With Oculus Quest 2 eating up most of the VR-and-related device news and hype of late, it’s easy to forget that AR, MR, XR are all only as successful as they are accessible. Sure, a sub-$300 price point makes Quest 2 within reach of many potential users, but budget devices continue to make their presence and influence felt in these rapidly growing industries.
Accessible, Affordable, Adaptable
ZapBox is all about accessibility. A device created to encourage wider adoption of Augmented and Mixed Reality, ZapBox is the natural evolution of low-budget headsets like Google Cardboard. Priced at $40, ZapBox brings its users straight into XR via a lightweight head-mounted smartphone frame, two fully trackable hand controllers, a pair of world trackers to observe the surrounding environment, and a suite of creative tools available to those hoping to develop their own XR apps and content.
Offering 6DoF to its users, ZapBox is set to handle gaming, productivity, social, and creative use. This high degree of versatility and freedom is not usually found in a smartphone XR/VR device. Zappar, the outfit behind ZapBox, also hosts a catalog of XR experiences that point towards even greater control of AR objects and environments. Geared towards communal as well as solo use, ZapBox keeps human connectivity as its core principal. As such, peripheral vision is maintained throughout use, keeping users connected to their real-world environment at all times.
Adulting: Extended
Whether or not ZapBox will be used heavily to view adult MR and XR content remains to be seen. However, it is clear that this device offers an affordable entry point to extended reality experiences of all kinds. Those holding off on purchasing a higher-end device like Valve Index or even the not-outrageously-priced Oculus Quest 2, can test the waters with ZapBox without doling out much dough. A direct line to richer, more fulfilling adult fantasies through XR, for only $40? Epic.
Some have taken to calling ZapBox “the Google Cardboard of AR, XR,” and while that might initially seem unflattering, it pays to remember just how instrumental Google Cardboard was in encouraging widespread VR awareness and adoption. Should ZapBox build even a third of Cardboard’s user base, this remarkable new viewing system should be bringing new MR, AR, and XR porn viewers into the fold by the thousands. Still in its crowdfunding phase, this all-new edition of ZapBox is due to launch in April 2021.
JustSquat says
I like where this technology is headed.
vrjoeker says
Neat!