Virtual Reality has been a buzzword for a long time now, and ever since the Oculus Rift first hit Kickstarter, a brave new world for gaming and entertainment was born. Since then, the technology has come a long, long way and now it’s a lot easier to get your hands on Virtual Reality content than you might think. While the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are now available and offering great experiences, they cost more than most smartphones at their full price. Google Cardboard has perhaps been the cheapest and easiest way of getting involved with the new technology, and it’s now available from the Google Store in the US, the UK, Canada and parts of Europe including France and Germany.
While the Play Store used to sell Cardboard in the US, it’s been less easy to get your heads on a headset outside of the US, directly from Google, anyway. At £15.00 in the UK, it’s not exactly cheap, but at least you’ll know you’re getting the official product and something that should work with a wide range of devices. Elsewhere it costs $20 in Canada and €20 in France and Germany. There’s an offer on at the moment for those looking to buy two pairs at a time however, and it looks as though orders on Cardboard also include free shipping as well. This is nice to see, given how light these headsets are, but these aren’t the best sort of prices out there. There’s a massive choice available on Amazon, some that are more expensive, but offer much better experiences than Cardboard, too.
Google Cardboard was once laughed at when it was first announced at a Google I/O keynote some time ago, but since then, the amount of content that’s become available has turned Cardboard into a big deal. It might not be the best Virtual Reality experience out there, but it’s certainly one of the more affordable options, and one that will help people experience this new technology for the first time. Cardboard isn’t the greatest and it’s certainly not going to win any awards, but it’s worth checking out, especially if you’ve been curious about Cardboard for some time now.
