Bytes.pk Cardboard VR Glasses Hands-On

When Facebook announced last year that it has agreed to buy Oculus VR – A startup that manufactures Virtual Reality headsets – for over $2 billion in cash and stocks I thought Facebook is crazy. But today I realized how wrong I was at that time.

TechJuice sent me these Bytes.pk Cardboard VR Glasses last week. I couldn’t test them earlier due to work commitments, but I had some free time today at my disposal, so I decided to review them for our readers. As the name suggests, the VR Glasses comes in a cardboard packaging but once you tear the opening strip, the world changes around you in two parts; The Left and The Right.

Although, there was no clear instructions with the packaging on how to assemble these and I almost teared apart the wrong portion, but thanks to its design, which is exactly based on Google Cardboard manufacturers’ guidelines, I didn’t have much trouble finding the tutorial online on how to assemble one.

Construction

There is nothing fancy about the construction. Two plastic lenses are installed in the cardboard puzzle that help you distort your phone’s screen around your eyes. There is a magnetic switch at the left side that works as a mouse click when you want to select something. There’s also a flap with velcro pasted on it. You place your phone on flap and secure it with a rubber band supplied with it and then close it.

Applications

Once assembled, I scanned the barcode at the back of packaging and downloaded the Google Cardboard app from the Play Store to get the action going. For starters, the app is good. You can have a guided tour on it, examine artifacts, look around your favorite place in Google Earth, watch Photo Sphere and experience a Windy Day on it. Other than that, there are compatible apps available on the Play Store which you can download to further explore it like I did with the Jurassic Park app and almost got killed.

Experience

To describe the experience, I will have to break it down into two segments. Denial and Excitement. When I folded a couple of cardboard pieces together, I laughed. It almost felt like a toy we used to play with in 5th grade. I was in denial that something as simple as 2 pieces of plastic, a magnet, some cardboard and a velcro strip could provide me a Virtual Reality experience. But when I put it on my eyes, Immediately snapped out of Denial mode and went into Excitement mode. My co-workers in the office thought I had gone nuts. But I wouldn’t blame them. They were also in Denial mode until I let them try it.

I can write all about the Denial part but it is very hard to explain the Excitement part. The little piece of cardboard actually works like a proper VR gadget. For instance, in the Jurassic Park app you can see a T-rex in front of you and then when you move your head around you can see a barn. When you look up you can also see a chopper in the skies. It’s hard to describe the experience but it feels as if you are living the whole moment and you are in there. Which is why, you would need to try it to experience what I am saying.

Wrap up

With the Project Cardboard, Google has achieved something remarkable by providing common users an easy access to VR technology, which is evident by the fact that you can buy Bytes.pk Cardboard VR Glasses for only 1200 rupess and experience Virtual Reality at the comfort of your home.

Before placing an order, make sure it is compatible with your phone. I have tested it with Nexus 5, Nexus 6, OnePlus One, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5 and it worked on them. It didn’t work on Droid MAXX, HTC One M7 and the Huawei Honor 4C I am currently reviewing. If you have on of those incompatible phone and still want to try it then keep in mind that the magnetic trigger to click will not work, but you can always manually click icons on your screen and still experience Virtual Reality.

There are a few things to note. For now, these basic cardboard VR headsets, be it from any manufacturer, have limited application, which restricts them to entertainment and games only only. However, in a few years, when this technology matures, we may see advancements to the likes of Jonny Quest (if you remember the show from the times when Cartoon Network was actually a children’s channel).

Bonus – Giveaway

Winners

Here are the winners of Bytes.Pk VR Headsets, Please drop an email at inbox[at]techjuice.pk with subject Giveaway Winners and email should contain your cell phone number and complete home address. The winners are expected to email till June 11, Thursday, failing to do so will result into new winners selection.