Samsung unveiled the new Gear VR headset alongside the Galaxy Note 7 yesterday. The new headset features incremental updates when compared to its predecessor but all of them contribute to providing a better user experience. Samsung has also been working to improve the web browsing experience in virtual reality. It has partnered with cloud graphics company OTOY to create a new online browsing experience for the Samsung Internet app for Gear VR.
“Today’s announcement transforms VR browsing for both people and brands, harnessing the visual fidelity of OTOY’s VR technology and the incredible quality of the Samsung Gear VR to deliver a beautiful, customized experience,” said Jules Urbach who is the founder and CEO of OTOY.
This new experience will enable users browsing the internet on Gear VR to customize their VR environment so that VR environments appear around the website or the web page. This makes for a more immersive VR experience while leaning on high-quality 360-degree stereo cubemaps rendered in OTOY's ORBX format. This improved browsing experience is available now in the latest version of the Samsung Internet app for Gear VR. It provides users with multiple VR scenes to choose from ranging from calm and composed to weird and wonderful. Branded experiences will be coming soon as Samsung and OTOY are working with partners who want to build their brand through VR browsing.