Virtual reality has been seen as nothing more than a promising gimmick for the majority of the last 20 years. However, the last couple years have seen VR advance by leaps and bounds, to the point where consumer-ready head mounted displays are out right now. The majority of this technology is on curve to come out late 2016, but the eager public can already order several Gen 1 products from the top names in VR.
Alongside these standalone units, mobile VR has also made great strides, and Google Cardboard kits like these ones can offer a fairly complete VR experience using your smartphone as the graphical processor.
In any form, VR promises to improve many fields outside of gaming technology, including medicine, education, and engineering. With each emerging developer approaching this tech with a new perspective, there is no doubt that virtual reality will become a major part of our everyday lives.
Though these ten headsets’ availability vary from out now to pre-order forthcoming, they have proven through tech demos and press releases alike that they are indeed the HMDs for which you’ll want to watch out. From big hitters like Oculus Rift, to VR with a cause like Razer OSVR, the best of the best are about to go even bigger.
1. Oculus Rift
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Oculus and their influential Rift headset have been synonymous with this decade’s VR boom since the project’s conception in 2012. They are one of the biggest names in VR, and now one of the first to be delivered to consumers.
The Rift ships with a headset, motion sensor, remote, and the necessary HDMI and USB cables. First Gen kits also include a wireless Xbox One controller and a copy of Lucky’s Tale for out-of-the-box gaming. The controller is upgradable to the Oculus Touch, which hasn’t yet seen its debut, but promises to offer additional gaming potential.
The experience of the Rift goes beyond words, as the motion sensor provides a fluidity of movement that truly rivals reality. The headset weighs just over a pound, and fits snugly on most head sizes. The headset has full positional tracking and a gyrometer, which allows you to perform nuanced actions like looking around a corner.
Oculus Rift Release Date: Out Now
Price: $599.00
Pros:
- 2160×1200 resolution and 110° FOV
- Positional tracking for enhanced movement
- Compatible with both PC and XBox One games
Cons:
- Extra degrees of motion can cause motion sickness
- Oculus Touch controllers not yet released
- Requires a PC with a high-end GPU
If you're in the market for a virtual reality headset, check in with this guide and learn all the most important details about the Oculus Rift.
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2. Samsung Gear VR
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While the Samsung Gear VR has a completely different kind of hardware running it, this collaboration between Oculus and Samsung provides an affordable and immersive VR experience by using a smartphone. Instead of drawing its graphical power from your high-end PC graphics card like Oculus’ flagship Rift, the Gear VR utilizes the hardware housed in the newest Samsung phones.
Obviously, the biggest benefit of this is that smartphones are far more ubiquitous than high-end gaming PCs, but each side of the coin has its limitations. In the case of PCs, the varying level of hardware power means you will want to use a benchmark utility to make sure your rig is capable of achieving at least 75 fps.
For mobile VR, Samsung has kept things simple and limited the Gear VR experience to only their newest models, which will handle anything thrown at them. Currently, the Gear VR supports the Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy S6, and the S6 Edge.
All of these phones have at least a 2560×1440 Super AMOLED screens and high-powered processors. This ensures that you will have nothing short of an incredible experience when hooking into the Gear VR.
Even though the Gear VR has a higher available resolution than the Rift, its FOV is a bit smaller at 96°. This does not detract from the immersion, but is an interesting comparison point as developers establish a balance between pixel density and field of view.
When it comes to navigating menus, the Gear VR offers a handy suite of onboard controls: a built-in touch pad on the side of the headset that works via head tracking, as well as a back button, display adjustment, and volume rocker. When it comes to game content, you will likely need to spring for a Bluetooth gamepad for Android phones, as it is needed to complete the experience.
The Oculus App (your phone’s portal to the VR environment) is free though, and there are games that work solely off the touch pad, so there is still plenty of content that can be enjoyed right out of the box. Note that the Gear VR does not yet employ positional tracking though, so there are benefits to upgrading to full headset.
Shortcomings aside, though, the Gear VR is one of the best values in virtual reality, and offers an accessible peak at the fantastic technology to come.
Samsung Gear VR Release Date: Out Now
Price: $86.99
Pros:
- 2560×1440 resolution and 96° FOV
- Onboard controls for easy menu navigation
- Does not require a PC with a high-end GPU
Cons:
- Only works with Samsung Galaxy S6 or later
- Lacks positional tracking
- Does not include a game pad
A smartphone and the Google Cardboard App is the easiest and most affordable way to experience immersive VR.
