Samsung Gear VR (2015) Bumper Case - Compatible with Note 5, GS6s, Anti-Slip, Black - US Version w/ Warranty

I have been following VR for quite awhile reading news everyday on the big boys Oculus Rift and Vive, reading impressions, watching interviews and people's reactions after using some of these devices. Even though I have never used one, I was convinced VR will change how we consume entertainment media. So I decided to get Gear VR to get a first taste of what VR is like because I have a Galaxy S6 Edge Plus anyway...why not..it's only $99 bucks.Upon donning the headset, I was presented with a view of the Home screen and notice right away a sense of scale and presence. I feel like a giant looking down 20 feet above or so from the ground. The table and chairs behind me are HUGE. The UI of the Home screen is sleek and easy to use. You simply move your head to move the cursor where you want and select by tapping the right side of the cross indent cross bar. First thing I check out is Oculus Cinema. I gotta to check out the theaters. I heard many testimonies about how cool and real it is...so upon loading up a video and selecting Oculus Theater, I feel literally like I am actually INSIDE a theater...the screen is huge, OH MY. I can look around and see a bunch of empty seats...i can look behind me and basically anywhere I want...this is PRESENCE my friend. This is what I expected and actually more than I expected. I knew it's going to be like this (because I heard about it) but until you experience it, you don't really know. I begin to download some 3D movies to my phone and watch them and see how it look....and OH MAN, it does look like I'm watching a 3D movie. The 3D really do pop out of the screen just like real theaters. This is really cool. Now, there are other theaters that you can go to such as Ant Theater and Moon Theater...but I only like the Oculus Cinema Theater and Void Theater. Void Theater is really cool because you're much closer to the screen.So after testing out the theaters, I head out and explore other videos. I am really impressed with the UI they created. It's easy to navigate and easy to identify different sections of the menu. Milk VR is impressive with its contents. It shows 360 degree of videos that you can actually look around and see everything...oh my, this is impressive. This will change the experience of everything we know about watching videos or pictures. In a flat 2D screen, you can only capture a single view of the video but this is a whole different level. I can see everything like I am actually really there 360 turn around....amazing. For some reason I feel like this is expected because I guess I have read too many VR news and understood how it work. So i wasn't as awed as perhaps compare to someone who never heard about VR. Never the less, I am quite impressed with this new media. Other things I look at are Oculus 360 videos (most of the videos are blurry here), Oculus 360 pictures (check out the 3D pictures, they're impressive and the scale is perfect). Now one thing I want to mention is that of all the videos and pictures I seen, most of them seem huge, i mean HUGEEE like the scale is incorrect. You feel like a giant among giants. I don't know if that's the way VR work or is it something they're working to correct. When I look at the 3D 360 pictures, they seem to get the scale correct. Not so with the traditional 360 pictures or videos. I have learned something by watching these videos and pictures though. I learned it's important to get the correct height of the camera so users get a better experience. If it's too high, you feel like a giant. If it's too low, you're a midget. They need to get it right. Overall, i am impressed with Vrideo, Milk videos, Oculus 360 videos and pictures, Picture Gallery app. I check out Vimeo and Twitch, it's cool. I checked out the Social App...okay cool, you can watch some videos with 3 or 4 people in the same room and chat with them. It's cool but I don't see people staying there too long. It's more like a curiosity and then let me get out of here.Now let's talk about gaming. I bought a couple games and the best so far is Gunjack. This game is amazing. I never understand what it means to be playing a virtual reality game until now. You really feel a sense of scale and presence inside this amazing looking game with its UNREAL ENGINE graphics. As the ship move about, you feel totally immersed because of how realistic everything is and the ability to look anywhere. You really feel like you're inside a cockpit. Anshar War is a similar game with 360 movement shooting in every directions. Dead Secret is a good start for a VR explore game. You really feel like you're standing in a room when you play this game. You can't physically walk but you can teleport. By the way, you will get motion sickness if you're moving from point A to B when your body is not reacting to any movement. So i suggest play this game using teleport movement. Even if you're watching a 360 videos...if the movement is drastic and accelerate from point to point without constant speed, just stop or close your eyes because you will get motion sickness. You will sense