Xiaomi Mi VR Play Headset Launched at Rs. 999 ; Mi Live App Announced as well

Xiaomi unveiled the Mi VR Play headset in India priced at Rs. 999. The new Mi VR Play headset will be available via the company's store starting December 21. The company has confirmed that there will be limited edition Mi VR Play headsets also going up for sale.

Initially unveiled in China back in August, the Mi VR Play headset features a 'two-way zipper design' that the company claims makes it simple to insert and remove a smartphone into the headset, while also ensuring the phone does not fall out of the headset. Notably, in October, the company launched another plastic-built VR headset.

The Mi VR Play headset is Google Cardboard compatible and also allows users to view 360-degree YouTube videos and Mi Live VR live streams. The headset is also compatible with Google Cardboard Camera app that lets users click VR photos.

The Mi VR Play features Lycra material and comes with dual front openings for slight positioning adjustments and ventilation. The new headset is compatible with smartphones ranging from 4.7-inches to 5.7-inches. Xiaomi claims that the Mi VR Play headset can easily fit Mi Note as well as iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

The headset sports anti-reflective lens for image clarity. The optical-grade aspheric lens has a high tolerance interval of 0.01mm. It also features a textured metal button which when pressed, a silicone button inside makes direct contact with the smartphone. The Mi VR Headset measures 201x107x91mm and weighs 208.7 grams. Xiaomi has also introduced non-slip pads into the VR headset.

Xiaomi also announced Mi Live, a live video streaming app, in India. The new app is now available via Google Play. Announcing the new Mi Live app, the company said, "Mi Live is our own live streaming app with locally sourced content and is open to viewing hosts from across the country."

Source: Xiaomi

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Google Daydream View VR Headset Now Available

Google's Daydream View virtual reality headset is now available in US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany. Announced last month at the Google Pixel launch event, the Daydream View VR is the first headset based on the Daydream platform by Google, which was unveiled at Google I/O this year. As of now, Daydream View works only with the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones.

Along with the Daydream View, Google has also launched a few supporting Android apps - the Daydream app and the YouTube VR app are now available for download via Google Play.

The Daydream app follows the Daydream Keyboard and VR Services that are already available on the Play Store. The Daydream app houses a collection of apps and games for Daydream-ready phones. Google is also launching exclusive content for the Daydream View. The company has partnered with video-game producers and sports leagues to boost its virtual-reality initiative. Google has also launched the YouTube VR app, which will let you watch 3D or standard 360-degree videos with the Daydream View headset. Google is collaborating with YouTube content creators for producing 360-degree videos for Daydream View.

Daydream users can search for videos in YouTube VR through voice or a keyboard much like the standard YouTube app.

More Daydream-ready apps are being launched apart from Google's own apps. The company's partners like Warner Brothers and CNN have also launched apps supporting Daydream like CNN VR, Fantastic Beasts, and The Guardian VR, among others.

Setting up the Daydream app will be straightforward and users will need to add a payment option to complete the setup.

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HTC Announces Viveport VR App Store: What You Need to Know

HTC on Friday announced Viveport, its storefront for VR content and experiences. The service will be rolled out this fall, and a developer beta will be launching soon. The Viveport will be a destination for all HTC Vive users to access the latest VR content, organised into categories. The company also announced the Vive Home, a customisable personal virtual environment.

"Our mission is to unleash human imagination from the limitations of reality, and Viveport will be an important cornerstone in democratizing access to the world's most diverse selection of immersive experiences," said Cher Wang, CEO of HTC.

Interestingly, while HTC certainly wants Vive users to make use of Viveport, it is not designing this as an exclusive experience. What this means is twofold - first, if you already have a Vive, then you can also use Steam as a store for VR content. Steam, by Valve, HTC's partner on Vive, is one of the best known and most full-featured game store and having access to Steam as a distribution can be seen as a major plus point for the Vive.

At the same time, Steam doesn't have much of a user base in some parts of the world - it's not used very heavily in China, for example. Viveport can smooth over these gaps, and apart from that, it's an experience that's built from the ground up with VR in mind, making it easier and more intuitive to find and access new VR content. That's the plan anyway.

The store will also be accessible through browsers, and via PC and mobile apps, and that's the second way in which the Viveport is an open platform. According to HTC, the content on the Viveport will not be exclusive to the Vive.

"We want to reach audiences on all devices and platforms," an HTC executive explained. "We are on the Vive right now, and we will look at adding support for more platforms." Also, while some of the content on Viveport would not work properly on its big rival, the Rift, that's because Oculus' offering does not support room-scale tracking in the same way. The seated 360-degree experiences should work in much the same way on both devices. That's a far cry from the Rift, which Facebook-owned Oculus was initially trying to lock down. You couldn't even run Rift games on the Vive, which changed only after fan outrage. In contrast, HTC seems more willing to embrace an 'open' world.

