Google will offer the popular videos for VR and will sell a plastic headset in which consumers will insert a phone along with a controller that serves as a hand
If Google gets its way, you will explore the world with your phone strapped over your eyes.
At its annual developer conference in Silicon Valley, the internet company showed how it plans to get more people using virtual reality in the coming year by baking the technology into newer smartphones. The vision is for the worlds billions of people to ditch the physical world and explore far off places, take in the news, meet a friend or, as Google repeatedly demonstrated Thursday, water a virtual garden.
Its very natural to water things in VR when you have a watering can, said Clay Bavor, Googles vice-president of virtual reality.
While rival technology companies such as Facebook are building state-of-the-art virtual reality tools that rely on powerful desktop computers, Google is taking a different path. On Thursday, it said it will soon start selling a plastic headset in which consumers will insert their smartphones and a controller that serves as a virtual hand. Google currently offers a cardboard smartphone holder that acts as a low-tech headset but offers a less-than-realistic virtual world.
Were really obsessed about this idea of democratizing VR, Bavor said on stage. Google for instance announced it will start offering YouTube videos for virtual reality and has partnered with news organizations, such as the New York Times, to try to bring readers into stories.
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