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Oculus was started as a PC-focused virtual reality platform before Facebook acquired the company, but it has since ventured into mobile VR with the Samsung Gear VR partnership. Now, Oculus is preparing its first all-in-one VR headset known equally the Oculus Become. Information technology's coming to a face near you lot next year for a mere $199.

Oculus is positioning the Become equally an easier fashion to get into VR, which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes tin assist the company accomplish the goal of 1 billion people in virtual reality. You don't demand to plug the headset into a computer like the Rift, nor do you take to dock a telephone similar the Gear VR. You just put on the headset and start playing around in VR. The headset itself is covered with a soft fabric material, not different Google's Fantasize View headset.

This headset includes some impressive specs for $200 including new wide-field lenses and integrated spatial audio speakers that tin be used in place of headphones. Yet, the Oculus Get also skips some of the features of more expensive headsets to keep the price down. It lacks within-out tracking, which allows a VR headset to monitor its position in a room. Then, you'll be able to wait around in VR, only y'all can't walk. The unmarried move controller is too tracked merely with internal orientation sensors.

The Oculus Become volition sport a built-in 2560×1440 display, but information technology's LCD. The Rift and Samsung'south Gear VR-capable phones use OLED screens because of the faster refresh rate. That'south essential for blur-gratuitous VR. However, Oculus says the "fast-switch" technology used in this LCD makes it suitable for virtual reality.

Facebook VP of VR Hugo Barra says Oculus Go is the best way for developers to become into VR. They tin target both Gear VR and Oculus Go at the same time, and Facebook confirms Oculus Become volition be binary-compatible with Gear VR content. That seems to indicate the Oculus Go is running on some flavor of Android, but that'due south unconfirmed right now. If information technologydoes run Android, that could open a whole globe of possibilities.

When information technology launches adjacent yr, Oculus Go will be the cheapest mode to go into VR. The Oculus Rift price is also coming down to $399, simply yous withal demand a high-terminate video card in addition to that. The latest Gear VR headset costs around $130, but you can but use that if you have a Samsung phone that costs $600-1,000.