Astro Hacker News - Galaxy XR, the first Android XR headset

gpm |next [-]

The focus on maps and gemini is hilarious. The first is literally the anti-use case, it's used when you're on the move, not when you're sitting still with a headset strapped to your face. The latter is one of the few computer use cases that doesn't benefit at all from having a headset strapped to your face.

I want to see things that benefit from the headset. Sell me photogrammetry to build a 3d model of my home that I can redecorate. Sell me "work" tasks where I'm multitasking between multiple windows. Sell the entertainment value. Sell the remote 3d collaboration angle. Sell the games involving exercise angle. Sell the isolated environment on a flight. Sell using a computer comfortably lying down. Sell reclaiming office space. Literally anything but the two apps that are better suited for a phone.

aleksejs |root |parent |next [-]

> The focus on maps and gemini is hilarious. The first is literally the anti-use case,

It reminded me of the Wii U Street View app and the interview with its developers (at https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wiiu/wii-street-u/...). They were going for the same sort of a vibe, though it's unclear to me how many people actually ended up having that much fun with it.

ninkendo |root |parent |next |previous [-]

> Sell me photogrammetry to build a 3d model of my home that I can redecorate.

I’ve wanted this for so long, and every time I’ve looked, I’ve never been able to find something like this. It’s worth the cost of a rather expensive headset for that use case alone: let me see my house with different paint colors, layouts, decorations, furniture, etc… all real-life scale and available to see in AR. It would be so perfect if somebody could make it work.

dialup_sounds |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Maps looks like a swing at "library of real world immersive 3d content" that landed on "guy air-tapping his way through a slideshow of bridge pictures".

crossroadsguy |root |parent |previous [-]

Maybe they are considering Map's Street View in case the wearer is in the mood for a cosy evening stroll, virtually of course ;)

Topfi |next |previous [-]

As a former AVP owner, this seems much more suitable for what I personally tend to use these devices for, with the headstrap appearing far closer to my personal comfort preference (halo straps) and a lower weight due to reduced power and no superfluous outer display along lighter materials. I get that Apple included these as apparently they have/had the vision of establishing the AVP as a device which users may keep on when talking with others, but like with the Watch, I'd hope having seen how people use the device makes them change direction.

As there is still no support for MacOS apps like XCode on the AVP M5 and gaming is hardly viable currently without controllers, the performance advantage of the M5/M2 over the XR2 Gen2 isn't really a factor for me. Doesn't matter what the face computer can theoretically do if for many tasks I need to connect to my MBP anyways. As a display replacement, the Galaxy looks far more appealing because of this, though I'll wait for independent reviews on wireless latency, eye tracking, stability of AR "widgets" in space, etc. Also am interested, will Meta port their games (Beatsaber, mainly) to Android XR or will they continue trying to establish themselves as the platform owners. Remember a lot of talk about Meta Horizon being used by partners like Lenovo and Asus, has yet to materialize and have a hard time seeing these going for Meta over Google now that XR has arrived.

Also wish Samsung had distributed at least part of the battery into the back of their head strap. Prefer the Meta Pro style over external batteries any day, though get the size limitations. A small backup battery for hot swapping and added weight distribution would have been a decent compromise though in my eyes.

xnx |next |previous [-]

From https://www.samsung.com/us/xr/galaxy-xr/galaxy-xr/ :

"4K Micro-OLED display with 4,032 PPI and 109°(H) and 100°(V) Fields of View"

Wow. Did not expect higher ppi that Apple Vision Pro.

thepryz |root |parent |next [-]

Vision Pro has been out for almost 2 years now, so I'm not surprised. It's also worth noting that the lenses and engineering decisions around the optics can have way more influence on perceived image quality than just the specs would imply. Here's just one discussion around the challenges and decisions made around optics: https://kguttag.com/2024/03/01/apple-vision-pros-optics-blur...

