LG Goes VR

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LG Wants In

As VR sales continue to soar, an increasing number of industry juggernauts are throwing their hat into the ring. The latest of these is LG Electronics Inc. This Korean company was originally known for its home electronics manufacturing. Producing high-quality utilities like refrigerators and air conditioners put the company on the map during the mid 20^th century. More recently, LG has moved into the mobile market. In particular, those sleek, sophisticated little displays that show up on the latest smartphones. With such a solid foundation in the manufacturing of displays, LG felt it was the next logical step to move into the virtual reality space.

LG is currently in development of a fully-fledged HMD (head-mounted display) that will compete directly with the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The device will take a lot of cues from the HTC Vive which in many respects is considered the gold standard of VR at the moment. What LG hopes is that by emulating the features that worked best on the Vive, they can add a few minor enhancements to the technology and position themselves as the leading HMD manufacturer for years to come.

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Many of the improvements that the LG headset has to offer revolve around ergonomics. Things like a better-balanced headset and improved controller design might not be the sexiest enhancements but they do make a difference to the more dedicated VR enthusiast. By implementing Valve’s latest “Viper” technology into the controller system, the LG headset is also expected to have slightly better tracking than any of its competitors.

The Specs

The specs on the headset’s display are on par with the HTC Vive.  LG is touting a solid 1440 x 1280 resolution per eye along with a 90-hertz refresh rate. To put this in context, the HTC Vive offers only two 1,200 x 1,080 pixel OLED displays at the same refresh rate. The field of view on the LG display is expected to be a full 110 degrees, which just edges out the PlayStation VR with its slightly narrower 100-degree FOV. One interesting difference between LG and the others is that LG has apparently made the decision to move forward with only a single AMOLED display to encompass the entire field of view. This is in contrast to both the Vive and the Rift which have a separate display for each eye. Some analysts are speculating that this might allow LG to produce their own headset for a significantly cheaper price than the others currently on the market and, most importantly, do so without sacrificing any image quality.

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However, none of these impressive specs mean a thing unless there is quality content available for the platform. This is why LG has made the decision to partner with Valve and make their device Steam compatible. Steam is by far the largest digital marketplace for VR content and LG recognizes the importance of giving its customers access to this library. With Steam’s active community and the constant influx of new VR content being shared on the platform, LG users should expect to have more than enough media to consume on their device.

With LG finally moving into the virtual reality market, that leaves only a few tech companies who’ve yet to take the leap. Facebook joined the space when it purchased Oculus. Sony entered the arena when it began production of its Playstation VR. Google has already been in the game a while with its somewhat premature launch of Google Glass. Even Microsoft is in the mix with the HoloLens. With so many giant tech companies now officially backing VR, it’s only a matter of time before the entertainment industry reaches a tipping point. LG obviously recognizes this fact and doesn’t want to be left behind. But even with so many companies joining the bandwagon, one company is still noticeably absent.

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Apple Where Are You?

For a company that has a reputation for being so progressive-minded, it’s absolutely shocking that Macintosh hasn’t been more proactive about this obvious shift in the market. Their talent for hardware design and user-friendly software is sorely needed in the burgeoning VR industry. Why they haven’t entered the market yet is beyond me but the hope is that they will at least dip their toes in sometime this year. There is still time for an innovative organization like Macintosh to come in and revolutionize the way we think about VR but they have to stop dragging their feet.

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The industry is quickly evolving and now with LG entering the field, there’s going to be less and less room for companies to distinguish themselves. As wave after wave of consumers begins purchasing VR products, only a handful of manufacturers is going to rise to the top. More than likely it will be less than a handful of only two major brands competing for the vast majority of the market share. This is a pattern that we see in everything from video game consoles (Sony and Microsoft) to computer processors (Intel and AMD) to digital cameras (Canon and Nikon). Consumers get overwhelmed with an overabundance of choice and in the end, they tend to stick with what’s familiar.

Once ordinary people start buying up headsets left and right, it’s going to be difficult to get them to jump brands. LG made the right move by getting into the game now before it’s too late. They might be an old-school electronics company with their roots in refrigerators and microwaves but this didn’t prevent LG from still recognizing the obvious. Perhaps this is one instance where Apple needs to swallow their pride a little bit and learn from their elders.