FULLDIVE just posted that they are preparing another phone based HMD Kickstarter for May, starting at USD 49, to be delivered in September. Their website contains a lot of marketing blah, no technical details and some inconsistent renderings, from these it seems that it will include a magnet switch, so probably no fancy external bluetooth controller/gyro like the XG HMD or Cmoar HMD.
The most interesting part is that instead of using head straps, which press the HMD against the face, the phone is suspended from a fixed frame sitting on the forehead and distributing the weight over the top of the head. The weight is very high with 628g, but this is less of a problem due to the type of construction that was first seen in Project Morpheus, the VR HMD announced for the Playstation 4.
The pressure required to keep an HMD with head straps in place can cause discomfort after longer use sessions, so it is very understandable that Sony tries to solve this for a game console accessory, but as anything phone based that doesn't involve Oculus will have to use Cardboard software, and with Google now taking extra measures to make sure Cardboards are only used for what they call "bite sized VR", it probably isn't as useful for a phone based VR viewer.
It is an interesting concept nonetheless, and the team "consists of engineers and product designers from Google X and Tesla", so maybe they will come up with something that is more exciting than the other HMDs we've seen so far. The window for getting phone based VR HMDs crowd financed is closing, as the Mattel VR Viewmaster with "Works with Google Cardboard" compatibility will come out in October 2015 for USD 29.99, which will set a reference price for improved Cardboard versions.
Submitted April 18, 2015 at 04:08PM by faduci http://ift.tt/1Q378FX
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