Virtual Reality and Future of Mobile Experience

Imagine the time when people first saw a motion picture, complete with sounds and moving pictures. They must have been surprised to the core when they happened to see movie characters and landscapes come alive on the screen. It was the “projector” that did the trick.

That was several decades ago. 

Image Credit: http://blog.thephoenix.com/blogs/blogs/outsidetheframe/dreamherlockjr-inthefilm.jpg

On screen virtualization involved “eyes and ears” but not so much of rest of the human body. The involvement was great but not “near perfect.”

Video games were the next big inventions that further amplified involvement of people who played them. 

Image Credit: http://bookofextremefacts.com/fact_images/games_entertain/first_home_video_game_console.jpg

Multiple, layered outcomes of a series of sequential actions in a video game were no doubt predefined by the software program but users did find themselves highly entertained due to the increased involvement.

As the computer science took center stage in all sectors including defense, entertainment, education, healthcare etc., several state funded and private organizations began allocating funds for research on Virtual Reality.

They knew the applications of a viable VR technology were immense. While some companies like Nitendo launched VR games way back in 1990s, several others jumped in and spent millions of dollars on VR R&D.

VR games were launched in huge numbers over the next few years and other organizations too found ways to make use of the advanced VR technologies.

Here’s a fine example of immersive virtual reality:

Today, VR technology is used in fine arts, game development, music creation, training etc. and even has therapeutic uses.

Image Credit: http://www.vrs.org.uk/images/us-military.jpg

The Next Big Wave of Change in VR

Virtual Reality and Future of Mobile Experience

Advancements in 3D and other such technologies have now made it possible to pass on the fruits of years of research to common people in the simplest ways imaginable.

In order to make VR more accessible to the world (as it required expensive hardware and software), a team at Google decided to develop a product that would provide VR experience right in the mobile phone

They called it Google Cardboard.

Google gifted an Android App titled “Google Cardboard” and a “cardboard” (fundamentally an Origami model) to developers this year at a conference.

Joined together, an Android Phone with the “Google Cardboard” app and this cardboard literally transformed itself into a basic but impressive virtual reality headset.

No, it’s not perfect but you do get the idea where we’re headed, right?

Can you imagine just how drastically (and for good) the mobile experience will change when VR in mobile becomes mainstream!

Consider This:

A mobile virtual world made up of the following:

• A mobile device (which you can easily carry around easily)
• A supplementary component to make it VR-ready (preferably less bulky than that of Oculus; its great work though!)
• Superior Virtual Environment (preferably better than that of Google Cardboard)
• Input devices for even great involvement (preferably smarter than Microsoft’s Kinect or Wii Controls)

Can you imagine the possibilities?

It shouldn’t be hard.

VR, I think, may take the world by storm in not so distant future. The fact that technology giants like Google are keen to take the smartphone revolution to the next level by integrating VR technologies with mobile operating systems goes on to prove just that.

I would still want to hit the road for a refreshing bike ride but 3D shopping on my mobile, I’m game for that!

Fingers crossed.