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Samsung HMD Odyssey Is Ultimate Windows Mixed Reality Headset For Windows

Samsung HMD Odyssey Is Ultimate Windows Mixed Reality Headset For Windows

Samsung is one of the main manufacturers of virtual reality headsets way to its gear VR. And now the company is teaming up with Microsoft to launch its new Samsung HMD Odyssey with windows mixed reality headset.

Here’s the important information about the headsets:

  • Samsung headset coming this year for $499 with controllers
  • Windows 10 mixed reality coming Oct. 17 to all windows 10 PCs
  • Microsoft has  categories of mixed reality desktops
  • Microsoft’s approach differs from Apple’s Augmented reality providing

Unveiled by Microsoft’s (MSFT) Alex Kipman on Tuesday, the author of the company’s Hololens, the Odyssey offers dual 3.5-inch high-resolution AMOLED panels. I tried the headset, that is available for pre-order Oct. 3 for $499, all through a quick demo and it offered a slightly better experience than competing headsets.

Colors looked livelier and movement was smoother. The text also seemed crisper, which a Microsoft representative attributed to the truth that Samsung purposely worked to make sure text was clean enough to view on websites and other apps.

Samsung HMD Odyssey Is Ultimate Windows Mixed Reality Headset For Windows

The Odyssey was unveiled at an event that doubled because the final coming-out party for Microsoft’s upcoming windows mixed reality software, that is available on Oct. 17 for windows 10 machines as a part of the organization’s upcoming windows Fall Creators update. Windows mixed reality is meant to run on just about any computer with windows 10.

Microsoft presently has two specifications for windows mixed reality desktops: a standard spec which can run on desktops and laptops with integrated graphics chips and an extremely spec designation for machines with discrete graphics chips like those from Nvidia and AMD. Base mixed reality pcs can be able to handle all of the apps Microsoft offers, while the ultra pcs can be able to run high-end pc games.

Welcome Home

During his keynote, Kipman mentioned windows mixed reality as the world’s first spatial operating system. To make sure, windows mixed reality isn’t its own OS. It’s simply how you interact with Windows 10 through a VR or augmented reality headset like the Hololens.

In place of a traditional desktop, Microsoft created a virtual home on the side of the mountain that the company refers to as the “Cliff house.”

Samsung HMD Odyssey Is Ultimate Windows Mixed Reality Headset For Windows

You may personalize and enhance your home as you see fit, by pinning apps and pieces of art to walls. To use an app, you simply walk as much as it, or teleport using the Microsoft’s motion controllers, and interact with it by pointing and clicking using the controllers’ triggers.

Good-bye, Monitor

Kipman believes the headset is the way of the future, and that it could replace monitors for some customers. During his presentation, he defined that he spends more time with a headset than looking at his computer screen.

I’m not totally sold on that idea, though. It’s lots to ask people to put on a headset all day, regardless of how comfortable it is. Microsoft does, but, make it simpler to use your headset way to its six degrees of freedom technology. The tech, which is also known as 6-DoF, lets you move around a virtual space by physically walking in the real world.

The result is a system that appropriately tracks your movement without forcing you to use external sensors like Fb’s (Facebook) Oculus Rift, HTC’s Vive or Sony’s (SNE) PSVR.

Games and Entertainment

Of course, like all VR or AR headset, Microsoft’s mixed reality systems want to offer consumers with compelling content. The demos I’ve experienced so far were fun in small bursts, but nothing, especially, has made me need to dive in for hours at a time.

Microsoft showed off a quick concept demo for its “Halo” franchise during the Tuesday event, and discussed its partnership with Valve’s Steam VR if you want to open up windows mixed reality headsets as much as an entire another world of offerings — but I’m still awaiting that one must-have title or experience.

Samsung HMD Odyssey Is Ultimate Windows Mixed Reality Headset For Windows

Microsoft’s providing differs drastically from Apple’s (AAPL) ARKit, which makes use of augmented reality to place a digital interface over the real world using your iPhone. Microsoft, meanwhile, gives AR through its Hololens, however, its mixed reality headsets use full-scale VR, which creates a totally digital world.

The beauty of Microsoft’s mixed reality headsets, though, is how easy they’re to plug in and use. You virtually connect them to your windows 10 PC and it’ll automatically download the important software and get you up and running. That’s far better than the type of setup required through the Rift or Vive.

The question now, though, is whether there’s enough public interest in VR headsets to make Microsoft’s approach worthwhile. We’re still in the very beginning of the VR revolution, and while the hype train might have slowed down to a more reasonable speed, the technology absolutely promises to incredibly powerful.

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