New Office Toys!

Today we add a few new gadgets to our office menagerie. From left to right:

1) The Acer Mixed Reality Headset for Windows. We're super lucky to get our hands on this so early. This will be sent to developers in the Fall and will likely be available to consumers before Christmas. At $300, it will work natively with a ton of Windows apps (based out of their Mixed Reality Portal) and it features inside-out tracking, meaning no need for the stations required by Oculus and Vive. Even though it feels like you're strapping a ski-boot to your head, I love that the visor easily flips up, making dev work way easier. Downside? No hand controllers yet so we're back to the days of an X-Box controller.

2) Samsung Gear VR 2017 - Featuring the new hand controller which allows for experiences similar to what Google Daydream has had since November. I like the ergonomics of the hand controller better than Daydream, but I still prefer the Daydream headset over this one. The GearVR never quite feels like it's sitting right on my face, and nothing ever feels as in focus for me as it does in Daydream.

3) Samsung Galaxy S8+ - Necessary for the new GearVR. This is a beautiful phone, and I'm trying to restrict our use of it to purely development and demos. Our last VR phone became someone's work phone, and they were very sad every time someone needed it.

4) Gear360 - Sporting two 180 degree fisheye lenses, it takes full monoscopic 360 video and pictures. Thinking we might use it for site visits and capturing the occasional demo event. A little disappointed in the resolution, but we got it for $50 as part of the Galaxy S8+ promotion, so no real complaints.

​-Alex