Today at Useful Agenda we are taking a look into Virtual Reality with the Divine Viewer Headset.
Now, I have reviewed a number of these headsets. The idea
is that you put your smartphone inside of it. There are different apps like
Google cardboard and YouTube 360, giving you a split left to right image,
afterwards combining to render a fully 360 degree view experience. There is
usually an accelerometer on your phone, so you are looking all around in a
Virtual World. Really cool.
We have gone over this and looked at the Google Cardboard
stuff, it is pretty inexpensive. But this Divine Viewer has some really neat
additions to it which really takes us to another level. So, let us walk you
through it.
The headset comes with the nice little carrying bag. The first thing I notice on the device is the padding.
The reason why we come to this first, is that the major problem we have with
most of the other virtual reality headsets that we have reviewed is that they
just hurt to wear after a while.
This is great because they have put padding on the back so it
is much more comfortable. That is one of the things that we want to point out
right away. The other thing, again to the comfort, (this is the major thing if
you are going to be wearing this, watching a movie, something like that), is
the padding. After taking a closer look at the straps reveal they are padded on
the back. When you strap this on to your head, you are supported by the
padding, adding to the overall comfort.
The straps are also adjustable. Featuring velcro retention, you
can adjust this to the size of your head. And, adjustable on the top as well.
I want to explain another feature here which separates it
from the rest, and that is the ventilation. It also has got venting for your
phone on both sides, to keep it cool. Also, the plate in the front can come out – allowing a phone to
be placed inside. Some virtual reality
apps utilize augmented reality in combination with your camera phone.
The Divine Viewer is well put together you should also know.
There is well placed magnets that hold it firmly together, also snapping shut.
It all has a really nice feel.
The other big things here that we want to talk about, is how
you can adjust it, both the distance of the lenses, in terms of left/right, of
how close they are. And, then you can also adjust the forward and back
distance. This is really important if wear corrective glasses.
After opening it up for a closer look, and I want to tell
you about another key feature here, and that is the way the tray that holds the
phone works. It is spring loaded, both on top and on bottom which allows you to
use all different size phones. To test this out, we put in an iphone 6, which is a large phone. Inserting a phone is no problem at all.
One of the nice things about it, is the tab acting as a
center point to line up the phone. Some of the entrances on some of the Google
Cardboard leave you fooling around trying to get the center point.
The way these work is that they create a left/right image,
and then combines it so it looks 3 dimensional.
Now, here is the problem with all these reviews of all these
Virtual Reality headsets – We can not really tell you how cool it looks, but
you are not seeing it with the full virtual reality 360 degrees from watching a
video.
I want to explain a couple of other features in more detail while using
your phone with this headset. If we are
using an augmented reality app, you can take the front plate off, making the
camera assessable. So, that is something
where you can combine the world you are in with the virtual world so that is
pretty cool. Also, the sound will come through ventilated holes which also help
that your phone does not overheat. That's pretty neat.
Let us go over and talk about some of the adjustment
controls, because I think that they are pretty special. The is a knob for
controlling the distance that the phone is to your eyes. You can move it
forward or backwards. This is important for nearsighted, farsighted, or
corrected vision – You will be able to control what comes into focus. It is
really easy to do.
The knob found on the top adjusts for the distance between
your pupils. So you can move it closer or further, if you have a bigger head or
smaller one, depending on where your eyes are set, you can get everything all
lined up. So, these might sound like minor things, but they are key features.
You can get this really looking sharp, and looking good for each individual. In
combination with the padding it makes for a very comfortable experience.
Again, this is virtual reality, you are going to be turning
and looking all around you, and moving like that. I noticed that my phone is
staying put, and the door is not flopping open, which is important. Some of the
other units, and the way that the phone is in there, they can kind of slip out.
This is a major problem, because you obviously do not want to drop your phone
onto the ground and smash it! We like this Divine Viewer because it is kept
firmly in place. Yet to open it, once you use some pressure, it is not a
problem. We really like how it stays in place, snaps shut, and allows easy
access. That is a key feature.
Comparisons:
We have looked at a lot of
these inexpensive virtual reality headsets. So, starting out with things like
the Google Cardboard – it is very inexpensive, made out of cardboard, you put your phone in, and it might sell for
20 bucks. But, this is clearly not comfortable. It might be cool for a demo,
but it is not where you are going in terms of comfort.
Now we get to probably the closest competitor: the Noon.
This one we actually like. It sells for 89 dollars though, so it is more
expensive. The Divine Viewer sells for 65 dollars. The Noon has got some nice features to it,
also using the adjustable lenses, it is also lighter.It has some padding which
is nice, and we definitely like this because it is very lightweight. The Noon
is another nice option.
What is really cool again about the Divine Viewer is
compared to all of those, you get the full padding in the front as well as the
padding on the back of your head when you have the strap on. That is important,
and of course the ventilation ports.
So, when you think in terms of a long term experience, the Divine
Viewer is the way to go because of the padding. We also love the fact that you
can adjust both the distance by moving your phone forward and backwards, and
then also in terms of distance between your eyes.
Optional Controller:
There is another cool optional accessory that you can buy
separately. That is a Bluetooth game
pad. What is cool about this is that sometimes it can be hard in a game to
control everything, your phone is in there, and you can not access or touch it.
So, most games are fine without, in that you can just look at it and where you
are looking you can select it. At other times you need better control. This
allows you to just that with a full bluetooth controller. You can find Bluetooth
controllers that will work with this for cheap on sites like ebay.
The pad can also activate your phone, and use this bluetooth
controller for many tasks, not just virtual reality. I will say, the only
downside to it is that everything uses different controls. In Google Cardboard
to actually do a click on the screen, you have to touch the screen, so even
with the controller you can not do that. Other games which are starting to come
out, which are made to work with a bluetooth controller. This adds a whole new
dimension, you can be looking around, moving your head around to see different
points of view, but if we want to do things like run, kick, throw, things like
that, you can do it with the controller. It is also bluetooth enabled, and you
just plug it in to charge it up, and then it is pretty straight forward if you
have used any video game controller. Different games and different apps will have
different controls for them, but without you needing to load up drivers and
things like that, simple controls like pushing select, or the B button to go
back, can be done like that right off the bat.
Conclusion:
Alright, so overall I really like the Divine Viewer , love
the padding and the design. I love how you can move the lenses both forward and
back, and left and right as well. And also loved the way that the phone sits
securely in there.
In terms of dislikes, it is heavy. It is about .85 pounds,
and it is heavy to have on your head. The field of vision is not as large as
some of the other ones out there. You can also see a little bit of borders. So,
onto what do you do with these things.
Just scrolling through Apple Store there are a lot of
different apps. There are games, videos, virtual tours, even
vr porn, you can surf all over.
And, it is only getting better. This is still only in its infancy and more
stuff is coming out all the time. It is a wide open field, so if you get in
now, there is going to be a lot trendsetting.
So overall, I like the Divine Viewer , it is an interesting
virtual reality headset, and great for only 65 bucks.
