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Zuckerberg Introduces Oculus Go, Standalone $199 VR Headset

The new standalone headset attempts to marry affordability with power.
Charles Singletary Jr
Charles Singletary Jr
7

Zuckerberg took the stage during the Oculus Connect keynote and set an ambitious goal of getting 1 billion people into virtual reality. A large part of that, something Zuckerburg came to realize when traveling the world, is increasing the accessibility of quality VR. Mobile is very accessible but is limited when it comes to power. PC VR is incredibly powerful, but is expensive and tethered to expensive PCs. He then announced the new Oculus product that attempts to marry accessibility and power: Oculus Go.

The new headset is a standalone unit, meaning it won't have to be tethered to a PC or smartphone. It will be priced at the very reasonable price of $199.

Oculus GO ships with a custom optical design built on a 2560×1440 LCD panel. Features lenses same wide field of view of Oculus Rift and significantly reduced glare. The lenses are the next generation of the lenses being used on Oculus Rift. The Go also features spatial audio built right into the headset.

Binary compatibility with Gear VR meaning developers will be building for both at the same time. Oculus Go dev kits ship out in November and the best VR content will be launched on Go.

Developing...

News Editor
News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.

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  • Shacknews legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
    reply
    October 11, 2017 10:20 AM

    Charles Singletary posted a new article, Zuckerberg Introduces Oculus Go, Standalone $199 VR Headset

    • [deleted] 646422104 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      October 11, 2017 10:24 AM

      [deleted]

    • yosan legacy 10 years
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      October 11, 2017 10:26 AM

      i wonder how that will work.

    • jabuck legacy 10 years
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      October 11, 2017 10:29 AM

      Standalone? cool. Won't be able to play any decent games I suspect though.

      • Amusatron
        reply
        October 11, 2017 11:03 AM

        No mention of games, just "VR content," so I'm thinking Facebook-produced or -partnered TV

      • Conan legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury ultra mega
        reply
        October 11, 2017 11:08 AM

        It's compatible with everything that GearVR has, so yeah, just a phone-free version of that, maybe with better handling of thermal throttling.

    • [deleted] 354047836 legacy 10 years
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      October 11, 2017 10:45 AM

      [deleted]

    • CptPlankton legacy 10 years mercury super mega
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      October 11, 2017 10:57 AM

      Whoa. How did they get it to be so cheap I wonder? What’s missing?

    • [deleted] 1220350752 legacy 10 years
      reply
      October 11, 2017 11:03 AM

      [deleted]

    • atom519 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      October 11, 2017 11:22 AM

      Neat middle ground product for introducing more people to VR, but as someone that is only interested in high end I'm a no-go. I suspect it will only run lower quality Unity games and other VR experience stuff?

    • spazzium legacy 10 years mercury super mega
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      October 11, 2017 8:56 PM

      Needs inside out tracking. Wonder how it compares to the Daydream.

    • mastermike569 legacy 10 years
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      October 11, 2017 9:53 PM

      I really like the GearVR, much better than Google's daydream. Oculus Go could be promising.

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      October 11, 2017 10:14 PM

      Why would they not pair it to a smartphone? Everyone has a smartphone. That's free computing power just going to waste. I can't imagine you can do much on $200 hardware, and is it going to require proprietary software be written for it?

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        October 11, 2017 10:16 PM

        I see they said it's compatible with Gear VR games. Which I guess means it's an Android device itself. Still the hardware is not going to be very powerful at that price point.

      • yAak legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury mega
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        October 11, 2017 11:05 PM

        Console vs PC debate reborn!

      • mastermike569 legacy 10 years
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        October 12, 2017 4:46 AM

        Not everyone has a recent flagship phone like the Galaxy S8 or can afford one which is required to be compatible with GearVR and Daydream which are the only legit VR experiences for phones right now. Daydream kind of sucks but GearVR is actually a pretty legitimate solid experience. I own both and can vouch for the GearVR.

        Obviously nothing beats a Desktop PC VR setup like Rift or Vive but Oculus Go is a great way to get a GOOD VR experience into peoples hands who would otherwise not be able to afford it or be forever turned off by cheap shitty gimmicky VR solutions that are rotting on store shelves that you can slap just about any phone into.

        I will likely not need the Go myself but if it is better than the GearVR paired with my S8+ I would happily plunk down $200 for it.

    • [deleted] 1473693448 legacy 10 years
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      October 12, 2017 5:10 AM

      [deleted]

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