Motorola's New VR Headset
Posted on July 6, 2018 January 18, 2019 by Paul
Do you own a Motorola smartphone? News of an upcoming Motorola VR headset was leaked when VentureBeat reporter Evan Blass posted an image of the headset to Twitter. There are no further details yet, such as when it will be available. Motorola has announced accessories with really long lead times in the past, so don't assume that the shipping date is imminent.
New Moto Mods are becoming rather de rigueur lately, with tons of interesting if not completely practical gadgets made to snap onto the company's compatible phones. Moto Z users have had keyboards, snap-on Polaroid photo printers, 360-degree cameras and Alexa speakers to add on to their phones. Now the company is reportedly set to release a VR rig as a Moto Mod. Blass tweeted out what looks like a render of a new "Virtual Viewer" Moto Mod headset.
It's Still Very Hush-Hush
Details are scarce, and Motorola declined to comment when reached for more info. Still, it makes sense for the phone maker to join the mobile VR scene to compete with the likes of Samsung and Google, especially since they already have a system that only requires you to slide in your phone. The next Moto Mod could be the biggest one yet — dimensionally speaking, at least. Images posted to Twitter by Blass appear to indicate that Motorola is getting ready to unveil a VR headset for its modular phones.
It's Called the "Virtual Viewer"
Motorola calls it the "Virtual Viewer" and it looks like pretty standard headset fare. There's an eyepiece with a lens adjustment wheel on top and a holder on the front that you can clip a compatible phone into. Unlike a lot of the headsets out there right now (including Google's Daydream View and View 2), Motorola's has a camera cutout.
That's a pretty strong indicator that the Virtual Viewer will let users play around with both virtual reality and augmented reality apps and games. There is also the possibility that the hole is just there to accommodate camera humps. Given the thickness of the shell, that doesn't seem likely, though. It looks like there would've been plenty of thickness to carve a niche for the camera into the plastic without boring all the way through.
We Don't Know Much…Yet
There are still a number of fairly important details about the Mod that remain unknown. How much it will cost and when it will ship, for example. Given that what Blass posted are renders and not actual product shots, it's even possible that Motorola hasn't committed to making the Virtual Viewer just yet.
It's Just Like Other Smartphone Viewers
While the circular camera cutout makes this headset look pretty strange, there's nothing all that out of the ordinary here. VR headsets for smartphones are pretty common at this point (you can find my blog on the best headsets for VR porn here), and some companies — like Samsung — have made headsets and features that work specifically with their phones. Chances are, this one is just going to support Android's built-in Daydream VR feature.
Expect Augmented Reality Porn Soon
One intriguing possibility here is for this Moto Mod to support some basic augmented reality features since the exposed camera can capture footage from the wearer's point of view. It's unlikely we'd see much more than a live view of the world, though. Even Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality headsets, which include cameras on the outside, don't offer AR features yet and they were seemingly conceived as headsets that could offer both features.