The monotony to watch 360 videos on the VR Gear has seen its end day. Oculus rolled out the ability for users to see and leave Facebook’s emoji reactions on 360 videos with Gear VR’s video app. So using Samsung’s virtual reality goggles, they can now see reactions from others as well float on the screen.

The company had originally advised this feature back in March when it first collaborated personalised news feed to be delivered letting Gear VR users sign into their Facebook accounts on their VR headsets. Oculus would make this feature available for 360 photos in coming weeks.

So now the whole experience of watching 360 videos is more social. The user can convey emotions over the entire experience without breaking the entire flow. This is where videos about destinations and travel experiences gain deeper roots. The social media feels more capable of responding to users’ sentiments by integrating this feature as it has a more humanly feel to it.

Since this feature is an essential integration to Facebook’s product line, this points out that the company wants the VR to embed itself into Facebook’s network.  Back in February, Facebook announced the formation of a social VR team dedicated to how people can connect and share using today’s VR technology. Although a stand-alone feature that resembles Metaverse is away, this step is a step closer to it.

Source: The Verge

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Powered by the Oculus VR software, the Samsung Gear VR virtual reality headset has been launched in India. The viewer is compatible with their new top end Galaxy devices. Internationally the viewer is sold at $99 while here it fetches a slight premium and is priced at INR 8200 (approx. $120). It will be available through Flipkart and company’s physical retail channels.

(Image: Samsung Gear VR by pestoverde/ CC BY 2.0)

With an increase in availability of VR content, travel brands are increasingly adopting this medium for driving travel inspiration. Generating VR content has of course been a major challenge but multiple tech companies are simplifying the process for creators. Earlier Marriott introduced VR postcards to offer in room virtual reality experience to its guests using Gear VR headset.

While the Google Cardboard is made of cardboard (obvious, isn’t it?), the Gear VR is fancier with high quality material used all over. It is comfortable and light (not lighter than Cardboard) and also offers more control and features. The Gear VR can be the right upgrade from a Google Cardboard.

Alongside the Gear VR, they have also launched the Gear S2 smartwatches to pick up the fight of wearables with Apple Watch. There are two variants- Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic and both of them run Samsung’s home cooked Tizen OS. (Read: Top 5 Apple Watch alternatives)

With the Gear VR available to masses in India, it will be interesting to see how soon Indian travel brands start experimenting with it.

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After Google has made lot of news with the Cardboard and related projects, Yahoo has made a move in this space and introduced a Flickr VR app for the Samsung Gear VR headset. With the kind of projects Google has been introducing for the Cardboard, Gear VR appeared to be more like a novelty. Marriott International introduced VR Postcards for its guests at some of its properties using Gear VR and there have been similar applications of the headset by travel brands but it couldn’t find much use beyond that.

Virtual reality is an amazing medium to share travel experiences and drive inspiration. With the introduction of Flickr VR app, Gear VR owners will be able to access a large number of 360 degree photos on Flickr. The image sharing platform has already got a large number of beautiful 360 degree images that can be viewed on desktop as well but the experience hardly matches that of viewing them in the headset.

Announcing this development, the blog post by Yahoo says, “Over the years, Flickr users have uploaded tens of thousands of 360° photos and today we’re offering a new way to explore and view these images. Flickr is the best platform for 360° photos because we respect the image quality of uploaded photos, and we want to be one of the best ways to access engaging virtual reality experiences.”

Earlier Google introduced support for the Google Cardboard viewer for YouTube and then also introduced Cardboard Camera so that more people create content for the VR viewer. Travel marketers can of course find lot of applications of VR technologies, especially in travel inspiration and this new additions will help with the adoption.

You can check out the Horseshoe Bend or Revontulikaari ja Linnunrata Käärmelahdesta to see what 360 photos on Flickr look like.

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