My first few months playing and developing for the Lenovo Mirage Solo in Unity
I enjoy using the headset. It's one of those devices you can just leave by your desk and jump into the virtual world, without sacrificing the daylong charge on your cell phone. It's great to show people the benefits of VR when you are 'out and about' and travelling light.
“It's worth it... especially when you disable the 'safeties' during development ” [Disclaimer: Keep the safety boundaries feature enabled for your safety and the safety of others]
So here is where things got really interesting. Once I installed Google Chrome Canary on the headset, giving the ability to launch WebVR, I promptly headed to Sketchfab to view some 3D models. Think of this as the 'Construct' from the Matrix where you can load anything you want. My inner scifi went straight for the T.A.R.D.I.S. and I wasn't disappointed.
Developing in unity was a good experience once I installed the Google VR SDK. Unfortunately there was no live preview to the headset which meant you had to build for Android, save to a micro SD card and load the card onto the headset before you can test your build. It can be cumbersome especially when you are trying iron out a few bugs and optimize the framerates.
Pros
- A standalone headset with six degrees of freedom (6DoF) movement.
- You can turn off the safety boundaries in the developer settings
- It fits well on your head and I've noticed at events people prefer to wear this headsets over the more expensive / tethered devices.
- Great to travel with.
- Fair price.
Cons
- The screen door effect is visible in light areas.
- The WorldSense occasionally stops briefly in you are in a darkened room.
- The controller does tend to drift after extended use but is easily rectified by holding down a button.
- The App market needs more content.
Summary
I think it's definitely worth buying because of the 6 degrees of freedom with a stand alone headset. Developers will enjoy the possibilities and convenience.
