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jeudi 19 mars 2015

Review of AGPtek (ColorCross) Google "Cardboard" VR Headset topic


Hey guys, this is my first review on this forum so go easy on me. I spent some time researching this before my purchase and now playing with the headset, so I figured I'd save you guys some work if you decide you want to try out one of these.

I picked up this AGPtek (Actually a rebranded ColorCross model) from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can get the ColorCross cheaper on other sites shipped from overseas, but I had a giftcard from Amazon and decided to get it quicker that way. (Make sure you find the one marked to fit 6 and 7 inch phones)

Here's a few pics (It has my Note 3 in it for the pics, but the Note 4 fits exactly the same):




My opinion on the product:

Cons:
  • Very uncomfortable for prolonged use. If you sit back in a recliner and let it sort of rest on your face it's not so bad, but when you're upright it hurts your nose after a while

  • Some light pollution around the corners and edges where it holds the phone

  • There is no magnet button like the normal google cardboard products include. I am going to head to Home Depot to pick up a couple of magnets to try to reproduce this feature, I'll update the review if this is successful. This button is what allows you to control things on the phone while wearing the headset


Pros:
  • Lense width is adjustable

  • The lenses screw in and out, allowing you to adjust the focus to suit your vision

  • Seems to provide a good view of the entirety of the phone screen

  • The Note 4 fits in it fine. It's a bit difficult to slide in and out, and I can't get it to fit when it's got the Spigen Case on it.


My family and I have had a lot of fun with this thing so far. There are several free apps with short demos. We enjoy:
  • Roller Coaster VR: A virtual roller coaster through a jungle

  • Crazy Swing VR: An insane carnival swing in the middle of a city that swings you up and down and upside down. Hang on to something if you do this standing up!

  • VR Cinema: A video player that makes it seem like you're sitting in a theater with a huge imax screen playing videos from your phone memory. All of the controls are based on your head movement (pause/play/fast forward/movie selection)

  • YouTube - Search for 3d SBS videos and there's plenty to watch

  • BSPlayer - It won't convert regular movies to the proper format like VR Cinema will, but if you have 3D SBS BluRay files on your phone or network it streams them beautifully in 3d


This thing is honestly pretty cool and will be more fun as more apps are created for it. I suspect that I have only scratched the surface.

I watched about half of Prometheus on it in 3D last night and it was a very fun experience. I will say that the picture is somewhat square and stretched vertically since it is using half of the screen for each eye, but you still get the full 3d effect and it really does feel like you're sitting in an IMAX. I'm sure the gorgeous screen of the Note 4 improves the experience substantially over other phone models.

I'm going to attempt to add the magnet feature as well as improve the padding to make it more comfortable for prolonged use. Other than that, this thing is a blast. Obviously it's not going to match up to the Samsung Gear VR, but that's not really in my budget right now.

Hope this is helpful for someone, thanks for reading!

Steve

xda-developers