Hands On With The Homido VR Headset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this moment, there are two distinct ways to go with Virtual Reality.

The first, the PC connected, Oculus Rift, Sony Morpheus or HTC Vive. These are all expensive, high-end VR. That’s not bad but none of them are available in any form except as developer’s kit. These kits are designed for programmers to sue to create games and apps. I would also add that they are designed, primarily, for gameplay. They can do home theater immersive video but the feature set is pretty far above that type of use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other group is lead by the Homido VR Headset, Samsung Gear VR Headset and Google Cardboard.

Google Cardboard is an extremely low or even no cost device that will get the job done, albeit without the head strap and frills. It is, in its essence, a fold up cardboard headset with inexpensive plastic lenses.

That leads us to the Homido and the Samsung entries. Since Homido was kind enough to send me one, let’s take a good immersive look at it. I tested the device using both my iPhone 5S and 6 and a Samsung Android phone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The starting point, price. At a retail price of $99, the Homido is the same price as the Samsung Gear. So since the value point has been established there, it is a reasonable price. But the good news is that you can find them here for only $79.99, which easily makes it a winner over the Samsung Gear.

Next, the build quality is extreme good. it is a robust plastic frame that has already withstood the bumps and bangs from my kids testing the latest VR games on it. The mobile phone holder is strong and had no trouble holding up to the heat stress of the long use times with the mobile device.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a Field of View (FOV) of up to 110 degrees, the Homido gives you a fantastic viewing angle. Things like the Hot Air Balloon Ride with Wingsuit or the RollerCoaster at Seoul Grand Park gave you and excellent natural all around feeling. This FOV is so much better than Google Cardboard.

The lenses are much higher quality than the Google Cardboard lens, as well they should be. this gives you a noticeably cleaner video image all the way to the edge with any smartphone that you use. Below is a list from the Homido site that outline the phones tested and the specs that you need for good playback of the videos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Phone Holder is made to generically fit quite a few models of phones and there may be some who have to fiddle with placing it just right in the center of the Homido VR Headset. In general, I like the design and it is strong enough to withstand some extra test pulling that I put it through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Homido VR Headset is great, but the heart of the system is the free Homido Center and Homido Player apps that you should use.

The Homido Center has two versions, the iOS, for the iPhone and the Android compatible on the Google Play Store. I did not see two versions which make them well designed. The purpose of this app is to guide you through the ever growing list of VR apps and games and videos that are out there. Along with the apps and games, there is a nice section that leads to 360 Pics, and videos, as well as 3D pics and videos. Oh yes, VR and 3D are really brothers. Any 3D video on YouTube looks fantastic with your Homido VR Headset as a very personal 3D Home Theater. Click here and here for a playlist of 3D videos that you can sample.

The Homido Player is your, ‘go to’ app for playing 360 VR videos. Almost any video player will let you view videos, and you can use iTunes, i3D Steriod, Stream PC Games (on your Android), Playstation or the Seene app as a viewer. You can even use Google Street View and the Cardboard app, but the Homido Player gives you an eye tracking crosshair to use to play and pause, and to adjust the sound and the FOV. In my opinion, this makes it the best player for the job.  There is one slight advantage to using an Android device, the ability to use the Homido Bluetooth Gamepad.

Put it all together and you have the best VR Headset of it’s kind on the market. A total winner, in my book.

We will be testing the Homido Mini VR Headset very soon, keep watching for that review. Also keep watching for our new feature, You Daily VR Fix, featuring the best VR videos available online.