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GearVR+Note4 observations
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10-23-2014 01:43 PM
As usual, I've gathered a few observations I'd like to share.
If you're someone that wants to go through this experience yourself with a clean slate mind, please stop reading any further as this post contains spoilers.
----
First, the positives:
I'm overall blown away by the cohesive way the product is coming together. Incredible work on so many fronts.
1) The tutorial is amazing and IMO gets things off on the right foot for the end-user.
2) The Moon theater is a sight to behold.
3) The device is comfortable to wear (so far).
4) I'm very impressed with the way the device goes to sleep when taking it off, and wakes right back up when putting it on. A true killer feature for ease-of-use.
5) The new Universal menu design is looking really good.
6) I think I saw a notification pop up after coming back to Home!
----
And now for some friction points that I personally think could use adjustment or clarification to the end-user:
1) When assembling the straps, I wasn't thinking about how the top strap is supposed to look and I was trying to get the front hook through the top of the back strap -- obviously this wasn't working but it looked like it could have been a close fit so momentarily I was thinking "manufacturing tolerances are too tight here!" Then realized I had the top strap the wrong-way-around. 🙂 I'm concerned that the end-user might break the top strap's hook by trying to force it harder than I did, though.
2) The focus knob feels a loose at the extremes.
3) The focus knob still does not allow me to move the focus as far as I need it to, leading to an uncomfortable overall experience where my eyes have to work hard to bring things completely into focus. (No glasses, contacts, or significant eye problems here). This is the most severe and urgent of all the friction points I encountered.
4) Confusion over the relationship between the existing Oculus developer forum account, Oculus Share account, and the new Oculus account when signing up in the VR setup process. Are they related? Can I re-use the account I already have at Oculus Share? If I sign up for a new account, will they clash if I use the same email, user, etc? All questions that were running through my mind before I discovered that my existing Share credentials were not recognized.
5) Touchpad has a molecular adhesive on it that I think reduces sensitivity and makes it harder for the fingers to feel it. Obviously, the solution is to take the sticker off, but will the end-user notice it? The nice design on the sticker almost looked like it was meant to be part of the device.
6) The brightness control on the Universal menu was an interesting exercise in remembering what the tutorial showed me re: using up/down swipes. I had forgotten about this and was attempting to gaze at the slider and then hold the touchpad and move my gaze up/down to adjust it. Wasn't working, and then I remembered to just swipe up/down.
7) Comfort mode appears to be ON by default, which I'm actually not sure is a reasonable default despite its name. My own app feels depressing with it on, same as what I experienced when using f.lux on the PC. I'm not asking for a way to override this from within my app (or maybe I am), but does it really need to be on by default?
😎 I can toggle comfort mode off from within the Universal menu while in Home, but then when firing up my app (built with Oct SDK), it just goes right back to having comfort mode on. The Universal menu inside of my app says "Comfort Mode: on" on the label underneath the option, but when bringing up the comfort menu, it says that it is off, so something is off there. I'm assuming this is because I am not using the unreleased SDK, correct?
9) Edit: I'm actually not seeing this behavior now, I'm not sure why. (I put my original text in a spoiler tag since there's no strikethrough here)
10) There is a giant tutorial app in the store that looks like it's the gamepad walkthrough that I had skipped the first time (because its picture is of the gamepad). So, I felt tricked when it put me back into the normal tutorial, and since I had already gone through it, I wanted out immediately. There seems to be no way to get out of the tutorial. Perhaps it should be quittable if the player has already gone through it in the past.
----
And that's about it. I'm sure much of this is already known by Oculus / Samsung, but it doesn't hurt to be sure. 🙂
If you're someone that wants to go through this experience yourself with a clean slate mind, please stop reading any further as this post contains spoilers.
----
First, the positives:
I'm overall blown away by the cohesive way the product is coming together. Incredible work on so many fronts.
1) The tutorial is amazing and IMO gets things off on the right foot for the end-user.
