A 2560x1440 VR Headset That's Mobile 135
New submitter oldmildog writes: "GameFace Labs may very well be the furthest along in the quest to create a mobile VR headset. It's based on Android, and their latest prototype is the first VR headset (mobile or tethered) to include a 2560x1440 display, with 78% more pixels than 1080p based VR headsets like the Oculus Rift DK2. CEO Ed Mason said, 'The upgrade to 1280 x 1440 per eye is monumental. Individual pixels are hard to detect at first glance, making it a more immersive and comfortable experience in every single game and experience that we've tried. A lot of the ‘presence’ described by devs at the Valve [prototype VR headset] demonstration can be attributed to their use of higher resolution (and lower persistence) panels, which has a noticeable impact in suspending disbelief and tricking the brain."
Transparent OLED (Score:5, Interesting)
These things really aren't going to hit their stride until they start using Transparent OLED displays so instead of cloaking you in VR it's overlays info on the real world.
Re:Oxymoron (Score:4, Interesting)
Having lived through the era of 21+ inch CRTs, I certainly want any VR headset to be relatively lightweight(especially the part I attach to my face) and nobody likes dealing with devices that require three dongles, an external PSU, a processor box, and a couple of line lumps to operate, so my (perhaps naive) assumption would be that 'non-mobile' would still mean 'fairly lightweight thing you put on your head, probably with a smallish support box that takes the video inputs, handles the motion-tracking camera, if any, and either houses or is connected to the power supply'.
So, um, even the non-mobile units are going to be easy enough to toss into a (suitably protective) laptop bag, which makes them pretty 'mobile' for something that's dangerously useless when actually walking around.
I'm also a trifle baffled about the 'Android' element. What is based on Android? Did they drag a gratuitous smartphone/tablet interface into the firmware that handles location tracking and such because, um, some reason? Is this VR system tied directly to the output of yet another probably-doomed niche Android Gaming Product? I hope it has video-in for when that flops.