Samsung reportedly confirmed back at the company’s own developer conference that a new, standalone VR headset was on it’s way and new trademark filings may indicate it’s name.

Considering the non existent market that Samsung’s ‘Oculus Engineered’ mobile headset entered when it was released in it’s initial ‘Innovator Edition’ back in 2014, the Gear VR has done remarkably well. It’s moved beyond enthusiast-only territory to a device that can actually help sell phones, something unfathomable just 3 years ago.

But while Samsung have up to now been content to sell new revisions of their headset to accommodate their relentless hardware refresh cycle, what about those who want mobile VR without the phone? At Samsung’s developer conference this year, one of the company’s representatives, Head of R&D for Software and Services Injong Rhee, revealed that they were working on a standalone, untethered VR headset which didn’t require your mobile phone to function.

Now it seems that a recent trademark filing in South Korea may reveal a possible name and brand identity for the new headset. The folks over at GalaxyClub.nl have dig up some logos for a product called ‘Odyssey’ with additional logotypes, as below.

samsung-odyssey-logos-1024x624

The timing of this leak is perhaps unsurprising as we’re due to find out what Samsung have in store for us in terms of mobile hardware at the company’s dedicated ‘Unpacked’ event, which is set to take place in New York on August 2nd at 11am ET, with simultaneous launch events in Rio de Janeiro at noon and in London at 4:00 p.m local time.

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Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.

  • There’s only two words I want to hear from Samsung: “Positional Tracking”.

  • yag

    “Odyssey”… as the first console in history.

  • Tim Suetens

    Untethered? How will they manage that?

    • DiGiCT Ltd

      Same as they do with GearVR, just an android device without phone functionality.
      Android is used also in TV’s marketing billboards and GPS systems , watches and other devices, it does not limit to just phones.

      This one will be on market soon too :

      http://www.picovr.com/en/neo.html

      Dev kits are now going out.

      • Tim Suetens

        But this would mean no positional tracking…. that’s a minimum feature for any VR goggles these days.

        • victor

          Yes I agree positional tracking extemely important for immersion.

          • yag

            Even mandatory for standing experience.

        • DiGiCT Ltd

          For position Tracking you need external trackers like vive has lighthouses and rift uses camera tracking.
          That is indeed lacking on those devices, but there is still a lot of in VR that does not depend on it.
          I would rather wait for daydream as it seems that it can track the controller, might be a 3d camera in the phone be added, not sure though as i only seen the google videos, but it seems it can track it.
          The device PicoVR seems to have an additional tracked controller but its still currently dev kit, details missing.
          It is not impossible to have an android device with an postion tracked controller or even HMD, it is just a matter of additionla components and devices.

          Personally out of all current devices i went for the Vive first as it has all what is needed for optimal VR experience at this time.
          Currently its all just the start, next year devices will be improved and there will also be more choice.
          VR is just fun, no matter the device , it is just the way you can experience stuff.
          The more equipment and the better the equipment, the more fun.
          But thats the same rule for many stuff you buy, isn’t it.. ?

    • Adrian Meredith

      if it has foveated rendering a mobile gpu could be powerful enough….

  • brandon9271

    I’m as interested in a stand alone Android-based HMD as I am in the Gear VR. That is to say, not at all.

  • ech…

    Meanwhile we have this: https://cmoar.com
    ;)