At Oculus Connect, CEO Brendan Iribe took to the stage to talk about the company’s recent work, including their collaboration on Samsung’s Gear VR headset. During the presentation, Iribe showed photos of 8 previously unseen Gear VR prototypes.
Samsung Gear VR, which is officially ‘Powered by Oculus’, has a tracker built-in which Oculus says is based on the tracker used in the Rift DK1. At the start of Oculus’ prototyping, the company was working with 3D printed housings and stuck the tracker to the front of Gear VR prototypes. By Prototype 5 (working by the units Oculus has revealed), they’d began using what appears to be the DK1 housing as a basis. Prototype 6 looks to be the first with a molded housing and possibly and internal tracker and appears to have two knobs for independent eye focus.
Prototype 7 is the first to move on from and Oculus branded strap and add some aesthetic accents as well as a single center dial for focus. Prototype 8 approaches the final design quite closely, but we see some modification to the top head strap in the final version.
An official release date for Gear VR has not been set, but rumors point to a launch this Fall around $200. Initially the unit will launch with a ‘Frost White’ color, presumably with other colors to come down the road.