it and it's coming and you just need to stop. So far, I haven't let motion sickness get to me but when i feel it is coming, I had to either stop or close my eyes. Some of these 360 videos are just terrible not just quality wise but induce motion sickness. There should be ratings for watching 360 degree videos. Ratings should include motion sickness, quality of the video and graphical contents. Now I know why games such as Call Of Duty or any games that required one running from point A to point B are impossible to make due to motion sickness. Even in simple game like Land's End induce a bit of motion sickness due to it's acceleration and stop motion. And now i know why developers want to use teleportation to get player from point A to point B because it presents no motion sickness at all. Now with a game like Dead Secret, it's cool that you can stand there and look around your environment and explore like you're actually there. But it's much cooler if you can walk around a bit too and this is when i feel VIVE will trump all headsets out there. The ability to walk naturally anywhere you want in a 15'x15' is going to take VR to another level. Everything you can do naturally with your body, you can do it with VIVE and I don't know about Oculus Rift. I heard it has occlusion problem if you turn all the way around since they only use two cameras to capture the front of your headset. People say that you can buy additional cameras and put them behind you and that will solve the problem but I don't now that. I feel VIVE...with it's huge space is going to be amazing for gaming and actually better for shooting now that you have a lot more space to operate. You can always teleport to different areas and continue exploring in your natural body movement. Any movement that involve using thumbsticks are just going to induce motion sickness because your body is not reacting to the physics of the virtual world.Now I heard eventually Gear VR can be tracked with Valve's Lighthouse and using Valve's controllers. If that's the case, that's a game changer because now you have a headset that is totally untethered and now you add the ability to walk around without any wire tangling up is going to be amazing. But there is a trade off though. Gear VR is never going to be as powerful as Oculus Rift or VIVE with their PC's graphics fidelity. Not only that, it is not as comfortable as Oculus Rift and VIVE...why? Because it is much heavier due to the weight of the phone. I feel neck tiredness while using it for a long period of time. I feel eyes strained as well but that's due to the sharpness and focus of the lenses. Gear VR doesn't have positional tracking. It also doesn't have 3D audio which the other big boys will have. So, VIVE and Oculus Rift are going to take VR to a different level when they come out.Overall, I give Gear VR 5/5 for starter since there isn't anything to compare to for now. When the big boys come out, look out!! Gear VR will be treated like boy compare to man.

If you own a compatible phone you owe it to yourself to get the Gear VR! I've never had the opportunity to try the Rift but this thing is crazy cool. The immersion stuff is really nice but somewhat pixilated so you have to look at it realistically and understand the processing power something like this needs. Even with the current graphics, the phone does get warm and occasionally needs a cool down period. As the technology evolves this will of course be less and less of an issue.Again, the immersion stuff is very cool but right now, to me it's more of a cool novelty. What I'm enjoying most right now is watching movies and videos on the simulated ginormous screens. Netflix is great and watching movies (including 3D!) and videos on my phone is ridiculously cool. I really like the moon theatre but all are great! It really makes you feel like you're watching it on a giant screen and even though the environment around you is pixilated enough that you know it's not real, it's still easy to lose yourself in this virtual world. The little touches like the way the light seems to project off the screen and reflect off the virtual environment really sucks you into the whole experience. I was watching a movie and my dog came up beside me and I about jumped out of my seat. He is a big dog though...The content is still somewhat limited but there's lots of free stuff and the items you can buy are reasonably priced. I haven't played any games yet and I really want/need to get a game pad before getting into any gaming. I do look forward to trying it out though.The headset is fairly comfortable but the phone does weigh it down a little after a while and I find myself adjusting it - especially off the bridge of my nose. The padding and straps do make it about as comfortable as it can be with this configuration. It also gets a little hot after a while and that's mostly from the heat of the phone during heavy use. It's not uncomfortably hot - the "cool down" notice kicks in long before that point - but it is noticeable.Again, if you own a compatible phone, you already have the most expensive part of this setup. For the additional price of the Gear VR, it's a steal!