Samsung Gear VR review

Samsung Gear VR (2016) review

There's a new Samsung Gear VR in town. If you're keeping count, this is now the fourth iteration of the Korean company's Oculus-powered VR headset.

Revealed alongside the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, the latest Gear VR is the same price as its predecessor – that's $99. In short, though, this is an extremely similar headset to last year's consumer Gear VR.

Price when reviewed:$99

It's wireless, using your phone to power the VR, comfortable to wear, easy to set up and now has an even larger library of – free and affordable – apps, games and videos to try in VR.

In this review we'll let you know our experiences with the differences and additions in the new model, rather than rehash our original Gear VR review.

Reviewer's note: On account of the Note 7's current exploding problem, we largely tested the new Gear VR with a Galaxy S6 Edge, which is obviously not the best resolution you can get.

Samsung Gear VR (2016): Design tweaks

Side by side, the new Gear VR looks almost identical to last year's headset. But there are some noticeable differences – the most important of which in our book is the fact that there's more room inside the headset and some new vents on the side.

This means we haven't experienced any lens fog so far with the Gear VR (2016), which was one of our main bugbears with the original. Samsung also says it has made it more comfortable and it might be ever so slightly nicer on-face, but the first one was fine so this is pretty minor.

It's now an all-black plastic affair and there's a new Oculus Home button next to 'Back' above the trackpad which takes some getting used to, if you've been using the old model and assume there's only one button you can press. But once you're used to it, it's super handy. The trackpad is back to smooth, doing away with the experiment with arrow-like indents. As ever, we'd recommend grabbing a Bluetooth gamepad to use with the headset.

Unlike before, the fascia seems designed to only be put in place when there's no phone slotted into the headset. Not that you'd notice but there's also now a thin strip of plastic in between the two lenses on the side of your phone display. The straps are pretty much identical and easy to adjust and the focus wheel remains on top.

One more thing – the Gear VR does feel ever so slightly heavier than the first and it's also bigger, particularly wider in front to accommodate Samsung's larger Galaxy phones. Neither of these are noticeable enough to be a mark on the Gear VR's score though.

Samsung Gear VR (2016): VR experience

The actual visual experience of using a Gear VR will depend on which smartphone you use, with Samsung, of course, nudging you towards the big and sharp Note 7 screen.

But there are some improvements to the actual headset no matter which phone you've got – specifically Samsung has widened the viewing angle to 101 degrees (from 96 degrees) and darkened the colour tint to reduce glare and reflections.

The new field of view is a welcome addition – it puts the Gear VR on a par with the Vive and Rift for this spec at least. But while this and the tint help with the immersion, it's not a real step up. And frankly, it doesn't need to be. This isn't a perfect picture, this is mobile VR and with these small upgrades Samsung still has the best mobile VR headset around.

Samsung Gear VR (2016): USB-C friendly

Another big new feature the Gear VR (2016) packs is a USB Type-C adaptor so in theory you can plug Sammy's newest handset straight in (if you ignore the current warnings from Oculus et al not to go near it in case of explosions).

That doesn't mean that owners of S7 and S7 Edge phones are going to miss out on the improved virtual reality action. You can pop the USB-C adaptor out and swap it for a regular old Micro USB one.

It's easy enough to do, a little module just pops out in the front compartment and you can slide it along (between A and B) to account for phone size. Just don't lose the adaptors.

The full list of compatible Samsung phones are the following: Galaxy Note 7, S7, S7 Edge, Note 5, S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+.

Samsung Gear VR (2016): Which headset?

The 2016 Gear VR is – as before – well worth the extra money over a Cardboard viewer, mainly down to the app and video library. The only caveat now is that Google Daydream is about to drop and Samsung is involved, so perhaps wait until early October to make your decision.

It's the one you'll no doubt end up buying if you don't own a Samsung mobile headset already, as the first one is showing as out of stock on Samsung's site. Which essentially means Samsung is replacing its first mainstream model – and in our eyes, that's no bad thing.