2) The Moon theater is a sight to behold.
3) The device is comfortable to wear (so far).
4) I'm very impressed with the way the device goes to sleep when taking it off, and wakes right back up when putting it on. A true killer feature for ease-of-use.
5) The new Universal menu design is looking really good.
6) I think I saw a notification pop up after coming back to Home!
----
And now for some friction points that I personally think could use adjustment or clarification to the end-user:
1) When assembling the straps, I wasn't thinking about how the top strap is supposed to look and I was trying to get the front hook through the top of the back strap -- obviously this wasn't working but it looked like it could have been a close fit so momentarily I was thinking "manufacturing tolerances are too tight here!" Then realized I had the top strap the wrong-way-around. 🙂 I'm concerned that the end-user might break the top strap's hook by trying to force it harder than I did, though.
2) The focus knob feels a loose at the extremes.
3) The focus knob still does not allow me to move the focus as far as I need it to, leading to an uncomfortable overall experience where my eyes have to work hard to bring things completely into focus. (No glasses, contacts, or significant eye problems here). This is the most severe and urgent of all the friction points I encountered.
4) Confusion over the relationship between the existing Oculus developer forum account, Oculus Share account, and the new Oculus account when signing up in the VR setup process. Are they related? Can I re-use the account I already have at Oculus Share? If I sign up for a new account, will they clash if I use the same email, user, etc? All questions that were running through my mind before I discovered that my existing Share credentials were not recognized.
5) Touchpad has a molecular adhesive on it that I think reduces sensitivity and makes it harder for the fingers to feel it. Obviously, the solution is to take the sticker off, but will the end-user notice it? The nice design on the sticker almost looked like it was meant to be part of the device.
6) The brightness control on the Universal menu was an interesting exercise in remembering what the tutorial showed me re: using up/down swipes. I had forgotten about this and was attempting to gaze at the slider and then hold the touchpad and move my gaze up/down to adjust it. Wasn't working, and then I remembered to just swipe up/down.
7) Comfort mode appears to be ON by default, which I'm actually not sure is a reasonable default despite its name. My own app feels depressing with it on, same as what I experienced when using f.lux on the PC. I'm not asking for a way to override this from within my app (or maybe I am), but does it really need to be on by default?
😎 I can toggle comfort mode off from within the Universal menu while in Home, but then when firing up my app (built with Oct SDK), it just goes right back to having comfort mode on. The Universal menu inside of my app says "Comfort Mode: on" on the label underneath the option, but when bringing up the comfort menu, it says that it is off, so something is off there. I'm assuming this is because I am not using the unreleased SDK, correct?
9) Edit: I'm actually not seeing this behavior now, I'm not sure why. (I put my original text in a spoiler tag since there's no strikethrough here)
The health and safety warning that shows up when re-donning the device while in the middle of a VR app has the same problem the PC version has: it says tap the touchpad to continue but doesn't actually continue, and there is no countdown to show how long until it becomes responsive. This should have the same countdown that is shown in the HSW when putting the device on for the very first time, which IMO was completely perfect.
10) There is a giant tutorial app in the store that looks like it's the gamepad walkthrough that I had skipped the first time (because its picture is of the gamepad). So, I felt tricked when it put me back into the normal tutorial, and since I had already gone through it, I wanted out immediately. There seems to be no way to get out of the tutorial. Perhaps it should be quittable if the player has already gone through it in the past.
----
And that's about it. I'm sure much of this is already known by Oculus / Samsung, but it doesn't hurt to be sure. 🙂
- Titans of Space PLUS for Quest is now available on DrashVR.com
28 REPLIES 28
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10-23-2014 05:08 PM
Thanks as always to drash for being the quickest and most thorough on feedback! 🙂
I also felt like I couldn't dial the focus as far as I wanted. It wasn't too problematic, but I did notice it. The bigger issue for me was the fit; I had hard plastic digging into the bridge of my nose, and I think I'll eventually need to tape on some cotton or something to make it comfortable for prolonged use. The straps also felt less comfortable and harder to adjust, but that may be because I'm used to the previous kind.
