7 things you should know before buying Samsung's affordable virtual reality headset

If you're the least bit interested in virtual reality, you've probably read a bunch of articles raving about how amazing it is.

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I've been using Samsung's $99 Gear VR with a Galaxy S6 and S7 for a few days and I'm hooked.

That said, all that raving coverage might set high expectations for people who haven't tried it out yet. I'm here to set the record straight so you don't feel underwhelmed if and when you try Gear VR.

gear vr selfie
Antonio Villa-Boas/Tech Insider

Here are a few things to expect:

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The Gear VR is WELL worth its $99 price tag...

gear vr1
Samsung

... That is, if you like Samsung's phones, including the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Note 5, S7, or S7 Edge. The Gear VR doesn't work with any other smartphones. Still, everyone who's tried Gear VR here at Tech Insider thinks it's delightful and amazing.

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There isn't that much content yet.

gear vr home screen
Samsung

There's actually a ton of content in the Oculus store, but a lot of it is more like demos and proofs of concept, which are designed to showcase the possibilities of VR rather than full games or "experiences."

Most of the games and experiences I've tried on the Gear VR so far have been short and/or very simple, so don't expect long and complex games or experiences just yet.

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The graphics aren't mind-blowing.

gunjack
GamerHubTV/YouTube

It's easy to expect mind-blowing graphics from new gaming platforms. After all, smartphone games have only been getting better graphics as phones have been getting more and more powerful, right? 

Not so much with games for the Gear VR.

Some games like Gunjack and Land's End look great and remind me of my PlayStation 3 days, but most other games look more like they came from the original PlayStation. That's because games for the Gear VR need a lot more processing power than most games from the regular Google Play store. Your Galaxy smartphone constantly needs to render the game's 360-degrees around you so you can smoothly look around you without experiencing any stutters.

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It doesn't look very sharp.

gear vr focus wheel
Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

One of the first things you'll do when try the Gear VR is to focus the picture using the small wheel on top of the headset. You can focus up to an extent using the focus wheel, but images in Gear VR will still look relatively blurry compared to the sharpness we've come to expect from smartphones, computers, and TVs.

Despite the Galaxy S7's insanely sharp 1440p display, it's still not enough to hide the pixels, which you can clearly see through the Gear VR's lenses.

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The best content will probably cost you.

land's end oculus store
Screenshot

There's a bunch of free content you can try out, but most of it is pretty basic and could quickly lose its novelty.

Most of the games and experiences we tried that impressed us the most had to be purchased, as is the case with regular apps for your smartphone. 

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It will destroy your battery.

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Shutterstock

After about 45 minutes of ditching the real world for the virtual version on the Gear VR, the battery life on the Galaxy S7 I was using went down to 58%.

It takes a lot of processing power to run VR content, as the Galaxy smartphone you're using needs to display content twice. Plus, the battery has to push a ton of power to light up all those pixels.

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Your Galaxy smartphone will get hot.

flir gear vr
The Galaxy S6 is heating up a lot from playing VR games. Dave Mosher/Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

Your Galaxy smartphone's processor (CPU) is working at full capacity to make the VR content happen. The more your CPU works, the hotter it's going to get.

The Galaxy S6 we tested got pretty hot, but the S7 fared a little better with its fancy liquid-cooling system.

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It's still in the early stages.

Samsung Gear VR / Six Flags
Six Flags

Google's Cardboard was the first major VR platform to debut for smartphones, and that was launched back in July 2014, several months before Samsung debuted Gear VR.

It's easy to say that two years is plenty of time for more VR content to be developed, as well as the technology, but in truth this is just the beginning. The possibilities and potential for smartphone VR experiences are limitless, but it's going to take some time until smartphones can provide the VR experiences we all desire. 

 

Samsung Virtual reality
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