"We believe equal access to virtual reality experiences will make the world a better place; enhancing our daily lives and the way we connect with everything. An important goal for the Viveport team is to enable developers to reach a global audience and grow their business," said Rikard Steiber, Senior Vice President of Viveport.

The company will also be rolling out all content globally, so as long as you're in a country where the Vive is officially being sold, the Viveport and all the content it sells will be accessible too.

The company also talked about special bundles for education, and while HTC does not expect hardware bundles for educational institutions in the short term, it didn't rule it out as a long term possibility. The Viveport team was also quick to talk about the ways in which the headset can be used for education, and not just for gaming.

"There's an app called Lifeliqe, where, it can transport - not just the students, but also their teacher, into the past," an executive explained, "and they can see for example the dinosaurs, so it's like Jurassic Park, and the teacher can explain things and educate the class in this really immersive environment."

Viveport will feature a wide range of VR experiences across education, design, art, social, video, music, sports, health, fashion, travel, news, shopping, creativity tools, and more. There will be a mix of paid and free content, and support for options such as in-app purchases and subscriptions as well, so it should be a full-fledged app store from its launch later this year.

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OnePlus Loop VR headset sold out in less than 1 minute

The OnePlus Loop VR headset, developed with Ant VR for people to experience the launch of the OnePlus 3 in a virtual space station sold out in less than 1 minute on Amazon India today. The sale started today at 12 PM and was sold out before the clock hit 12:01 PM. This headset was being offered free (almost) with the shipping cost being Rs 1.

The sale was limited to the Amazon App and the anticipation for the latest flagship from OnePlus, the OnePlus 3 can only be guessed by the speed at which the VR headsets sold out (along with the waitlist being full). We tried purchasing the OnePlus Loop VR headset via the the waitlist at 12:15 but could not get hold of one out here as well. There are no official numbers available at the moment, but we do know that there were a total of 30,000 headsets available worldwide. So it is safe to say that the number must have been more than a thousand.

The second batch of free OnePlus VR headsets will sold on 7 June, 2016 at 12PM. Head to this link to register yourself if you have not registered already. The sale will only be available for registered users. The VR headset boasts 100-degree field of view along with a Orthoscopic Lens and compatibility for most phones with display sizes between 5 to 6 inches. The headset only weighs about 366 grams, minimizing any problems for the user in terms of the weight.

This comes right after the OnePlus VR Launch App was rolled out along with the announcement that the OnePlus 3 will be available invite-free right from the launch.

ZTE Axon 7 With 5.5-Inch Display, 4GB RAM Launched; $450 alternative to other flagships

Last year, ZTE surprised us with the Axon, an all-metal Android phone with surprisingly high-end specs for just $450. But while it was a noble attempt at an affordable flagship, we had issues with its slightly chunky design and lack of storage. Enter the Axon 7, ZTE's follow-up that once again aims to take on much more expensive Android phones. The device has been made available for pre-orders in the Chinese market, and will be available for purchase online and retail stores on June 2. The smartphone should make its way to US stores soon as well, like the previous generation.

The Axon 7 is available in three variants - Basic, Standard, and Premium. The Basic variant is priced at CNY 2,899(roughly Rs. 29,600), the Standard at CNY 3,299 (roughly Rs.33,800), and Premium at CNY 4,099 (roughly Rs. 42,000). The Premium variant comes with a Force Touch pressure sensitive display.

Coming to the specs, the ZTE Axon 7 dons an aluminium unibody, and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MiFavor UI 4.0 on top. It supports hybrid dual-SIM, and features a 5.5-inch QHD Super Amoled display. It is powered by the 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (MSM8996) quad-core SoC with Adreno 530 GPU and 4GB RAM.

On the camera front, the ZTE Axon 7 has a 20-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash, f/1.8 aperture, and OIS+ EIS+ PDAF. It captures 4K video at 30fps, and slow motion is captured at 720p at 240fps/480p at 300fps. The selfie camera is at 8-megapixel. Onboard, there is 64GB of inbuilt storage, which can be extended via microSD card (up to 128GB).

It packs a 3140mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0. The company claims that the battery can last up to 16 hours of talktime, and 360 hours of standby time. The Quick Charge feature can recharge the Axon 7 up to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. Connectivity options include USB Type-C port, NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 4G LTE. The fingerprint sensor is at the back of the smartphone.

ZTE is betting big on the audio output of the Axon 7. It houses dual speakers, M-Base support material, and claims to bring high fidelity sound performance. ZTE has even made renowned pianist Lang Lang as the brand ambassador of its Axon series.

The company announced that the Axon 7 will receive the Android N update, when it arrives later in the year, and will support Google's DayDream VR. Alongside the Axon 7, the company even unveiled the ZTE VR headset, but said little about the availability and tech details. The headset is priced at CNY 518 (roughly Rs. 5,300).

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