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Google Daydream launched at Google IO 2022

Google's VR efforts have come up a long style since two years ago when Google introduced its cheap telephone-base of operations VR viewer, Paper-thin. Today, as part of the IO Keynote, Google'south Clay Bavor previewed Google Daydream — the company's upcoming VR platform. Bavor stressed the need for a systems approach to VR, peculiarly as it relates to reducing latency — often called the Motion to Photon time. Daydream isn't a specific piece of hardware or software, merely a set of reference designs and Android enhancements that are aimed at creating a vibrant VR ecosystem on Android devices.

Wait for Daydream-Ready Smartphones, with support in Android Due north

Gogle will be publishing the specs for smartphones that it believes are sufficient for a practiced Daydream VR experience. Those include requirements on the sensors, display, and compute power of the SoC. Almost of the major phone vendors are already working with Google on Fantasize-Ready devices, and Google expects them to start coming to market this fall. One interesting note, though, is that Daydream is designed to attain a latency of under 20ms. That is much slower than desktop VR companies consider acceptable for either comfortable viewing of interactive content or action gaming. HTC and Oculus both push for 11ms (providing a 90fps frame rate). Manifestly, they also require a lot more GPU horsepower, simply it will be interesting to see how many experiences will work in the slower 50fps world of Daydream, and how much discomfort may effect.

Android Northward will include system support for depression-latency, besides as a VR system UI, which will help avoid the problem with smartphone-based VR today, where you need to keep going dorsum and along between VR apps and the Android UI on the phone screen.

Headset & Controller

Googles reference VR headset designGoogle isn't announcing a headset, simply is making bachelor a reference pattern for headsets. The sketch they showed (included to the correct) looks a lot like Gear VR. Some Daydream-capable headsets are expected to be in the market by Fall. The controller reference design looks like a typical Bluetooth remote, but in improver to a push button and a bear on-sensitive pad also has an orientation sensor like a Wiimote. As you'd await, yous tin can therefore use it a flake like a magic wand to command your VR experience.

VR Apps & Ecosystem

Google Play for VR will allow users to find, install, and launch VR apps. Your VR apps will then be incorporated into a Daydream Home screen, that looks very much like the 1 Oculus uses. It'll exist interesting to see what happens when Oculus meets Google on Android phones — will we have both an Oculus Home and a Fantasize Home?

Google is also making a major push to add VR support to its core media offerings. Google Play Movies volition allow you lot to view your Play video content in a Virtual Movie Theater, and Google StreetView will be fully VR-gear up — you can already use Gear VR and Cardboard with 360-caste photos in Maps through the StreetView app. YouTube is being rebuilt with VR support, including discovery & playlists in VR, with support for spatial audio.

For those hoping Google would upset the apple cart with a stunning new piece of hardware that would bridge the functioning, price and complexity gap betwixt Gear VR and the dedicated headsets like Rift and Vive (like me), that didn't happen. Only Google is certainly making the correct moves to provide a vibrant ecosystem for VR content creators and users on the Android platform.