Dienstag, 24. Februar 2015

Virtual Reality for Android Smartphones: Setup and first app

Wouldn't it be great to escape reality from time to time and to just beam yourself to another country, to outer space or anywhere else?
Well, I think it would be  - and with VR it's possible. And even better: with VR for smartphones it is possible everywhere!

That's the reason why I'm starting this blog. My name is Kathi and I really like the idea of escaping into another world anytime I want to. In the upcoming posts I'm going to write about the best games, the glasses and controllers available, the right setup and much more.

Let's start with my equipment and my first experience with mobile VR:

My Equipment:

Glasses:
I am using the ColorCross Universal Virtual Reality 3D & Videoglasses
On Amazon they say you can use it for smartphones with screen sizes from 3.5 to 6 inches. When I am using it with my Nexus5 (5 inch) it's just perfect, but I wouldn't recommend it for bigger devices. I've also tried it with a OnePlus One (5.5 inch) but the experience is not as good as with the smaller phone because a part of the screen is missing and so the 3D Image doesn't look really good because the image for one lens is different from the image for the other lens. I haven't tried it with smaller devices yet, so I don't know how it works out with smaller phones.

Phone:
As I told you before, I am using a Nexus 5 - it's just perfect for the glasses I'm using.

Controller:
Here I'm using the Snakebyte iDroid:con

Set up everything and start your first app
In my first post I'd like to show you the first app I've tried with mobile VR. It's just a roller coaster demo - but I think it's awesome! I even felt a bit dizzy after my first "ride".

At first download this app to adjust your glasses.

Adjusting the glasses: you can adjust the ColorCross VR glasses pretty good to match your phone. At first you open it like in the following picture and put your phone in. Then you can see if the size of your phone fits to the glasses, or if you have to make the holder a bit larger. You can do this by pulling out the plastic on one side (picture 2).

Then start the app you downloaded before and put your phone into the glasses. With the app you know how the distance between your lenses has to be. You can adjust the lenses with the slider on top of the glasses (picture 3).  After adjusting your lenses you are ready to start!


Let's start with the first app I've tried - it's a roller coaster demo - you can download it here.
After downloading it, start it and wait for the advertisement to click it away and then you can put your phone into your glasses. By starting the app hold your phone in the direction you are going to put it in the glasses afterwards. When the roller coaster appears just stare at the pry on the right side and wait for the ride to begin. It starts really slow - time to lean back and enjoy the environment ;-)

Next time I'll write about the controllers and of course a few more games. - Kathi

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