Spotlight : I AM Cardboard VR Headsets
Hey Guys, how's it going?
I wanted to give you guys a quick look at the "I AM Cardboard" VR Headsets, based off of Google's "Cardboard V2". I gave these a spotlight primarily because of their amazing quality and experience, especially for the price. Let's check them out.
> I AM Cardboard V2 Headset
These were sent to me for an upcoming project that you can learn more about in my updates and announcements post that I did recently. I'm going to start with the Cardboard ones you see above.
Google's official offering of these is $15. These are practically the same exact thing, but with different branding and color options, along with a much more affordable price tag of $8. One thing that surprised me with these was the fact that, the cardboard was very sturdy and durable, along with the headsets being easily collapsible for travel purposes and storing it away. One thing I love with these headsets and the all the other Cardboard V2 headsets, is the "action button" instead of an NFC Tag like Cardboard V1. Essentially, with this, the system uses a stylus or capacitive touch pad in order to touch the phones screen for use in VR Games or pausing a 360 Degree video. This makes the headset's features more universal and available to more devices, not just the ones with NFC. An advantage with both of these is the fact that they are both Google Certified to work with Google Cardboard apps and content. They have a badge on the website, packaging, and on the headsets themselves that guarantee this authenticity. They even show up by name when you scan the QR Codes in the Google Cardboard app, another indication of Google's certification and approval of these headsets.
> I AM Cardboard "DSCVR" Headset
This is my personal favorite out of the two for quite a number of reasons. Let's start off with the packaging. This was awesome. When I first opened the box, I saw a transparent lid that was sturdy and showed off the headset in a very Apple-like manner, which also made it feel very premium and not a $15 gadget. The back of this awesome packaging, which is very rounded off and curvy as well, has a bunch of text and images in a "Comic Sans"-like font. All of the simple instructions, along with a short description and manufacturing info, are displayed in this font. This is great because it saves paper that you would probably never read and just throw away, while also forcing them to make setup and instructions very simple. Part of my love for this headset is it's compact and travel-friendly design. This is so compact and portable in-fact, that, I was able to use this headset at a crowded, noisy lunch-table during school. The lenses got a little fogged up, so we cleaned them with the microfiber cloth, and they worked fine. We had fun playing VR Crossy Road after eating our lunches.
It has a spring-loaded release system, a translucent rubber strap thing that secures the phone, and feels awesome in the hand. The "action button" system is more improved, utilizing a stylus tip instead of a capacitive pad. It feels very comfortable, the only thing I wish was added to the headset is a focus wheel for the lenses because they tend to unfocus in certain content. The headset even comes with a microfiber cloth for cleaning the lenses, very handy! Like I mentioned before, this headset only cost $15! That's the same price as Google's cardboard version, but this one is made out of plastic and comes with all the benefits I listed above!
All in all, if you're looking for a cool, high-quality, cheap, entry point into Virtual Reality; both of the options listed above would be awesome picks!
