In the mobile world the most powerful companies are certainly Samsung and Apple. Both of these have a lot of product range and each year they bring new, better technologies into the mix. Since Apple is releasing its iPhone shortly, Samsung comes into attack with a new phablet, the Galaxy Tab 4 that tries to regain control over a market whose leader was a few years ago. Unfortunately for them, Apple always tries to find out the new ways to entice users into trying their products first by integrating the best technologies available.
This time though, things are going to change a little bit because with the Tab 4, Samsung will integrate a new technology that can’t be found on Apple devices. With this device, as well as the Galaxy S5, Samsung will actually allow us to hook up an Oculus Rift and play our favorite mobile games using the virtual reality technology.
This is quite an interesting thing to do which hasn’t been tried before. Many people tend to think that VR tech is mostly suitable for desktop computers and they are right to some extent, because that’s where it actually makes sense from an immersion standpoint. However, mobile gaming is growing tremendously and these games always push the devices to the limit of their hardware, so being able to see this amazing details using VR is quite interesting in our opinion.
The decision to integrate the Oculus VR support comes shortly after another mobile developer, Sony, integrated their smart glasses and VR system for the PS4. Having the opportunity to actually play your mobile games with the help of this tech is really neat, but we are quite certain that it won’t appeal to the masses, at least for the time being. The Oculus is still far from being finished and there are numerous improvements that can be made to it. Even so, the simple ability to integrate a mobile phone with VR it’s great news.
We are quite sure that Samsung Gear VR will soon be integrated in most simulations and major gaming experience thanks to its great immersion factor. Is this a worrying news for Apple? We don’t think so, because the Cupertino giant is now focused on enriching its iOS family with new devices. It’s a shame that iOS apps won’t be able to get the same VR treatment, but we don’t think so that this will draw more gamers into Samsung camp, because those that want VR games can easily try them on a PC for a more intricate experience.
Will Apple respond in any way to the move that Samsung makes? It’s hard to state that right now, but what we do know is that Apple always tries to innovate and reach new boundaries, so one way or another they will also bring this technology to their platforms, at some point in the future at least.
Photo credit: Samsung
YouTube: “Samsung Gear VR Hands-on” by The Verge
