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Samsung Cuts Final Ties with GearVR

kevinw729
Honored Visionary

Now that Gear VR is no longer available, Samsung XR service is being killed

Samsung discontinued the Gear VR headset last year. Now, the company has announced that it is killing Samsung XR, a service that offered VR content such as 360-degree images and videos. The company will also remove the Samsung VR Video app from Microsoft’s and Oculus‘ stores.


https://www.sammobile.com/news/gear-vr-no-longer-available-samsung-xr-service-killed/

https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959
39 REPLIES 39

zproxy
Expert Protege
well. a 4K phone device is still expected. standalone VR headsets are less interesting than modular mobile headsets.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
4K phones are old news, Sony made the first in 2015 with the Z5 Premium, and have made more.

https://youtu.be/hsgkU2TmkxU

Such a display may not be interesting on a phone, where you can hardly see a difference compared to 2K apart from lower performance, but 4K would indeed be awesome for phone VR. - If you got enough gpu power to run 4K, lol.

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

kevinw729
Honored Visionary

Mradr said:

The idea of GO - a cheap entry into VR - will live on - GO in terms of simple media will die though. Granted, a lot of people that got GO knew it was a media a very limited experience device with being a cheaper option into VR - it was just too limited for the broad public looking to really >USE< VR. 
.......
* I might be a bit bias against GO and phone VR. I never saw the point in the release of these devices other than it being a cheaper option into what VR is like. Same with Google Cardboard.



I too have to admit to being a bit biased against the VR phone phase. I was okay with Google Cardboard, as we had seen the VR-phone-holster fad germinate in Asia before hand, but was not happy with calling it VR. This was always a difficult subject, as I defended the need for "positional tracking" to make this more than immersive viewing.

With GearVR at least a higher bar was set, and for all the limitations, many have had enjoyment out of their VR phone based platform (some still do now in the phone-less variant like Oculus Go, Pico Neo, HTC Focus, 3Glases ET1, etc.,)

The main concern for me was the lack of progression - for this to be just a dead end with no real investment was the key to the wasted opportunity comment. As you can see from the image shared in the previous comment - Samsung had a phone-free GearVR back in 2016 [image] - but with the collapse of the Samsung / Oculus partnership this whole platform was left to flounder.
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I think it was a mistake to make the Go, but there are still a strong vocal group of supporters. Just a shame it never achieved more than just being a slightly faster GVR. I doubt we will ever see a Go2. I just wonder if the resources of the Go and the failed Chinese deal had been placed in the Quest alone, what we could have achieved?
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

Anonymous
Not applicable
You will always have supporters in any product other wise the product was a total flop and that isn't good lol. GVR had many as well and was one of the most selling unit for VR at the time so of coarse its a shame to see something that came so far just fall to the way side. But, I say, even though it wasn't going to make it far vs standalone that can update it self to match what VR needs - it was a stepping stone for VR to even start in the first place. Without GVR - I am not sure if VR would be where it is now with Software, GO, Quest, and even the Rift S. 

But there is lots to learn from it and I think going forward - the stander will continue to raise. We already know to a point what is base line VR for most people, and that doesn't cost an arm and leg either to make anymore. Going forward, we know VR requires some type of tracking method that allows freedom of movement in the VR world, we know we can get by with one screen, and we know we can still have a fun experience in VR that doesn't require a PC to make that happen anymore.  Sure, everyone wants "more" numbers and that will come over time, but at least now we know what the line that needs to be cross before someone will take the plunge into VR.

This is why a strip down Quest 1 - with same basic features - would explode VR in the $150-199 range and that is already possible if they push for that. Also the guy that said 4k phones would be more interesting - I assume its only because of the 4k display and nothing more than that really. The thing is - for that same price - you could get a 4k stand alone headset - well you could get a 5k standalone right now. Plus, have all the features of tracking your hands or controllers without the attach bill for phone service lol.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
The fun thing about Quest is that it's basically phoneVR with Touch. Or GearVR with Touch. Oculus simply integrated the old Samsung S8 gpu in a HMD and added Touch (and of course nice tracking and sound). 

GearVR is dead, long live Quest!  😄  

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
Mradr said:
.......
This is why a strip down Quest 1 - with same basic features - would explode VR in the $150-199 range and that is already possible if they push for that. Also the guy that said 4k phones would be more interesting - I assume its only because of the 4k display and nothing more than that really. The thing is - for that same price - you could get a 4k stand alone headset - well you could get a 5k standalone right now. Plus, have all the features of tracking your hands or controllers without the attach bill for phone service lol.



RuneSR2 said:

The fun thing about Quest is that it's basically phoneVR with Touch. Or GearVR with Touch. Oculus simply integrated the old Samsung S8 gpu in a HMD and added Touch (and of course nice tracking and sound). 

GearVR is dead, long live Quest!  😄  



Yes guys, you are both saying roughly the same thing.

I see Quest the same way, that Samsung GearVR prototype, benefiting from the Touch controllers and WindowMR Inside-Out Trackers, done right. As all tech, a culmination of new thinking mixed in with lessons learned. And a dash of professionalism. To see the same path repeated with Go rather than new innovation was for me a waste, but a business decision that was based on now flawed thinking - that has been rectified by the removal of those thinkers, and the deployment of a new team focused on Quest (directed from Facebook). 

