Powerful_Range_4270 t1_iqvtyi7 wrote on October 3, 2022 at 1:59 PM

Reply to comment by purple_hamster66 in What must be done for VR to go the way of the everyrday smartphone? by skylyfriend

Your missing the biggest one and that is field of view or looking around without having to scroll or hold it in your hand. The smartphone replaced physical buttons on flipphones. We could have made flipphones better by making them faster speeds. But overall functionality on a smartphone is what killed filpphones. The smartphone did nothing revolutionary. VR will increase your overall functionality but again it won't be revolutionary.

purple_hamster66 t1_iqx7uh2 wrote on October 3, 2022 at 7:26 PM

How does “looking around” help me edit a spreadsheet? It’s the utility that leads users, not the tech.

Yes, overall functionality is what killed flipphones, definitely. IOW, smartphones excelled because they made it easy for third parties to write apps, so I could have an app that is useful to me (and to folks in similar situations). Flip phone apps were written by the manufacturers, IIRC.

I think of VR as a smart phone display with a better mount, nothing more. Remember the first popular VR displays were just cardboard boxes that you slipped your cell phone into. Lenses help move the image away and adapt to pupil distances, boxes keep excess light out, elastic bands help with balance — all tweaks. All the really useful stuff - forward looking cams, accelerometers, barometers, depth cams - are in the phone itself.