Gear VR, Samsung’s Virtual Reality headset that it developed with Oculus Rift has been pretty popular. It came shortly after Google introduced Cardboard at Google I/O last year. Since then we’ve seen a number of competitors announcing virtual reality headsets, with the latest being HTC’s RE Vive. The Gear VR launched last fall alongside the Galaxy Note 4 and Note 4 Edge. Surprisingly, the Gear VR did not work with the Exynos Galaxy Note 4 model. But it did work with the Snapdragon 805 powered Galaxy Note 4. Pretty interesting considering they launched together, and Exynos is Samsung’s own processor that’s built for their products, although they do sell them to other manufacturers like Meizu and Xiaomi.
However with the Android 5.0 Lollipop update, Samsung has restored the functionality to use Gear VR. At least, this is according to Sammobile’s insider. We don’t have any concrete proof that it works with Android 5.0. However, it would make the most sense, as that’s really the first update that the Galaxy Note 4 would be getting. The Lollipop update should be beginning to roll out pretty soon to the Exynos model of the Galaxy Note 4. At least we hope to see it soon.
The Gear VR is mostly available over here in the US and Europe, where the Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset reigns supreme, mainly due to the LTE networks in these countries. However, the Gear VR is available in South Korea and other countries where it uses the Exynos model. So it’s a bit puzzling as to why Samsung didn’t fix this before selling it, as it’s a limitation that would keep more Gear VR’s on the shelf instead of with customers.
This is a pretty good sign that Samsung is getting ready to expand availability of the Gear VR to more markets. The Exynos Galaxy Note 4 in South Korea has gotten the update to Lollipop already. So we’re just waiting on technical certification for other regions to get the update, and added compatibility with Gear VR. Currently, Gear VR is going for about $200 at places like Best Buy. So if you’re really interested in picking one up, you can do so from this link.