2016년 8월 2일 화요일

How much do you know about VR devices?

It is no exaggeration to say that 2016 
is the year of virtual reality and augmented reality. 
Not only the government but also major global companies 
are thinking VR and AR as major business. 

However, VR or AR is not a new word made in 2016. 
The beginning of VR goes back to 19th century. 
The first VR device is known as Ivan Edward Sutherland’s HMD (Head Mounted Display) 
who studied Computer engineering in The University of Utah. 
His HMD was hanged in ceiling because of its weight. 

< Credit: Kidult it>

The first progress of HMD was Eric Howlett’s 140 degree viewing angle HMD in 1983. 
After that NASA invented 120 degree viewing angle HMD in 1985. 
However, there were still limits in display technology

< Credit: The Boston Globe>

In 1990, development of LCD technology influenced the development of HMD. 
Despite of HMD’s steady development, it was not a familiar device to the public. 
Now, however, HMD became more portable, simple and various. 
We can divide its kind into three large groups: Mobile HMD, PC HMD and Console HMD.


The most generalized device in each group might be 
Samsung Gear VR, Oculus rift and Sony PlayStation VR.




Leader of Mobile HMD, Samsung Gear VR

< Credit: Samsung Electronics Co. Blog>

Samsung Gear VR is a mobile HMD 
which is only compatible with Galaxy smartphone. 
The first Gear VR was opened with Galaxy note 4 and 
was only compatible with Galaxy note 4. 

After that, it keep expanded its compatible devices and finally 
the third model was compatible with Galaxy note 5, 
Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge.

Gear VR was not made by Samsung alone, but with Oculus VR. 
Samsung is expected to release its new Gear VR 
which will be only compatible with Galaxy note 7 in September. 

Also, according to SamMobile which is a specialized site for Samsung, 
Samsung is already developing its own standalone VR HMD. 
This will be a high-end HMD. 
The basic specification of the released Gear VR is like below.





Leader of PC HMD, Oculus Rift

< Credit: Oculus VR>

Oculus is famous for a company which has been taken over 
by Facebook for $2 billion.
That probably means that Mark Zuckerberg saw Oculus VR’s possibility. 
Oculus which was found by Palmer Luckey in 2012 
received huge funding by Kickstarter.

The first Oculus Rift was DK1 which was a SDK (Software Development Kit). 
The next device was also a SDK named DK2 and 
finally the Oculus Rift available for consumers was revealed in January 2016, 
4 years after its establishment. 

However, South Korea was excluded from the list of the global markets 
because of some policy problems. 
When the Korean consumers heard this news 
many were very disappointed. 

According to the recent news, however, Oculus obtained certification on July 11. 
The release price is now $599, about 71 million won




Leader of Console HMD, Sony PlayStation VR

< Credit: Sony>

The formal title of Sony project Morpheus is Sony PlayStation VR. 
Like many other HMD, Sony also took a long time until its release in October. 
Even though you need PlayStation 4 for a perfect play, 
Sony PlayStation VR was sold out in Japan’s presale 
because of its low price ($299) compared to the others.

Especially, ‘summer lesson’ one of Sony’s games 
becomes so popular with males when its demo video was opened. 
As Sony is preparing 50 more high-quality contents including EA, 
Starwards many consumers are looking forward to it.


Besides, various VR, AR devices will be released 
in the second half of this year and next year.

Don’t you think that virtual reality and augmented reality 
which felt so far will slightly melt into our life soon?


Watch on WAVRP: 
http://wavrp.com/
WAVRP is a curation service which introduces a selected VR video everyday!

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