Yes, a stepping stone in 2017, but a missed path as its taken till 2019 to move on. Maybe I am just too impatient for the right paths to be taken, and avoid the iteration. 
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

I don't think the Quest is a correction of an incorrect path, it's just the headset that's possible as the technology becomes available at a price that's affordable. Pretty much same was true for GearVR and Go imho. Interpreting it as a change in staff or thinkers doesn't seem to fit for me.

The difference now as far as I can see is that the tech has developed to the point that we have just about all the elements necessary for full VR in the Quest package, so it's much more likely now that the format will continue in an iterative and backwards compatible model rather than a replacement type model, at least for the next 3-5 years (I think).

kevinw729
Honored Visionary


I don't think the Quest is a correction of an incorrect path, it's just the headset that's possible as the technology becomes available at a price that's affordable. Pretty much same was true for GearVR and Go imho. Interpreting it as a change in staff or thinkers doesn't seem to fit for me.

The difference now as far as I can see is that the tech has developed to the point that we have just about all the elements necessary for full VR in the Quest package, so it's much more likely now that the format will continue in an iterative and backwards compatible model rather than a replacement type model, at least for the next 3-5 years (I think).



I see your point - but again, mine is more about progressional pathing rather than iterative jumps from Lilly-pad to Lilly-pad. The GVR was a path to Quest was a path to Standalone MR (in my estimations), but what we got was GVR, then abortive prototype and collapse of progress - four year abandonment, then belated similar direction with Go. It took the removal of certain gatekeepers to allow what had been proposed back in 2016 to be reiterated, and no one noticed the caravan had moved on!

The feeling seems to be innovation, but with the need to achieve stimulated mass adoption - when it was found that Go was not the right entry level, then all focus swapped to Quest (and we now see what happened to Go). I wonder when Facebook AR is launched, and it proves a success (possibly) then this sweeping pendulum will swap to that at the hindrance of the Quest - as seen with what happened with Rift-S. 

The next three years could have been so easily laid out with the continuation of Half Dome dev - then with that gone, we had Half-Dome 2 and now Half-Dome 3. (and 3.2) Iterations of technology demonstrators, but not really a replacement type model. While internally there is a battle for a super cheap Quest-Go hybrid or a Quest-2. Maybe we can have both if they were backward comparable?
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

Anonymous
Not applicable
To some point yea they could've, but at the same time - I guess its normal progression in the global scope of what every company has done over their life time. Progression tells us though - Quest will take over both Low and Mid range with a possible hybrid for High end. AR will be its 2nd child - I assume to focus more on business and enterprise class applications while using that to learn how to improve hybrid devices for the VR space as well. That would be an easy 3-5 year road map right there alone. Yes, add increase numbers here and there for other specs and add a feature or two for the higher end.

End goal - > one device type -> hybrids that can do both VR/AR

Future headsets will aim for: Being smaller, more compact, easier to put on and off, stronger SOC, and over all stream line for production and software sells.

As for lilly-pad jumping - I think we will see it two more times - then that will be it. This up coming one for standalone hardware inside our HMDs for always on the go use. Last, will be for the AR jump that will happen when AR can take over VR in terms of creating the black out around the user (the shell if you will). After that - I don't know what else VR could even do past that point.

As for any more big leaps forward - unless they take that dam 400$ money cap off - we're NOT going to see anymore large jumps and instead just going to see small progressions going forward and that means leap years in our buying purchases I assume. Every other product will be the one you will want to buy for any number of reasons.

What I hope, as far as progression goes, is that the AR will finally get them to start working with MS and start working on OS features/programs that will take it to the next level. Even though it sounds dum - if you can get VR/AR to run Microsoft Office, and do it well, it going to be a BIG game changer for VR/AR and use outside of our room/homes and into a whole new realm of "what can VR/AR do for you" instead of "what can VR/AR even do?". With that said - I think as far as software goes - there will always be games, but the next bit leap will be in the form of some type of AR hybrid application that allows you to do something kind of fun/silly like tracking your pizza or jimmy johns - live - on Google Earth in our VR HMDs. Hell - even a good Pokemon game would be a smash hit pretty much from the get-go - just don't have them move... ever... (looking at you PKG).

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
Thanks for this @Mradr - some well thought out points. I will not repeat them and say on the whole agree.

The only omission is "the road-map".
I agree during 2014-2016 there was a road-map, that had been well laid out (see the leaked Intel/AMD presentation from 2015), were we got the infamous first use of the "iterations like mobile phones" comment - suggesting a new version every year, (a reason some posters were surprised we never saw a CV2 till now...kinda.

But after the real mass shedding of staff and execs the baby got thrown out with the bathwater. Failed aspirations were sidelined and focus changed. Till we find ourselves today with the situation of people only finding out that duties were not being done because the person had left, only after the situation overran (a variation of the infamous bricking of headsets when the MS license was not renewed because that person had left). 

I think the management that is now in place report to FB only, and are working on the "spaghetti against the wall" principle of direction. That would explain the Oculus Link situation, the compromises on the Rift-S, and more importantly the departures of the Half Dome execs. All that said the company is doing fine from the perspective of achieving sales - Quest has knocked it out the park, and the key execs will now use that to drive their position - but that is not a road-map, that is lilly-pad to lilly-pad. And its hard for marketing and advertising to keep up with that - "There's a Oculus headset for Everyone!!"

https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959