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3. HTC Vive
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As expected, Valve and HTC’s Vive headset delivers a high quality VR experience that is a standout option for gaming. Unlike the Rift, the Vive boasts some serious gaming capabilities right out of the box, thanks to its included motion controllers.
The Vive’s ski pole-like controllers are equipped with their own IR LED trackers, alongside a developed control scheme. This includes triggers for gaming, two track pads that act like a fusion of a mouse and control stick, and even a grip that can detect squeezes.
These are all easily learned across the 200+ different titles already on the SteamVR library. So far, SteamVR proves to be a robust client that will see major third party support. No huge games have been released yet,
In addition to the awesome controllers, this unit also ships with two tracking cameras to support Roomscale VR. If you have adequate open space to explore after positioning your two laser trackers, your PC, and cables going to each of these, you can the Vive can map your environment and use it to project new locales, potentially using your furniture as obstacles. This has great potential to eventually be used as a coop feature as well.
Under the hood, the HTC Vive sports a solid 1200×1080 resolution per each eye (2400×1080 total), which comes out to a FOV of about 110°. This combined with the strong support for tracking makes for maximum immersion. While this first-gen product does include a microphone, you must use provide your ow headphones for spatialized audio to the experience.
With a higher price tag ($200 more than the Rift) and more extreme computer graphics requirements, the Vive can be a stretch for your casual gamers, but the potential for this device is huge and already being thoroughly explored. Keep this headset on your radar.
HTC Vive Release Date: Out Now
Price: $799.00
Pros:
- 2400×1080 resolution and 110° FOV
- Room-scale positional tracking for enhanced movement
- SteamVR promises to be a major game platform
Cons:
- High price tag
- Two positional trackers require a large space
- Requires a PC with a high-end GPU
4. Playstation VR
Sony
Outside of the PC universe, Sony’s Playstation VR (formerly Project Morpheus) is the big name for VR gaming, as it uses the hardware of the PlayStation 4 to deliver its graphical power.
Its OLED 5.7 inch two screen display is 3D stereoscopic and sports a resolution of 960×1080 per eye (1920×1080 total). It has a smallerFOV of 100°, a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and a latency of less than 18ms, making for one of the most fluid VR experiences out there.
The headset is comfortable and stylish, and features impressive ergonomics with simple setups for positioning the visor and lenses. Its stunning blue LED setup looks nice and also adds functionality via headtracking. Though the headset will have 3D audio on all its software, it does not included headphones out of the box.
The PlayStation VR’s lightning fast tracking will work through the PlayStation Camera, which reads the movement of 9 brilliantly illuminated tracking LEDs. The PlayStation Camera can even track DualShock 4 controllers, though wand-styled PlayStation Move controllers appear to be the most functional with the controller tracking. Some of the ways the Move controller can work are detailed in the video below.
The one thing that hampers the convenience of Playstation VR, however, is the external processor unit which will ship with the headset, and is needed to bring the graphical capabilities of the PS4 up to where it can deliver 1080p visuals. Granted, this is a cleaner experience than both the Rift and the Vive, but it does show that the PS4 is begging to be upgraded.
Playstation VR promises deep immersion with their high-end graphics and control schemes, but an external headset has to be connected via a 3.5mm aux port to access the headset’s 3D audio spatilization. This could be hectic when attempting to use the Morpheus for local or online multiplayer gaming, which is definitely something PlayStation is focusing on more than other developers. Only time will tell.
Playstation VR Release Date: October 13, 2016
Price: $399.00
Pros:
- 120 Hz refresh rate and <18ms latency
- Ergonomic and stylish design
- Will easily enable local or online multiplayer
Cons:
- Not yet wireless
- PlayStation 4-powered hardware means limited applications
- No integrated audio
5. Avegant Glyph
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Avegant’s remarkably ambitious Glyph has a lot of things going for it, and among its most intriguing features is full portability. On top of being light, comfortable, and only slightly bigger than a pair of over-ear headphones, the Founder’s Edition model of the Glyph can play video on battery power for up to 4 hours, or play passive audio indefininitely. It even charges via MicroUSB. And to top it all off, it connects via any HDMI-compatible device, so you aren’t tied down to one particular platform for content.
