Unimpressed with Daydream compared to Gear VR

[xxaarraa]

Been a Samsung fan (boi) for the last 2 years and had a bunch of them. Got 3 of the gear VRs for free when I pre-ordered Samsung phones over the past couple years and so I am familiar with the hardware and the content as well.

Fast forward to Pixel pre-order and I just received my free daydream. I have to say I am very very unimpressed so far.

• I only have the Pixel, not the Quad HD Pixel XL so I realize its a screen resolution thing. But man the picture quality is sub-par. I can actually see the pixels on the screen, and the blotchy picture quality takes away from the viewing experience. 10 minutes on this thing and I am ready to put it away and just switch to chromecast to watch videos on my TV instead.
• The screen constantly seems to wander off center, needing me to recenter it with the remote. I mean, I shouldn't have to do that constantly, while in the middle of a first person shooter.
• Phone runs super hot while in there.
• Maybe the content will improve over time, but the games that are on there now are very cartoony / arcade game like, compared to real 21st century video games on Gear VR / samsung store. I had forgotten what old school games were like, they reminded me of my first 486 PC!

The remote is a nice take on VR UI, the wireless pairing is a nice touch. The unit also seems smaller in size than the Gear VR. Other than that, I can't think of any positives unfortunately.

I LOVE my pixel, I intend to hold on to this phone for a full year, something I haven't done with a phone in a long time. The VR experience isn't a deal breaker for me, but boy it's pretty bad at the moment, especially compared to a more mature platform like Gear VR.

 

[Fernando Martin]

You'll have to give them time. Samsung has been in the business for much longer than Google. You received a beta product.