New Samsung Gear VR officially announced: cheaper, and compatible with more smartphones

posted by Florin T. / Sep 24, 2015, 1:35 PM

New Samsung Gear VR officially announced: cheaper, and compatible with more smartphones

Samsung and Oculus have partnered (once again) to develop a new Gear VR headset, which was officially announced today.

As previously assumed, the new Samsung Gear VR will be compatible with the Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+. In fact, it's said that all Samsung smartphones introduced this year will work with the new virtual reality headset (but it's not clear if low-end models are included here).

Design wise, the new Gear VR looks pretty much like Samsung's previous virtual reality headsets, though it does have a revamped trackpad. The best part about the new Gear VR is its price: while previous models were launched costing $199, the latest variant costs just $99.

Samsung said that the new Gear VR should be available in the US starting November, just before Black Friday. After that, the headset will also be launched in other parts of the world (Samsung is talking about a "global launch", so we assume the device will be released in may regions).

Alongside the new Gear VR itself, Samsung will bring us new content for it, including from TiVo, Netflix, and Twitch.

Do you plan to buy a Samsung Gear VR, now that it's going to be quite affordable?

Samsung's new Gear VR

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source: Samsung via The Verge

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25 Comments

1. androiduser

Posts: 514; Member since: Jun 18, 2014

Wow thats great news but does the cheaper price mean that its worse than the previous gear vr's ?

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 1:39 PM 1

10. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

Hopefully not. What I will say is since it requires expensive high spec'd phones, it should have been that price anyways.

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 4:42 PM 4

2. DnB925Art

Posts: 1168; Member since: May 23, 2013

I hope this is compatible with my Note 4, or they drop they price of the original VR down to $100 to match this.

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 1:41 PM 1

24. Psykotik_Dragon

Posts: 84; Member since: Dec 21, 2013

not likely...they already stated in the article that it'll only work w/ this year's devices...but if you give it some time you can prob find the N4's VR for fairly cheap online somewhere. GL

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 11:24 AM 0

3. jesus_sheep

Posts: 279; Member since: Apr 18, 2015

I have never experienced VR before. Can you use this gear for watching videos on youtube or playing games?

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 1:58 PM 1

4. genesis

Posts: 4; Member since: Oct 27, 2014

Sorry only used for porn

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 2:22 PM 8

21. joey_sfb

Posts: 6794; Member since: Mar 29, 2012

Ignore genesis. You can use it for youtube and playing games. Though most people still use it for porn eventually.

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 10:45 PM 2

5. wando77

Posts: 1168; Member since: Aug 23, 2012

Does this mean it acts like a large tv screen for netflix etc?

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 2:35 PM 1

8. nahusiv

Posts: 100; Member since: Apr 20, 2015

yeah.

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 4:31 PM 2

25. Psykotik_Dragon

personal movie theater screen...it's pretty awesome!

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 11:26 AM 0

6. superkuiken

Posts: 168; Member since: Mar 24, 2013

Will it only work with Samsung devices, or is the sony Xperia Z5 Premium also compatible?

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 3:29 PM 1

12. jpkelly05

Posts: 110; Member since: Nov 13, 2012

I bet Sammy will only let Sam play. BUT Oculus is coming in Q1 2016https://www.oculus.com/en-us/

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 5:34 PM 1

14. jpkelly05

And after reading that website further, wow... Oculus Rift and the Oculus Touch are going to be a match in heaven. Lets just hope the compatibility of devices goes beyond just phones Gaming System "XyZ" or computers.

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 5:44 PM 1

18. Xardas2

Posts: 8; Member since: Sep 15, 2015

Was wondering the same, Z5 Premium has me sold and hope to get some decent VR on it still.

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 9:58 PM 1

7. HighOnAndroidFTW

Posts: 185; Member since: Apr 26, 2015

I've been meaning to buy one, but since there isn't one that supports both the note 4 (which I currently own) and the note 5 which I'm leaning towards purchasing in December.... I'm debating on whether to buy one now the first gen gear VR for the Note 4 or wait sell the note 4 and get the note 5 and current 3rd Gen Gear VR

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 4:12 PM 2

9. TechieXP1969

$99?! SOLD!!!!

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 4:41 PM 3

11. jpkelly05

I did the demo at Best Buy! $199 too much for it at the time with it's limited uses. But! $99 and Netflix is the holly grail. My thought instantly when I tried it was "Awesome". Just imagine watching a movie in a 3x Imax screen theater, and your on the moon. I looked all around and you could see so much stuff. My only personal thought was the theater was empty, which felt a small tiny bit eerie. Being that my job sometimes holes me up in hotels alone in crappy places every once in awhile- I am in. Just hope Showbox can make a mod. On another note, I can agree with HighOnAndroidFTW- let's hope this new version can support both Note4 and 5.

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 5:29 PM 1

13. jasrockett

Posts: 127; Member since: Oct 05, 2011

Is the Note 4 to wide to fit?

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 5:36 PM 0

15. gaming64 unregistered

The only thing that this VR does is 360 degrees porn viewing.

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 8:14 PM 0

16. iusshpandeh

Posts: 250; Member since: Jul 23, 2014

HoloLens blows these all to dust!

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 8:49 PM 0

17. JocularJ

Posts: 222; Member since: Apr 27, 2011

SOLD! Just got a note 5 so looking for nee toys for it. Even better if it works with Xbox1

posted on Sep 24, 2015, 8:57 PM 0

19. Babert

Posts: 165; Member since: May 08, 2013

what im not sure about this is if i can watch my regular movies stored on my phone on it on the plane or play regular games on it! basically i use it as a large screen tv!