Android By Ryan Whitwam Jun. 27, 2014 6:00 pm
You don’t need a $300 Oculus Rift developer kit to experience VR, according to Google. All you need is a bit of cardboard and your Android device. Google handed out these makeshift VR headsets at I/O, but now anyone can get a replica from a company called Knox Labs for less than twenty bucks.
The device (if you can call it that) handed out at Google I/O is a sheet of cardboard that folds up into a headset with a phone compartment right in front of the eye holes. There are two plastic lenses that allow the wearer to see stereoscopic 3D images on the phone’s screen, which is held in place by a velcro strap. Cardboard is not intended to be a serious product, but more a statement about what is possible with a little ingenuity and some help from Android.
Google has posted the Cardboard app in the Play Store, which can be launched automatically on NFC-enabled phones that are placed in the Cardboard enclosure. The app doesn’t discriminate, which is why Knox Labs is able to whip up its own clone of Cardboard. Google’s Cardboard site links to various sources of materials needed to create your own cardboard visor, but the version from Knox Labs is pre-cut and can be assembled in less than five minutes.
The basic kit costs $18.95, but it’s $5 more if you want a built-in NFC tag to launch the app. Knox Labs is also working on a version of Cardboard with an aluminum finish. I’m not sure you still get to call it “Cardboard” at that point, but you can only preorder that version right now. It’s more expensive at $65.95 without NFC and $68.95 with NFC. That’s still a few hundred less than the Oculus Rift, but it might not hold your attention in quite the same way.*Knox Labs estimates at least a few weeks before it can get caught up with orders, so be patient.
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The device (if you can call it that) handed out at Google I/O is a sheet of cardboard that folds up into a headset with a phone compartment right in front of the eye holes. There are two plastic lenses that allow the wearer to see stereoscopic 3D images on the phone’s screen, which is held in place by a velcro strap. Cardboard is not intended to be a serious product, but more a statement about what is possible with a little ingenuity and some help from Android.
Google has posted the Cardboard app in the Play Store, which can be launched automatically on NFC-enabled phones that are placed in the Cardboard enclosure. The app doesn’t discriminate, which is why Knox Labs is able to whip up its own clone of Cardboard. Google’s Cardboard site links to various sources of materials needed to create your own cardboard visor, but the version from Knox Labs is pre-cut and can be assembled in less than five minutes.
The basic kit costs $18.95, but it’s $5 more if you want a built-in NFC tag to launch the app. Knox Labs is also working on a version of Cardboard with an aluminum finish. I’m not sure you still get to call it “Cardboard” at that point, but you can only preorder that version right now. It’s more expensive at $65.95 without NFC and $68.95 with NFC. That’s still a few hundred less than the Oculus Rift, but it might not hold your attention in quite the same way.*Knox Labs estimates at least a few weeks before it can get caught up with orders, so be patient.
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