Facebook F8 Strategy Tipped With An Oculus GO VR Launch
A launch of Oculus GO VR may take place at Facebook's F8 conference this year. The wireless headset runs a mobile software experience very similar to that of the Gear VR (AKA Oculus VR app on Android on a Galaxy smartphone.) The Facebook developer conference would be an ideal place for Oculus' parent company Facebook to bring this phone-less mobile VR headset to the public – and right now, it seems quite likely to happen.
A couple of different versions of the headset will likely be available at launch. One would be the cheaper of the two, coming for around $200. That version would have 32GB of internal storage. The larger would have 64GB of internal storage and would cost just a bit more – probably to the tune of $300 USD.
This will likely be the first standalone mobile VR headset to reach the market. While we've seen mobile VR headsets before, each required their own smartphone to run. This device would have the software, processor, camera(s), and connectivity all built in to the single unit.
If what we saw recently in the Oculus GO devkit is any indication, this device will run everything the Galaxy S and Note-based Gear VR could run, and more. The box – if indeed that was the real box – suggested 1000+ apps, games, and movies ready to roll for the headset, right out the gate.
• Display: 2560×1440 pixel LCD display – same as Gear VR
• Binary Compatible with Gear VR – apps are cross-platform
• Controller has 3DOF (3 degrees of freedom, like the Gear VR controller and the Google Daydream controller)
• Headset has 3DOF, too
• Audio drivers (and speakers) built in to straps (near temples)
• Lenses "better than Rift" with less Fresnel glare
• Developer kits ship November 2017
• Consumer devices ship early 2018
• Pricing starts at: $199 USD
Onboard the Oculus GO headset, Facebook will likely load a new set of interactive multi-user social networking-based VR apps. There's a pretty good chance that what Variety tipped will come to fruition. That is that the Oculus GO standalone VR headset will indeed launch at F8 on May 1st, 2018.