I'm actually more surprised that Apple's update to Vision Pro was just a CPU bump that failed to address the criticisms people had - namely weight, price, and content/lack of a killer app. The Vision Pro's M5 is roughly 4-7 times faster in Geek Bench than the Galaxy XR's Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 so it'll be interesting to see whether the Galaxy XR will be hindered in any way.

noir_lord |root |parent [-]

Yeah I had a Quest 2 and now have a Quest 3 for gaming - while the Q3 got a very modest resolution bump, the optics changes where night and day better - pancake lenses where worth upgrading alone over fresnels, reduction in glare and the sweetspot been massive by comparison.

Neywiny |root |parent [-]

I'm torn on the quest. I don't own any VR. The cost of a lot of these systems is much higher than the quests. However, I feel like I'd use it tethered to my PC a lot. Do you notice loss in quality for that? I haven't been able to find out if it's actually sending a high bit rate or even uncompressed video stream or what

noir_lord |root |parent [-]

It supports h264/h265 at high bit rates via oculus link (their software), I only use mine for PCVR, never on device.

You can also if you are a bit technical (and given where we are I’m gonna assume you are) use virtual desktop, which is designed to work over high speed WiFi but you can reverse tether it with https://github.com/Genymobile/gnirehtet then you can do high bitrate AV1 (which it supports in 10bit) with much lower latency than even good Wi-Fi and much less jitter, it’s a little fiddly to set up but has been robust for me that way.

I can’t really see much difference between h264 via usb-c and reverse tether via AV1 though.

With an aftermarket charge while use cable you can run it indefinitely, on quiet weekends I’ve spent as much as 6-7 hours in a go in IL2, it’s quantitatively different to playing the same game on a monitor.

Be aware though it will crush GPU’s, I have a 7900XTX and if I crank the sliders in IL2 I have to be careful to keep 90fps.

You can tell that Meta doesn’t much care about PCVR side of their software though, it all works and it’s serviceable enough but it’s not their focus.

In terms of quality loss, not really, there is no direct mode in any case, it’s all encoded/decode but it’s hardware encoded PC end (all GPU’s that are powerful enough to handle it have had the hardware encoding for quite a few years) and the decoder on the Quest 3 is more than powerful enough to do it within the frame time limit.

Neywiny |root |parent [-]

Yep figured you'd be a good resource for the same reason. I also have a 7900xtx so good to know. Thank you

noir_lord |root |parent [-]

No worries, if you do use gnirehtet start with the java version, there is (iirc) a rust version but I had sporadic crashes with it where the java one has been bullet proof over at least 100 hours.

someNameIG |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Lower refresh though, 90Hz at max. Though the device is about hale the price of an Apple Vision Pro.

RandomBacon |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Holy f... that's a lot of PPI.

steve1977 |root |parent [-]

I guess it has to be, as there’s not many Is for those Ps ;)

mlvljr |root |parent |previous [-]

[dead]

jerrythegerbil |next |previous [-]

Buried in the article is the primary relevant bit that gives the product hope of success beyond other comparable products in my mind: WebXR.

Many incredible things are developed with a product once it hits market saturation, but it has to make it that far. The VCR saw its initial success for a reason, and these companies have danced around the elephant in the room under the guise of intentional vendor lock-in to apps stores for best functionality.

Good to see.

gnabgib |next |previous [-]

Discussion (183 points, 217 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45671871 [this shouldn't have made the SCP]

pjmlp |previous [-]

Another headset that will get forgotten on a drawer in a couple of years.

Since I first saw one in 1994, the only thing good for VR headset is games, and there is not enough of them to be worth the money.

Only AR has a future, for VR give me the holodeck, not tiny screens almost injected into my eyes.

EDIT: added not as per reply comment

rkomorn |root |parent [-]

Are you missing a "not" in your second paragraph?

Anyway, even though I wish it were different, I agree. I wish there were better socializing options but adoption isn't good enough (eg I have 1 friend I could use it with).

pjmlp |root |parent [-]

Yeah, thanks.