I was also sad to only get 20 minutes out of my game before hitting the thermal throttle; on the dev kit, I was able to get about an hour.
Aside from that, my impressions were mostly positive. The store is looking good, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to spend some quality time in Land's End. I wasn't able to try out the media experiences, though. Was the SD card supposed to be included in the package? I'm reasonably certain that I never got one.
I also felt like I couldn't dial the focus as far as I wanted. It wasn't too problematic, but I did notice it. The bigger issue for me was the fit; I had hard plastic digging into the bridge of my nose, and I think I'll eventually need to tape on some cotton or something to make it comfortable for prolonged use. The straps also felt less comfortable and harder to adjust, but that may be because I'm used to the previous kind.
I was also sad to only get 20 minutes out of my game before hitting the thermal throttle; on the dev kit, I was able to get about an hour.
Aside from that, my impressions were mostly positive. The store is looking good, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to spend some quality time in Land's End. I wasn't able to try out the media experiences, though. Was the SD card supposed to be included in the package? I'm reasonably certain that I never got one.
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10-23-2014 05:55 PM
"EMcNeill" wrote:
The store is looking good, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to spend some quality time in Land's End. I wasn't able to try out the media experiences, though. Was the SD card supposed to be included in the package? I'm reasonably certain that I never got one.
I'm so glad you mentioned Land's End. I didn't see any of the other experiences like that because I had mistakenly pushed my old .OculusHomeDebug.json I was using with the devkit. Went in there and deleted it and all is back to normal now. Great to see a store full of real stuff. 🙂
Also, I didn't get an SD card either.
- Titans of Space PLUS for Quest is now available on DrashVR.com
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10-23-2014 09:15 PM
More user-experience notes:
1. I purchased Tail Gunner from the Oculus Store app (not in VR) via the Games section, which started the download, and partway through the download, I got out of the Store app, and put on the headset. I then went and found Tail Gunner in the store there and it says "Install", and of course when I tried to do that I get the following (typo included):
"Your purchase failed wtih (sic) the following message:
Duplicate Purchase.
Code: 133.146"
Unless you've got a way to distinguish between a duplicate purchase and trying to purchase something that's still being downloaded, I'd suggest updating this message to be a more user-friendly, and include something about maybe the download is still in progress, etc.
2. If I then go back to the Oculus Store app (not in VR), I see that Tail Gunner's download is still going, and that the only way to check on this progress was by finding Tail Gunner again in the Games section. I think this app would benefit from a downloads section, especially if you expect users to grab a bunch of free apps and not wait around staring at the progress bar(s).
3. Also in the Oculus Store app, the Library appears to be empty even though I've purchased a few free apps at this point. The library is properly populated inside Oculus Home, though.
4. And finally, Land's End has head-tracking, and my (app built with Oct SDK) has head-tracking. The Blu and Tail Gunner (Bandit Six?) do not have head-tracking. I didn't check others. Are they not up-to-date, or did something go wrong on my end? I tried launching them multiple times without success, and because they have no head-tracking, I have to undock and redock the Note4 in order to get back to Home.
1. I purchased Tail Gunner from the Oculus Store app (not in VR) via the Games section, which started the download, and partway through the download, I got out of the Store app, and put on the headset. I then went and found Tail Gunner in the store there and it says "Install", and of course when I tried to do that I get the following (typo included):
"Your purchase failed wtih (sic) the following message:
Duplicate Purchase.
Code: 133.146"
Unless you've got a way to distinguish between a duplicate purchase and trying to purchase something that's still being downloaded, I'd suggest updating this message to be a more user-friendly, and include something about maybe the download is still in progress, etc.
