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Samsung's Gear VR tipped to hit the shelves on December 1, alleged retail price also leaks

posted by Peter K. / Oct 06, 2014, 8:31 AM

Samsung's Gear VR tipped to hit the shelves on December 1, alleged retail price also leaks

Samsung's answer to the the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, the Gear VR, made an appearance at IFA 2014 event treating us to its compelling virtual reality goodness. The headworn accessory requires you to snap a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 at the front as it makes full use of the latter's Quad HD AMOLED display and allows you immerse yourself into the virtual reality of a VR-compatible game.

The manufacturer initially did not reveal any exact information about the release date or the price of its virtual reality accessory, but a recently-leaked internal document purportedly hints that Samsung might be gearing towards a launch on December 1, at least in its home turf at South Korea. Reportedly, the Gear VR might fetch a KRW 200,000 ($187) price tag. Then again, you'd also need to spare some cash for the Galaxy Note 4 if you want to use of Samsung's VR accessory.

We had the opportunity to put the Gear VR on our tech-savvy heads and test it out at this year's IFA event - our general impressions are that despite being a little bit bigger, heavier, and not as comfortable as we'd like it to be (not to mention that it will only work with a Galaxy Note 4 at the front for now). Still, VR headsets are among the hottest topics of the gaming industry at the moment, so the Gear VR has a certain potential ahead of it.

source: Clien.net via G4Games

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21 Comments

1. ryan5609

Posts: 107; Member since: Nov 01, 2011

Cant wait to get this for my OnePlus One! I plan on using it as a HUD driving aid.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 8:34 AM 0

3. neops

Posts: 297; Member since: Jan 28, 2014

"it will only work with a Galaxy Note 4 at the front for now"

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 8:37 AM 10

5. ArtSim98

Posts: 3535; Member since: Dec 21, 2012

He was obviously being sarcastic. At least I really hope so xD

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 8:49 AM 4

7. neops

Posts: 297; Member since: Jan 28, 2014

idk you little guy migratesoutheuasap

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 9:00 AM 0

8. ArtSim98

Posts: 3535; Member since: Dec 21, 2012

Umm... Wth does that last bunch of words mean? Migrate so you the you ASAP?

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 9:28 AM 0

9. neops

Posts: 297; Member since: Jan 28, 2014

youresmartyoullfigureitout

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 9:41 AM 0

10. ArtSim98

Posts: 3535; Member since: Dec 21, 2012

Migrate south EU ASAP. Yah Italy is nice but yeah. Maybe not now.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 9:51 AM 2

11. neops

Posts: 297; Member since: Jan 28, 2014

http://tinyurl.com/pdznod8 or better http://tinyurl.com/87ehvb2

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 9:58 AM 0

13. ArtSim98

Posts: 3535; Member since: Dec 21, 2012

lol Nice places. Would cost a fortune to rebuild on those lands though :p

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 10:29 AM 0

14. neops

Posts: 297; Member since: Jan 28, 2014

Cheep labour too

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 10:30 AM 0

18. HomerS

Posts: 419; Member since: Sep 19, 2014

Even if you were not joking, LCD DIsplays are to slowly for VR and dont over low persistance and 1080p is too low res aswell.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 1:11 PM 0

2. walnuttt

Posts: 153; Member since: Apr 11, 2014

Nice one Samsung, must try this.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 8:36 AM 1

4. Pattyface

Posts: 1658; Member since: Aug 20, 2014

My question is about the games. Is it only going to work with new games specifically made for it or current GP games? I feel that content is king and that may doom this VR headset

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 8:43 AM 0

6. ArtSim98

Posts: 3535; Member since: Dec 21, 2012

Probably like any VR. So it will work with current games too but they might be bad to play because VR games have to be designed differently.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 8:51 AM 0

12. DBounce

Posts: 172; Member since: Apr 26, 2014

"our general impressions are that despite being a little bit bigger, heavier, and not as comfortable as we'd like it to be" And? It's seems you are missing the rest of this comment.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 10:13 AM 0

15. xtroid2k

Posts: 601; Member since: Jan 11, 2010

Honestly this sucks. I don't like being confined to an ecosystem. I don't like how the all of these manufacturers are coming out wiith wearables that require you buy their stuff. I'll wait for more universal solutions.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 10:47 AM 0

16. Armchair_Commentator

Posts: 222; Member since: May 08, 2014

I hear you, I was actually interested in the galaxy wearables (1st ones) but they were locked to samsung phones, but in hindsight I guess it saved me some money. Cmon samsung, open up!

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 11:01 AM 0

17. fanboy1974

Posts: 1345; Member since: Nov 12, 2011

For mobile it will be near impossible to make a universal headset that will fit the various sizes of phones, resolutions, cpu's, memory sizes and even low level software like kernels. Not even Samsungs Note Edge is compatible. Luckily for me I'm a Note lover and have already made my decision. This should give you a similar experience between Oculus-rift DK1 and DK2. The only true universal oculus-rift experience will be on the PC. But the issue there is that you need to have a powerful gaming PC that can maintain a certain frame rate. And you're tied to wires.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 12:04 PM 1

19. HomerS

Posts: 419; Member since: Sep 19, 2014

The experience with the Gear VR is so phenomenal and achieve latency of under 20ms which even the PC version of oculus Rift struggles to achieve, because it is extremely optimized for the Note 4 on hardware level which no other Android phone offers right now. Maybe the iphone 6 with metal could, but it has only a low res screen and no Amoled Display which is needed for low persistance.

posted on Oct 06, 2014, 1:16 PM 1

20. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

This thing is a novelty at best. It's likely gonna be 199.99 in the USA which is pretty high still for a toy that needs a phone like the GN4/Edge to work. If Samsung would make it work with other phones, than they could lower the bar of entry and sell more of them. My prediction is it is going to fail, simply because the requirement is simply to high.