DALLAS – Samsung Telecommunications America (STA) revealed the pricing and sales outlets for its Oculus-powered Gear VR Innovator Edition virtual-reality headset, which is available at Samsung.com and ATT.com for $199.
The headset, which is available to developers and to consumers, uses the 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display of a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 phablet to deliver a virtual-reality experience for consumer and professional applications.
The launch of the Innovator Edition is intended to provide “a great opportunity for the enthusiast community, developers and Samsung to get feedback and continue to innovate” in the VR market, said Justin Denison, STA’s VP of product strategy and marketing. Samsung is “putting the device in the hands of creators to craft amazing experiences as we define this new mobile category together,” he continued.
The Gear VR is promoted as “the first low-persistence virtual-reality experience powered by a smartphone.”
The headset itself is equipped with a touch pad, back button and focus adjustment wheel. It will automatically download Oculus software to a Note 4 when it is connected for the first time. The Oculus software includes an Oculus Home VR home screen and content discovery center; an Oculus Store to download new content; the Oculus Cinema VR movie theater and Oculus 360 videos and photos.
At launch, Gear VR Innovator Edition includes sample games and content such as HeroBound, a dungeon-exploration adventure; Anshar Wars, a multiplayer space shooter; theBlu, an exploration of undersea life; and a variety of other 360-degree content such as a specially filmed portion of the Cirque du Soleil show Zarkana. All of the content is made-for-VR content.
Oculus is owned by Facebook.
