Not to be confused with the Google Cardboard, Google announced Daydream in 2016 for their virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display Daydream View. Google Daydream is a platform for Android device owners to access VR content and with Google’s daydream controller, which has three degrees of freedom (3DoF) allowing the controller to sense when it’s going up and down, left and right, and being tilted. With a clickable touchpad, an app button and a home button – users will be able to interact with apps and experiences rather than tapping the side of the HMD. VRFocus have compiled a list of mobile phones that are compatible with Google Daydream here:
- Google Pixel – Google’s first phone with Google Assistant built in. Both pixel phones have daydream pre-installed. The larger Pixel will offer a better VR experience due to its QHD display but both offer highly accurate head tracking.
– Google Pixel
– Google Pixel XL
- Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ – Both phones have great AMOLED screens with nearly the highest resolutions of 2,960 x 1,440 with fast processors and plenty of RAM. They also feature expandable microSD storage up to 256GB, always useful for those enormous VR video files.
– Samsung Galaxy S8
– Samsung Galaxy S8+
- Moto Z motorola – The daydream app can be installed from the Google Play Store – both of these phones support Moto mods, which includes a battery addition that can allow Daydream to run for hours longer than normal.
– Moto Z
– Moto Z Force
- Huawei Mate 9 Pro – With Huawei’s own HiSilicon Kirin 960 processor and 6GB of RAM there is plenty inside to power the 2560 x 1440 pixel display.
– Huawei Mate 9 Pro
– Porsche Design Mate 9
- Axon 7 – ZTE with the update to Nougat – it runs the slightly older and slower Snapdragon 820 but still enough to power most VR experiences.
– ZTE Axon 7
- Asus Zenfor AR – This has 8GB of RAM, Snapdragon 821 processor and a 5.7 -inch AMELOED display with 1440 x 2560 resolution and a Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU.
– ASUS Zenfor AR
- LG V30 – Is LG’s first VR phone that is the latest of six AT&T 5G Evolution capable devices. More details will be announced this fall.
You might be wondering why Android’s flagships like Samsung Galaxy S7 and One Plus 3 do not support Daydream and it can be summarised by Android authority saying ‘the lack of the necessary sensors and the absence of low persistence display.’ There are more phones expected to be added to this list by the end of 2017. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai stated that Google expects 11 Daydream compatible phones by the end of 2017 at an Alphabet earnings call.
The future of mobile VR however might be changing with Google’s announcements at Google I/O 2017 – with them partnering with Qualcomm we may see that Google is prioritising their standalone headset. So you won’t need to slip a phone into the front and don’t need to plug it into a computer. Using technology from the Tango project – what Google call WorldSense positional tracking – there will be no need for any external cameras. This is enabled by using external sensors, so that all movement is accurately tracked, with six degrees of freedom (6DoF).
Watch the video below to find out more information.