March 7, 2015 at 18:36Google is working on Android for virtual reality
Sources in the Wall Street Journal report that the search giant has contributed to the growing trend of virtual reality. Google does not plan to release a hardware solution, following the example of many of its competitors in the market, but instead are working on a special version of its Android operating system. Like the "big sister," Android for virtual reality will be open and free for manufacturers.
The fact that devices for virtual reality is a completely emerging trend in the mobile industry, there is practically no doubt. Oculus VR was able to raise $ 2.4 million on Kickstarter and was bought last spring by Facebook for $ 2 billion. At the last Mobile World Congress, Taiwanese HTC in collaboration with Valve showedtheir virtual reality glasses called Vive. A similar helmet, known as Project Morpheus, at the Game Developer Conference 2015 showed Sony. This winter, Microsoft showed its version of VR-glasses - Hololens , in which digital objects are superimposed on the picture of the real world.
One of the engineers responsible for the new Android is Clay Bavor . He previously participated in the Google Cardboard project - a kind of virtual reality glasses that work with a smartphone, a special application for him, a pair of lenses and a cardboard case for them. Since the first announcement of Cardboard in 2014, search giant partners have been able to sellmore than half a million sets, the cheapest of which costs $ 18.95.
A little earlier, Google announced that Google Glasses, which partially used the ideas of virtual reality, are again entering the stage of a research project. They must be re-released with new hardware and new software. Probably because of the presence in his portfolio of a product similar in concept to VR glasses, Google decided to limit itself to what already brings the company success on smartphones and tablets.
More recently, a valuable employee has been lost in the search giant. Marie Lou Jepsen, who previously held one of the leading positions in the Google X secret projects laboratory, joined Oculus. Jepsen is known as the chief engineer for the ultra-cheap OLPC laptop project .
At Google there is Project Tango - a software development project that is designed to create a virtual user environment from camera shots of a smartphone.
The fact that devices for virtual reality is a completely emerging trend in the mobile industry, there is practically no doubt. Oculus VR was able to raise $ 2.4 million on Kickstarter and was bought last spring by Facebook for $ 2 billion. At the last Mobile World Congress, Taiwanese HTC in collaboration with Valve showedtheir virtual reality glasses called Vive. A similar helmet, known as Project Morpheus, at the Game Developer Conference 2015 showed Sony. This winter, Microsoft showed its version of VR-glasses - Hololens , in which digital objects are superimposed on the picture of the real world.
One of the engineers responsible for the new Android is Clay Bavor . He previously participated in the Google Cardboard project - a kind of virtual reality glasses that work with a smartphone, a special application for him, a pair of lenses and a cardboard case for them. Since the first announcement of Cardboard in 2014, search giant partners have been able to sellmore than half a million sets, the cheapest of which costs $ 18.95.
A little earlier, Google announced that Google Glasses, which partially used the ideas of virtual reality, are again entering the stage of a research project. They must be re-released with new hardware and new software. Probably because of the presence in his portfolio of a product similar in concept to VR glasses, Google decided to limit itself to what already brings the company success on smartphones and tablets.
More recently, a valuable employee has been lost in the search giant. Marie Lou Jepsen, who previously held one of the leading positions in the Google X secret projects laboratory, joined Oculus. Jepsen is known as the chief engineer for the ultra-cheap OLPC laptop project .
At Google there is Project Tango - a software development project that is designed to create a virtual user environment from camera shots of a smartphone.