The year 2016 has been the year where we have witnessed the outbursts of a lot of virtual reality headsets such as the Sony PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Google Daydream. Although all the mentioned headsets are meant to offer a great VR experience, there are actually some differences between these various VR headgears. In this head to head comparison post, we compare one of the pioneers of VR, the Oculus Rift, against one of the newcomers, the Google Daydream.
Oculus Rift
The Oculus Rift features an OLED display with 1080×1200 pixels resolution per eye. The VR headset offers a refresh rate of 90Hz, which produces a seamless VR viewing experience to users. The headset has a pair of integrated headphones that provides a 3D audio effect, along with positional and rotational tracking.
Using Oculus Rift
Users are required to own a compatible PC to use the Oculus Rift, which means users can definitely experience PC gaming on the OR. Customers can check the recommended and minimum PC specifications requirement on the company's official website. The Rift weighs roughly 1.03 pounds and is available only in a black color option.
Owning an Oculus Rift
Owning an Oculus Rift is not cheap as it is priced at $599. This amount would include a headset, remote, sensor, cables, Xbox One controller and Lucky's Tale. Customers should also keep in mind that they also have to bear the cost of a powerful top-tier PC as well.
Google Daydream
The Google Daydream is the newest addition to the VR headset lineup available in the market. Google released their own VR product in early November and is currently compatible only with select smartphones such as the Google Pixel and the Pixel XL.
Resolution and weight
The Google Daydream offers a standard resolution of 1440x1280 per eye on the Pixel XL and 1080x960 per eye on the Pixel. Google's latest VR headset weighs about 220g, which is significantly lighter than the Rift. But that is without the phone.
Cost
But if we do the math, the Pixel XL weighs or 168 g, which means that the combined weight is still going to be lighter than the Oculus Rift. The Google Daydream costs $79, which is far less than the cost of its competitors.
