So we got our hands on the Freefly Mobile VR Headset!
Shout out to Tom for getting us our first gear!
I'm not going to do the whole unpacking thing and all that. What I will do is give you good feedback on the experience and link you to where to buy it at a reasonable price. We don't make money off that YET! So, donations are welcome...once I get a donation button up.
So, right, the Freefly Mobile VR Headset we got also includes the GLIDE Wirelesss Bluetooth Controller for Android Phones. The first and most important thing is that you should not believe the hype. Unfortunately, this Bluetooth controller does PAIR with the iPhone but does not function with it for any of the games we tested. This, by the way, was no small amount of games. The disappointment was monumental, to say the least. With that said, the controller held it's own once paired to a Samsung S6 and has brought great joy to our Gunjack sessions. More on that later...and later again.
The Freefly Mobile VR Headset itself attempts to be flexible yet sturdy and accomplishes it well. In a world of piece of crap plastic electronics they went the extra mile. As soon as we opened the box it was clear they were thinking. The headset comes in it's own case. It's as much a dust cover as anything else. I won't be repurposing this as an ammo bag any time soon but it's a nice touch. Opening it the impression of quality really is unavoidable. Carved foam cradles the headset alongside the Glide Conroller right in there next to it. It is the best we've seen so far and we've unboxed more than VR headset, that's for sure.
Removing the headset from the case you can feel, again, that there is a reasonable level of quality to the device. The straps and connectors are tough. It FEELS like a good piece of equipment. Unfortunately...it's a bit of a Frankenstein's monster. You can't help but immediately notice the...nobs. So many nobs. 2, 4, 6...six nobs in odd places, sticking out and looking all...nob-ish. But oh well, it feels good, let's give it the benefit of some doubt.
There is a fairly sturdy spring based mechanism that secures the lid shut I had to find first. Disengaging it by pulling allows the face side of the headset to swing away revealing a nicely padded area where the phone will go inside the headset. At this point it became clear what 4 of those nobs were for! Once open like a book it was obvious that each corner of the phone was about to be secured with almost an inch of padding! Those nobs allowed for adjustment based on the size of the phone and location of ports. It was completely intuitive. Insert phone and push the wing like support structures inward. A series of swift clicks and the wings pinch the phone securely into the center of the area. Voila!
Once secured the phone is fairly well centered and you see how the neon red lines are meant to horizontally and vertically center the phone. Most games will have a line down the middle of the screen that aids to this process. Don't stress over it too much but give it a go.
With the phone secured and centered you can't close the lid. Now is the time to check the controller and pick a game.
The GLIDE controller does not work with the iPhone. No bluetooth controllers seem to work with the iPhone. This leaves us to test games that make use of the head position sensor and accelerometers the phone provides. Our favorite at this point is Proton Pulse. It's the Gunjack of the iPhone VR world right now. Simple but addicting, kind of pretty that way we love our VR to be Tron-like pretty, and very fun.
Simply put, excellent. The iPhone holds up to the requirements of the game without issue and, once in the game, the headset feels as good almost as good as the Gear VR.
At this point we face the facts, Samsung has done a GREAT job with the Gear VR. It is the standard by which all others are judged right now and we will NOT stop talking about that. (Apple? Today? Any time soon?)
With that said, however, I won't dwell. Proton Pulse on the iPhone 6s with the Freefly VR is excellent. It took about 25-30 minutes to feel the eye strain win over the entertainment value. Taking the headset off felt like a physical relief from the intensity of the game. Just excellent.
So the first true con: the thumbscrews are a bit small. They are fine if you aren't swapping out phones on the regular but, if you are, these could be cumbersome. I could see issues over time. Oh, and those extra 2 nobs? They actually slide the phone left or right in relation to the goggles. Not necessary for our purposes.
The lack of any controls or buttons is tough. It really reduces this, and in turn most other headsets, to the relatively low tech world of Google Cardboard. When using it with the Android this can be overcome with the Glide VR controller and this is a wonderful thing. Again, on the iPhone that is not the case.
So there you have it. The Freefly Mobile VR Headset and the Glide Wireless Bluetooth controller. If you have an iPhone this is as good as it gets. If you have an Android it's almost as good as Samsung. If you have a Samsung, get the Gear VR.
