Google's Daydream View is the VR headset for the masses
This might be the first virtual-reality device that ever oozed style.
It's pretty clear by now that virtual reality -- like it or not -- is probably here to stay. The tricky part is getting people to start using these requisite VR headsets on the regular, and Google's approach is equal parts simple and elegant. With a new Pixel phone (or another Daydream-compatible device) and the $80 Daydream View headset, Google might have just cooked up the most comfortable, coolest-looking VR experience out there. First things first: Damn, this thing feels nice. It's crafted from technical fabrics (you know, the sort of stuff that winds up in workout clothes) and has eye cups wide enough to fit even my enormous hipster glasses. Those materials also make the Daydream View crazy-light, to the point where I think I could veg out for hours without issue. It looks surprisingly cool too, with color choices that evoke runways more than production lines. That's something I could never say about the more cumbersome Gear VRs of the world. Speaking of the Gear VR, Samsung's mobile headset does have one crucial advantage: field of view. The Gear VR was recently updated to be more comfortable, and while it's not as nice to wear as Google's View, it's slightly more immersive. Don't get me wrong, the View isn't bad (especially for the price), but everything you look at fits into a circular frame that sits in the center of your field of vision. It's not ideal, but it's certainly not bad if you look at the View as a crash course in virtual visuals. Where the View really shines is its control scheme -- undo the elastic latch that holds normally holds a phone in place and you'll find a tiny remote. See, rather than make you connect a Bluetooth gamepad or fumble with controls on the side of your face, the View comes with a motion-sensing wand that lets you interact with things as though you were playing with a Wii. It works well -- most of the time. The main button has a nice click to it, and swishing the wand in front of your face is tracked almost one-to-one by the on-screen cursor. After a while, though, I just sort of lost it. While working through a magical demo that tied into J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, the telltale point of light somehow shifted way off to my right. The issue persisted even after I jumped back into the main Daydream menu. It frankly got pretty annoying until someone told me I could hold down a button to recenter everything. It was clear from the outset that the Daydream View wasn't the perfect VR headset, and you'd be crazy to expect perfection out of a face-screen that costs just $80. Still, Google's willingness to experiment with style and its devotion to sheer ease-of-use make the View even more exciting than I had expected. The View might not be for me -- I won't know for sure until it ships next month and I can get one in for review -- but there's a decent chance this thing could find a foothold where other, more unabashedly geeky, displays couldn't. For a small piece of kit, that's huge.
