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Comment by duaneb | Hacker News Reader

Why would you use a phone for vr? Seems hugely expensive to upgrade the screen for the sake of a niche hobby. Most people wouldn't even use it.

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This is not what Google is betting on, hence the DayDream VR.

Sure, but you don't need anything more than 1080p for an $80 vr headset. It's a value purchase, not a quality purchase.

Its not an $80 VR headset. The thing that goes around your head is $80, but the expensive part is that phone which you put in the front, which needs a 1440p display (minimum) to avoid the screen-door effect.

If we reject the $80 VR thing lets make it $880 or so, including the cost of a phone. That's still a lot less than the ~$3000 it costs to get a legitimate VR headset plus a gaming PC. Add onto that the fact that virtually everyone is going to own a smartphone anyway, and you can basically eliminate the cost of the phone in there. It's definitely value VR.

Agreed, the only other item that reaches the phone VR price point is Sony's Playstation VR (PSVR). Oculus Rift OC1 and HTC vive is still targeted to developers and high end PC users. The price point is still too high for general consumers when the PC cost is factored in.

Mobile has to lead the way, which Samsung and Oculus did very successfuly with GearVR.

Cardboard was seen as a gimmick and now it has graduated to become a daydream.

This is a positive step for VR.

2016 year of VR.

$3000 is enough to get you two gaming pcs along with a rift.

then they probably should not advertise it together with their new mobile VR platform

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