There are two types of virtual reality glasses. The former comes with a built-in display and tons of sensors, and also costs a lot of money. The second is not equipped with anything and is just a case for a smartphone.
How to choose virtual reality glasses: determine the purpose and characteristics
Virtual reality glasses (as well as technology) can be used for two purposes:
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Viewing 360-degree multimedia content (for example, roller coaster rides, videos from YouTube or Google Spotlight), including interactive;
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Computer games.
There are also more rare cases – learning, for example – but they are too infrequent to pay attention to them.
If you plan to view 360-degree or VR Ready media content using glasses, then a smartphone will be enough. Moreover, there are many literally $ 100 headsets that can turn this device into a full-fledged VR headset. For example Google Daydream. Or Cardboard, which can be made almost free of charge from a cardboard box, smartphone, and lenses.
But for games, a 'smartphone headset' will not work for obvious reasons. We need full-fledged virtual reality glasses. In order to choose the right ones, you need to consider the following parameters:
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Screen resolution (or rather DPI);
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Connection type;
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Supported platforms;
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Ease of use within the framework of virtual reality technology.
How to choose glasses for a smartphone
When choosing glasses for a smartphone, you should be guided by two parameters:
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Supported smartphones size;
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Convenience of interacting with virtual reality.
The vast majority of headsets are designed for 5- or 5.5-inch smartphones. Therefore, models with a smaller screen will 'dangle' on the tray, and those with a larger one will simply not fit into it.
For many operations in virtual reality, you will need to somehow influence it. Taking out a smartphone every few minutes is not very interesting. It's much better if the headset has a special NFC button – like in Google Cardboard, for example.
How to choose glasses for PC
When choosing glasses for a computer, it is important to pay attention to the resolution (or rather, the pixel density, which is measured in DPI) of the screen built into them. The higher it is, the more realistic the image will be. Optimal pixel density – from 224 DPI.
The connection type is also very important. Almost all glasses are connected to a computer via HDMI. However, for top models that offer screen resolutions over 4K and an image refresh rate of over 60 fps, DisplayPort is supposed to be used. Accordingly, the video card must be equipped with this connector.
You also need to choose based on which platform you can use these or those virtual reality glasses. For example, devices such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive can only be paired with a computer, and a PS VR headset can only be paired with a PlayStation 4. No cross-compatibility is expected.
And, finally, you need to consider the convenience of using glasses in direct virtual reality. To do this, you need to analyze the following parameters:
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Viewing angle of the display. The bigger it is, the better. Nobody wants to see the border of the image out of the corner of their eye?
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The number of sensors that analyze the position of the helmet in space – gyroscopes, accelerometers and all this. The more there are, the more sensitive the helmet will be to head movement;
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Matrix type. Recommended AMOLED – this makes blacks the most realistic.
However, for many platforms, there is little choice. So, on PS4 there is only one virtual reality headset, and Oculus Rift is extremely difficult to purchase even in online stores.
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In the next article, our experts will tell you how to choose a game console – an overview of the best manufacturers, advantages and disadvantages.
Attention! This material is the subjective opinion of the authors of the project and is not a purchase guide.