2. If I then go back to the Oculus Store app (not in VR), I see that Tail Gunner's download is still going, and that the only way to check on this progress was by finding Tail Gunner again in the Games section. I think this app would benefit from a downloads section, especially if you expect users to grab a bunch of free apps and not wait around staring at the progress bar(s).
3. Also in the Oculus Store app, the Library appears to be empty even though I've purchased a few free apps at this point. The library is properly populated inside Oculus Home, though.
4. And finally, Land's End has head-tracking, and my (app built with Oct SDK) has head-tracking. The Blu and Tail Gunner (Bandit Six?) do not have head-tracking. I didn't check others. Are they not up-to-date, or did something go wrong on my end? I tried launching them multiple times without success, and because they have no head-tracking, I have to undock and redock the Note4 in order to get back to Home.
- Titans of Space PLUS for Quest is now available on DrashVR.com
Anonymous
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10-24-2014 01:04 AM
About the headtracking not working: apps build with the IFA-timeframe SDK do no longer work with the current firmware for the Gear VR.
About a month ago Samsung adjusted the USB device ID, which causes the VR to be unrecognized by the older builds of the apps.
And yes; end-users will find in the box for the VR a 16GB mSD card filled with content (mainly 360 photos, a handful of trailers for the cinema and a few big 360 video files.
About the comfort of the VR, did you guys get the new ones with the grey foam pads?
About a month ago Samsung adjusted the USB device ID, which causes the VR to be unrecognized by the older builds of the apps.
And yes; end-users will find in the box for the VR a 16GB mSD card filled with content (mainly 360 photos, a handful of trailers for the cinema and a few big 360 video files.
About the comfort of the VR, did you guys get the new ones with the grey foam pads?
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10-24-2014 02:05 AM
I also found the focus to come a bit short of my ideal point (no glass wearer here). And it did feel more uncomfortable on my nose than the S5 kit. I've seen in the old kit there were foam pads covering the nose area, but in this one these seem to have been removed, so I guess that could be the reason.
It's great that the device detects when it's not being worn and disables itself, but I've seen it always goes back to the health warning when you put it back on. I can see how this could be an issue for playtesting / demos / etc... and I know I'll probably end up covering the sensor at some point just to make things faster.
Too sad headtracking isn't working in all apps. I'd have loved to spend more time in some of them. Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait!
Mine's are indeed grey
It's great that the device detects when it's not being worn and disables itself, but I've seen it always goes back to the health warning when you put it back on. I can see how this could be an issue for playtesting / demos / etc... and I know I'll probably end up covering the sensor at some point just to make things faster.
Too sad headtracking isn't working in all apps. I'd have loved to spend more time in some of them. Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait!
"arnoudh" wrote:
About the comfort of the VR, did you guys get the new ones with the grey foam pads?
Mine's are indeed grey
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10-24-2014 09:13 AM
Yes, mine has the grey foam pads. Max mentioned new thinner foam at one point; I imagine that's why the focus feels like it doesn't dial out as far, and why my nose doesn't fit this iteration.
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10-24-2014 09:27 AM
How did you guys manage to launch games that you downloaded in the non-VR store app? I can download them, and they show up in my Library in the 2D app, but they don't show up in my Library within Oculus Home...
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10-24-2014 09:30 AM
"pashustwo" wrote:
How did you guys manage to launch games that you downloaded in the non-VR store app? I can download them, and they show up in my Library in the 2D app, but they don't show up in my Library within Oculus Home...
I saw all the apps listed in the VR store, and I downloaded + launched them from there.
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10-24-2014 09:32 AM
I'm assuming that when you take the headset off while running a game, the sensor detects you aren't wearing it and pauses the app. Then when you put it back on and have the H&S warning again, it then resumes. Or at least thats what we assume it should do.
We are finding it doesn't pause until you put the headset back on and have the H&S warning on the screen. Anyone else getting this?
We are finding it doesn't pause until you put the headset back on and have the H&S warning on the screen. Anyone else getting this?