Daydream View vr glasses Review – Promising platform with mediocre execution

Google thinks it has the answer to this dilemma with Daydream, a platform for VR on Android that any manufacturer can participate in. Manufacturers are allowed to make a Daydream mount and if a phone meets certain hardware requirements, it is Daydream compatible. So the manufacturers arrange the hardware based on reference designs from Google, and Google provides the software and the ecosystem. Mixing and matching different phones and holders shouldn’t be a problem.

In doing so, Google requires a few things, the most important of which is the controller. Anyone who wants to market a Daydream holder must supply a small controller that must meet Google’s strict requirements. Not only does this controller allow you to click through the interface, through a combination of gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers and a large amount of quaternion -based math, the movement of the controller along the x, y and z axes is determined. As a result, the Daydream system knows whether a user is turning their wrist or moving the controller, and is even able to point to things in the VR environment, which is useful when navigating interfaces. It’s a bit like a Nintendo Wii controller, but without the need for a separate sensor.

The Daydream View glasses

The first thing you notice when you see the Daydream View is its appearance. It’s not black like the Rift and Vive, nor is it plastic. Google has chosen to cover the outside with fabric. The standard version is grey, but it is also available in other colours. The frame on the inside is made of plastic. Thanks to that combination of materials and the virtual lack of electronics, the View weighs only 263 grams without a phone. That’s almost half the weight of the Rift of Vive.

And yet it doesn’t sit comfortably on your head. There is no headband across the top to secure it extra firmly, it pushes hard against the forehead when you tighten it and it exerts considerable pressure on your cheeks. Perhaps even more annoying is that it does not close properly at the bottom and quite a bit of light enters. That light reflects back into the lenses and that’s annoying when you’re playing. You notice this by far the most in a well-lit room; In the evening with the lights dimmed it is no problem. However, for a product that Google has been working on for a while, we expected more in terms of comfort.

As mentioned, the glasses contain hardly any electronics, only an NFC chip that detects when you put the phone in, so that the Daydream VR interface is started. There are also two capacitive bumpers on the front. These help the phone determine where the center is, so that the lenses get a correct image. There is nothing else to adjust on the glasses, such as the pupillary distance or the distance from the lenses to your eyes. However, there is enough space for spectacle wearers to keep their glasses on.

The lenses are similar to those of a cardboard and its many clones; the image is fine in the middle and it is less sharp at the edges. Of course, the final sharpness largely depends on the screen resolution of the phone you put in it. With the Pixel XL, which has a screen with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, everything looks clearly sharper than with the normal Pixel, which has to do with 1920×1080 pixels.

As soon as you put a phone in the glasses and close the lid, the special Android VR interface starts. This one is very similar to what we know from the Gear VR and Oculus Rift: large thumbnails of applications and menus that float slightly in an arc in front of you. All this against a cartoonish background with bushes, trees, a blue sky and a babbling brook. It all fits together well and naturally; those who put on Daydream glasses for the first time can use them almost immediately.

The controller

Even before you see the main screen, you’ll be introduced to Daydream’s trump card: the controller. Before each session you have to calibrate it by pointing it forward and pressing the home button. During use you will often have to do that in between, because it has a tendency to get upset. You can solve that by pointing forward again and briefly holding down the home button. It is not very disturbing and we think it’s great that Google has made a controller with which you can point and which does not need external sensors. Nevertheless, we hope that this can be improved with software updates in the future.

Above the home button is a second small button, the function of which is different within each app, and above that is a round touchpad. You can press this to select things and you can also swipe over it. The latter is used in many games, but also in the interface of Android VR. There are two buttons on the side to adjust the volume. Those are welcome, because when the phone is in the holder, you can no longer reach the normal volume buttons. After use, you can conveniently store the controller in the View.

Within that Daydream interface, you often use the controller to point through a virtual, blue-glowing line that follows your hand. This works very well within menus, much better than the methods we know from cardboard apps, where you often have to look at something for several seconds to select it, or the Gear VR, which has a touchpad on the side of the glasses . You can do anything with it in games. For example, there is a kart game in which you hold the controller horizontally and move it to steer, just like with the Wii. In another racing game, Need for Speed ​​VR, you have to point ahead in the direction you want to go. And in other games you use the controller like a gun or magic wand.

It’s hard to overstate how much a good controller adds to a VR experience. We already knew that from the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift with Touch controller, and it is confirmed by Daydream. Of course there is a big difference in quality, but even a simple controller like this paves the way for a lot of new forms of interaction in games and apps that were not possible otherwise. Google’s obligation to all manufacturers who want to make a Daydream headset to provide a comparable controller is therefore a golden move.

The software: Android in VR

Google has converted some of its own apps and services so that you can use them in VR. Consider, for example, YouTube, which not only allows you to watch normal videos on a large virtual screen, but also 3D videos in 360 degrees. Street View is also present, so that you can take a look at different places in the world through the glasses. On the spot you can use the controller to ‘move’, or rather: change your point of view. That way we could look around several major cities and even wonders of the world.

In fact, of course, it is no different from what you can do on a computer with Street View, but in VR it is clearly more impressive. Google Photos also has a VR version. Here you can look back at panoramas and 360-degree photos you shot yourself.

If you enter the Daydream View from abroad, you will soon run into a problem; the VR version of Google’s Play Store then refuses to work, as does Google Play Movies. It is therefore difficult to say exactly how large the range of apps is; we simply don’t know. We were able to install a lot of apps by sideloading apk files and some apps can be installed through the normal Play Store. For example, video services HBO and Netflix have their own app, and CNN offers VR reports, just like The Guardian. You can also watch a wide range of videos from VR producer Jaunt, known for Paul McCartney’s 360-degree concert. Incidentally, you can also run Cardboard or generic VR apps, although you have to turn off the NFC function so that the Android VR interface does not start automatically.

There is also quite a bit of choice when it comes to games and interesting games were added during our test period. We liked VR Karts at first, but then Need for Speed ​​Shift VR came out and that game raised the bar again, with more impressive graphics. Gunjack, a game in which you have to shoot down spaceships in a mech turret, also comes out well. Finally, the western game Arcslinger makes good use of the controller and also contains humor.

Invasion is a fun interactive movie in the vein of Pixar and Dreamworks, and Star Chart VR lets you navigate the solar system virtually.

In the end, it was the games that kept us coming back to the Daydream View even after a long time. Watching video in 360 degrees is great, but the relatively low resolutions of current phones and the source material mean that it simply doesn’t look great. Watching flat 2D video in a virtual room, as the Netflix app does, is fun at first, but ultimately a gimmick that distracts and adds nothing.