with which it plans on giving its previous Cardboard, low end virtual reality (VR) headset, & the VR industry as whole, a shot in the arm.
Google said that will license the new VR product to its partners but will also market its own version of the sleek plastic headset & motion controller design directly. It will no longer be made from cheap cardboard, meant for limited use, nor will it be packaged as a do-it-yourself kit for tinkerers & hobbyists. This is meant to be a mainstream product & will compete directly with its own partners, like Samsung, Huawei & LG, as well as with its biggest competitor, the Oculus Rift.
In fact, Samsung & Huawei have already gone on record as saying that they will release Daydream compatible smartphones, & many more are expected to make announcements in the near future as well. The platform relies on latest generation phones with Google’s Android OS to power its 3D AI engine & to render fully formed virtual worlds or 360-degree 3D video productions onto the viewer’s eyeballs.
This falls in line with Google’s philosophy of ease of use, which they began with Cardboard, by making the new platform a lot more open & easier to use than Facebook’s Oculus Rift. At the moment, the latter can only be used with specific Samsung phone models, or by tethering to a high spec PC, & it has yet to deliver its motion controller.
The advantage of Google’s opening up of its hardware & software design to 3rd parties has resulted in agreements with many headset makers, but also with Unity, which has ported its gaming engine to the platform, opening it up to a huge community of developers (over 5.5 million). Also announced were agreements with Yi, a Chinese 360-degree camera maker & IMAX, which will integrate with Google’s Jump video platform, which is at the heart of the Daydream’s video rendering engine.
Google spokesmen at the conference also said it will be featuring some of its own flagship apps in Daydream: Google Maps will provide interactive virtual 3D maps & YouTube will promote immersive 3D videos, among others.
While the announcement was well received, & it looks like the platform is a serious & powerful bet by Google to kick the AI industry along, no actual headset or controllers were shown, & their availability was said to be off in the distance (next fall). Also, pricing was not discussed.
Image Credit: Google VR
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