Oculus Go – Headset Review

Launched at the end of May 2018 the Oculus Go is Facebook’s first foray into the ‘standalone’ VR headset market.  The launch was surrounded by much hype within the tech industry and the hope is that this will now transfer to mainstream media and kickstart the mass-adoption of virtual reality technology.

At the recent O5 Oculus annual conference, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed his mission to get 1 billion people into VR.  He also openly admitted that their research is suggesting they are about 1% of the way along that journey.  However, the work Facebook is doing to achieve the mission is nothing short of outstanding and the announcement that they are launching another headset to the Oculus family in March 2018, the Oculus Quest, only confirms their ambition.

But for now, let’s focus on what’s already available.

What’s in the box?

Inside the box you’ll find the headset, wand controller (including battery), optics wipe, charging cable and the setup instructions.  The setup process involves the use of your mobile phone which requires you to download the Oculus app from the App or Google Play stores.  Once downloaded you simply have to enable Bluetooth and follow the on-screen prompts.  Depending on how long your Oculus device has been sitting on the shelves it may also be necessary to download some software updates/patches.

The feel and build quality of the device is greater than you’d expect for the price.  We felt the unboxing experience was reminiscent of any Apple device and that can only be a good thing.

Price

The Oculus Go is available with two memory options, the 32GB model is priced at US$199/£199 and the 64GB option comes in at US$249/£249.

Immersion

The Oculus Go provides a great initial experience to a VR-newbie, especially considering the price point when compared to the Rift (review here).   Its optics are very clear and the standard interface, Oculus Home is very easy to use and navigate around.  Everything you’d expect is there including your Media Library (which you can connect to an external source), Browser and App Store.

The Go launched with a good deal of Apps ready to go, thanks largely to existing Rift developers that were able to port their software to the new device relatively easily.  A majority of the games and apps also have ‘Free’ variations and of those we tried one of the best was ‘Unforgiven’, a wild west dual game which makes great use of the single controller.

What you must appreciate with the Go is that you’re not going to get full head-tracking, as in the ability to stand-up and walk around in a virtual space, as you can with the higher-end Oculus Rift and Vive.  The Go supports 3 degrees-of-freedom (DOF), whilst the other devices mentioned support 6 DOF.  However, the Oculus Quest is expected to support 6 DOF and will launch at an increased price US$399/£399.  With that you’ll also get a pair of Oculus Touch controllers that will greatly increase any VR experience.

Comfort

For those users wishing to immerse themselves in virtual reality for long periods of time comfort is obviously of key importance.  Factors that can influence this greatly include the weight of the headset, the supporting straps and any fogging that may occur due to heat and moisture build up near the lenses.

With the Go we found the headset to be very comfortable in all of these respects, with the ability to watch entire films in the Netflix app without really thinking too much about it.  The only thing to be conscious of is the battery life, which averages around 2.5/3 hours for normal use.

Summary

The Oculus Go is the perfect entry-level VR device.  Quick, easy setup and a good selection of applications & games that can all be installed via the Oculus app on a mobile device or within VR itself makes it very easy to get up & running.   And the price point, even for the higher-spec memory option we felt demonstrated exceptional value for money.  The only negative our team has reported is the battery life and occasional ‘connection’ issue between the controller and the headset.  However, the latter was solved after a quick Google of the issue and a funky key press combination to re-set the connection.

For those of you looking for a competitively-priced, low-fuss VR experience the Oculus Go should definitely be on your Xmas ’18 Christmas list.