If you own the first one, there's no essential reason to upgrade unless you get a USB-C phone or really want to say bye-bye to that fog issue

Samsung Galaxy S7 review

WHAT IS THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S7?

2016 is the year that Samsung finally manages to bring everything together and create the near perfect phone. The Galaxy S7 isn’t as curvy as the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, nor as S-Pen toting as the Note 7, but it’s the phone most people should buy.

There is of course competition coming from the iPhone 7, but the rumoured headphone jack lacking device hasn’t got our blood whirling just yet.

With its ace camera, curvy body, water-resistance and stripped back software; the Galaxy S7 could be the phone of the year.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 – DESIGN

After the massive, and much needed, change in design direction Samsung took with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in 2015, all rumours pointed to things staying pretty much the same for the Galaxy S7.

Well, it’s not like Apple, HTC or Sony make drastic changes to their industrial design every year.

And that’s exactly the case here. Place the Galaxy S7 next to the S6 and you’d be hard pushed to instantly pick which one is which. Frankly, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest. The S6 was already one of the best-looking phones around, and the Galaxy S7 follows suit.

Both the front and back are covered in Gorilla Glass 4, while a metal rim snakes in between. Two volume buttons sit on one side, with a lock/standby switch on the other. It’s a clean look, with the back free from any markings aside from a Samsung logo.

The camera lens now sits just about flush with the glass body too. This might seem a small change, but it makes a big difference. I can now tap out an email with the phone flat on my desk without it jumping and rocking from side to side

Galaxy S7: 5 best and 5 worst things

Galaxy S7: First 10 Things to Do!

SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 – DISPLAY

Close to perfection. That’s the best way to describe the display on Samsung’s Galaxy S7.

Not much has really changed from the outgoing S6, but this still holds up as the best screen on a smartphone.

It’s still a 5.1-inch QHD panel with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, and just like every Galaxy flagship so far, it uses Samsung’s Super AMOLED tech, rather than the more common LCD.

AMOLED displays are a lot better at showing off blacks than LCDs. Instead of looking slightly grey and washed out, the blacks here are inky deep. Some say AMOLED screens produce colours that are too oversaturated, so reds will look way brighter than they should, but that isn’t much of an issue here. And if you really prefer things toned down, there’s a picture setting for that.

Having so many pixels jammed into a relatively small space means you can’t really spot one pixel from another, and that sharpness makes everything from gaming to watching YouTube an absolute pleasure. Play a round of Alto’s Adventure or Monument Valley on this display and you’ll instantly be drawn in by the crisp details and vivid colour reproduction.

I wouldn’t normally watch a film on a screen this size, but the panel here is so gorgeous that I can’t help getting lost in it.

The one thing that has changed this time around is the addition of a new ‘Always-on’ display.

Due to the way AMOLED screens work, they don’t need to light up the whole display all of the time. They can select individual pixels and just show them, keeping everything else off. So, when the Galaxy S7 is locked it can still show the time, date and a couple of bits of other information on the screen without eating through too much battery.

It’s a nice touch, and great for quickly checking the time when the phone is resting on your desk or a bedside table. But it’s a good software update or two short of being really useful.

First off, it’ll only show notifications from a few apps – it’s currently limited to Samsung’s own Messages, Email and Phone. If you, like me, regularly use WhatsApp, Gmail and Facebook Messenger, none of these will appear. That’s a shame, and makes the notification side of things a lot less useful.

I’d also like a lot more control over the mode. There’s no setting to alter the brightness, which causes some problems when you’re in a darker room, and aside from choosing whether or not you want a calendar showing, there’s no customisation allowed.

It uses extra battery too. About 1-2% per hour, so 15% or so per day. It’s just about worth it, but it could be so much better.

My only gripe with the display on the Samsung Galaxy S7 is that, in sunny conditions, it can be quite hard to read – certainly more so than the LCD panel on the iPhone 6S. Even with the brightness jacked all the way up, you’ll have to tilt the screen or find some shade to stop yourself squinting at it.

Thankfully, unlike the Galaxy S7 Edge, it has great viewing angles and doesn’t suffer from white backgrounds getting tinged with blue.