We were impressed by Samsung's first stab at virtual reality when we went eyes-on with the Gear VR headset at IFA earlier this year, but the company was oddly quiet on when customers would actually be able to get their hands on one. That changed today, following Samsung's Developer conference last night: the Gear VR Innovator edition will be going on sale in December in the US, and will set customers back $200.
Virtual reality specialists Oculus, who developed Gear VR in partnership with Samsung, confirmed the price in a blog post this afternoon, which also revealed a bundle deal for $250. That's set to include the headset itself and a Bluetooth controller, but won't include the vital component - a Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. Currently Carphone Warehouse is charging £650 for the handset SIM-free, while networks are asking around £40 a month on a two year contract. That's a serious amount of money, especially when compared to a $350 Oculus Rift DK2 headset.
Oculus also announced its mobile SDK was now available to developers looking to code virtual reality apps, experiences and games for the hardware. It includes full source code for Oculus Cinema, Oculus 360 Photos, and Oculus 360 Videos under an open license, which the company hopes will help third-party coders get their apps ready for release.
Samsung may have to work on something other than price before smartphone virtual reality becomes a hit; temperatures. According to attendees at the developer conference, each exhibitor was frequently swapping Galaxy Note 4 handsets in order to limit the thermal impact of running VR on the devices. Reportedly, the handset will only work for around 15-20 minutes, depending on the app or game being played, before it forces the user to take a break while it cools down.
There's no word on when we can expect a release here in the UK, but we'll be keeping an eye out for an official statement.
