The fun-loving part about technological advancements is that with more players involved in the research and development process, the faster the technology is available and accessible to the majority of the consumers at an affordable price. The same has been the case with virtual reality. Over the past year, we have seen a lot of participation by technology enthusiasts in the VR industry. As a result, VR has witnessed lightning-fast growth with multiple affordable VR solutions available.
Last year, Samsung and Google released affordable mobile VR headsets in an attempt to get more people adopting the VR Tech. Although both of these companies made a significant penetration in the VR market, their mobile VR headsets fell short of delivering the ultimate high-end immersive VR experience of rivals like Oculus and HTC Vive.
However, there is one company, Zeiss, that wants to bridge the gap between the two kinds of VR Headsets (mobile VR and PC connected) with its newly introduced Zeiss VR One Connect. This means that mobile VR headsets will face a dearth of impressive visuals and complex gaming experiences. Zeiss is a world leader in optics and optoelectronics with its own mobile VR Headset, Zeiss VR One, available in the market.
Zeiss VR One Connect
The Zeiss VR One Connect runs PC-powered SteamVR games by sending a pre-rendered display signal to a smartphone that is installed within a mobile VR headset. This will allow you to play games using the Zeiss wireless controllers that are connected to your Android/iOS smartphone via Bluetooth. This also means that all the VR porn games and famous titles like
LaDouche, available on VRPorn.com and previously only compatible with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive will now be accessible to mobile-VR-Headset users as well.
Image credit: Zeiss
However, Zeiss has recommended that users should use the "current" smartphone and any mobile VR Headsets of their choice. Zeiss will also be providing a USB cable to connect a SteamVR compatible computer with a pair of controllers. All the game processing will be done on the PC, but your perspective within the game will be based on your smartphone's built-in motion sensor and Bluetooth chip.
Image credit: Zeiss
The wireless controller's internal sensor tech performs 3DoF (degrees-of-freedom) motion tracking. The controller data is then matched with your smartphone sensor data in order to coordinate your hand movements with the image on your mobile screen. However, don't expect something big like positional room-scale tracking.
The Zeiss VR One Connect is expected to arrive by the end of 2017 at a retail price of $129.