All electronic components are internalized, and connecting to a device is as simple as plugging in an HDMI. This simplified approach makes for near universal application, as the Glyph can be plugged into a PC or console for gaming, a phone or tablet for streaming content. And as this is one of the few HMDs in production that is not specifically designed with gaming in mind, the Glyph is branding its type of design as “mediawear.”
The device does have head tracking and supports an optional headstrap for high-action gaming, but otherwise can be slid over the eyes to display 2D or 3D video content. When the screen is not being used, the Glyph can double as high fidelity headphones with a frequency response of 20 – 20000 Hz, plus active and passive noise canceling.
The Glyph is most ambitious in its display, which instead of using a screen like other VR headsets, utilizes their “virtual retinal display,” which actually uses the retinas of your eyes as a screen. The Glyph 2 million DLP mirrors to project images directly into both eyes, using your brain as the image processor. This makes for an image that is free of pixelation from corner to corner, and the image projected by the Glyph mirrors natural light so viewing it is less stressful on your eyes.
The Glyph’s resolution of 1280×720 per eye (2560×720 total) and FOV of 45° will seem somewhat lower compared to other headsets, but the high fill factor of the micro-mirror array makes the resolution look much sharper than other headsets. This sharpness comes at the cost of a lower FOV, which is not an issue for anyone planning to view non-VR content on the Glyph, but does mean that the Glyph can’t deliver the same experience as the Oculus Rift.
To put it simply, the Glyph is intended to be more of a high quality HMD than a VR headset. However, it does employ the same technology, and has promise to grow into something more VR-centric with future version. Since the Glyph costs almost the same as the Oculus Rift and only provides a fraction of the functionality, its fate is uncertain, but this product has strong appeal for those who want to use VR for something outside of gaming. The Glyph Founder’s Edition is a VR device for those that are unsure of how they will use VR, and Avegant promises to provide a flexible platform that will create new opportunities to use the tech.
Project Morpheus Release Date: Out Now
Price: $699.00
Pros:
- Virtual retinal display offers sharp, realistic picture
- Portable form factor and battery powered
- Streamlined graphics work with any HDMI device-compatible device
Cons:
- High price tag
- 45° FOV does not offer full VR experience
- 4 hour battery life needs improvement
6. Razer OSVR
Razer
Razer OSVR has a special place in my heart, as it is the only product that approaches VR from an open source perspective. OSVR (Open Source Virtual Reality) is a unique undertaking compared to other forthcoming VR headsets in that it is more for developers than consumers. There are no confirmed plans from Razer to produce consumer models, but this is still a possibility.
This is the type of headset that Razer would want to put in the hands of as many people as possible, as it runs on a modular software platform that can be customized by anybody. It can use any game platform, any proprietary VR software, and any controller, making it a highly adaptable tool for someone trying to create new applications. Even Razer’s hardware is fair game, and they provide schematics and drawings that can help you build your own at home.
Its low-latency 5.5 inch OLED Display offers 2160×1200 FHD resolution with 90 fps offers an impressive and immersive picture. But most impressive is that this screen is interchangeable with other types of screens, again opening a huge number of possibilities with developers. It has about 100° FOV, but this too can change by swapping out the lenses.
Considering that OSVR has potential as a functional and affordable headset, it is a big disappointment to hear the lack of plans for a consumer release. But don’t forget that you can literally build your own, which would be no simple task, but opens a lot of possibilities. The OSVR can also be run on substantially less expensive hardware than its PC-based competitors.
Because of this, any hardware developer can use the OSVR as a building block for technology with even greater applications, perhaps training surgeons, creating new forms of therapy, or even a system for controlling security cameras. Progress is slow though, as one year since I first discovered this project, they have only released two new prototype models.
Certain aspects of this HMD are still rough around the edges, but the potential for growth is limitless. A kit to add positional tracking is now included with shipped developer kits, and there may be more in the future for augmented reality functions, mobile support, and more.
Razer OSVR Release Date: TBA
Razer OSVR Price: TBA
OSVR Hacker Dev Kit v2 Price: $399.99
Pros:
- Open source software and hardware
- Supports any peripheral or API
- Can be run with mid-tier graphics equipment
