Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage today at the Oculus Connect developers conference
and showed off a taste of the company’s mobile VR future.
The hallmark feature of the new prototype standalone headset is positional tracking.
In a brief demo video, the headset appeared to be a modified Rift with a compute module
embedded into the back of the headset.
This positional tracking technology allows the headset to understand where it is in physical
space and adjust the onscreen content accordingly.
With 360 videos, you’re limited to a spherical view from a fixed point, but with positional
tracking enabled you can walk through an experience and see a story from every angle.
Zuckerberg said development is still incredibly early, but that it’s on the product roadmap.
Positional tracking has previously only been available on the major high-end VR headsets
including Oculus’s Rift , the HTC Vive and PS VR, but with this announcement Oculus is
closing the gap between mobile VR experiences and their high-powered counterparts.
Oculus faces increasingly stiff competition in the mobile VR headset space, particularly
from Google, which launched its Daydream View headset earlier this week.
It appears that rather than smartphone mobile VR, Oculus is looking at a standalone strategy.
There were no details given on a potential launch date but it would behoove Oculus to
get this one out quickly.