Standalone VR headsets, though, incorporate the screens and computing hardware and are designed for better cooling. While Samsung improves its passive cooling design almost every year, there are physical limitations which can’t be overcome packing VR into a device designed first as a phone. Smartphones pack all of their components into an incredibly small space. A Gear VR session could also end after a matter of minutes, depending on the device and conditions in which it is used, due to the phone’s processor reaching its thermal limits. The time it takes to slot in and out the phone, and the fact the user’s phone is unusable while docked into the headset, makes people less likely to want to use VR on a regular basis. Smartphone-based VR created a lot of problems. In December the Oculus SDK dropped support for Gear VR, and in January the Unity engine, used to make most VR apps, deprecated support. Google’s competing Daydream smartphone VR platform is also essentially dead, with neither the Pixel 3a nor Pixel 4 supporting it and sales of the headset itself ending. The Galaxy S20 followed suit this year, ending Samsung’s support of the platform. This was prompted by the news that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10 would not support VR. The announcement won’t be a surprise to those following the Gear VR in months.Īt Oculus Connect 6 back in September, Oculus’ then-CTO John Carmack essentially declared the Gear VR dead. Other third party browsers exist on the store, but with low user ratings.įrom September 15, developers will no longer be able to support Gear VR on new apps released to the Oculus Store. Samsung’s own Samsung Internet is available on Gear VR, but hasn’t been updated since April 2019.

In Facebook’s own words, this may introduce “an increased security risk, as with using any out-of-date web browser.” At Oculus Connect conferences, the browser has been said to be one of the top used apps on mobile VR. The included Oculus Browser will no longer be updated. Users should be able to continue to use other film services like Netflix, Prime Video, and Fandango Now, but we should note that some developers who supported Gear VR stopped once it became clear Facebook wasn’t going to update the platform anymore. Existing users with purchased films should receive Oculus Store credit “equivalent to the cost you paid for any titles you bought,” according to Facebook. If you already have those apps installed on your phone you can continue to use them, but rented and purchased films will no longer be available.

Samsung phones will no longer receive new Gear VR features via Oculus OS updates.įrom today, the Oculus Video and Oculus 360 Photos apps will no longer be able to be downloaded on Gear VR.

Learn More No Updates, no films, no new 360 video users

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