![]() ![]() That’s where the Google Cardboard compatibility may be an asset: other developers may produce fun, engaging (and, yes, educational) Cardboard apps aimed at children, with more movement and gameplay. View-Masters’ three launch apps may do a good job of selling parents on the headset’s merits for education, but they could up the fun quota a bit for the kids who’ll actually be using them. They also said they wanted to play games rather than just look at scenes and information, once the initial thrill of VR had worn off. Destinations was less impressive: as much a problem of expectations as anything, as my children didn’t really understand why they couldn’t roam freely around the landmarks. The space app is good too, with its planets and constellations perfect for 360-degree viewing. My two sons found the National Geographic-branded Wildlife pack the most engaging, as they peered around the environments spotting animals and watching video clips of them. Parents may feel their smartphones are safer with the sturdy plastic headset than a Cardboard device. Navigating around the apps is handled by looking at floating icons, and pressing the headset’s lever to select them. Using the apps is simple: you launch them on the smartphone, and if you own the experience pack, scan a supplied pass-card to prove it, then point the viewer at one of the reels to begin. There’s a list of supported handsets, but the headset should work with any iPhone or Android smartphone with a screen up to six inches – my Nexus 5x and iPhone 6 Plus both clipped in without a problem. The View-Master headset feels sturdy, with its snappy lock providing confidence even if your child gets over-excited by a virtual crocodile or gas-giant planet and drops the device. Parents should bear in mind that not every Cardboard app is aimed at children, so check their descriptions before downloading. ![]() That means it can be used to run any Google Cardboard app too: Google has a list of a few good ones on its website, as well as a dedicated category on its Android app store. The View-Master headset is a plastic device, but it’s fully compatible with the Google Cardboard VR standards. On iOS, they cost £10.99 each, while on Android they cost £11.70 – likely to factor in the 30% cut of purchases taken by Apple and Google. To use the full apps, you’ll either need to buy their boxed “experience packs” which cost £7.99 each, or pay to unlock them digitally with an in-app purchase. Your smartphone clips in to the View-Master headset. And Space offers up the solar system, spaceships and constellation maps to nose around. Wildlife puts kids in the middle of the Australian outback, the African savannah and the Amazon jungle to investigate the local animals. These can be downloaded for free from Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play store, and run on your smartphone – which clips inside the headset to act as its screen.ĭestinations offers a series of famous landmarks to gaze at in 360 degrees, including the Statue of Liberty, the Tower of London and the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza. The View-Master Virtual Reality Starter Pack costs £22.99, which includes the headset and a “preview reel” – a plastic disc modelled on the original reels, which is used to launch the content – for the three launch apps: Destinations, Space and Wildlife. It’s a revival of the stereoscopic photo-scrolling toy, except with VR and apps rather than circular cardboard reels. Newly-available in the UK, the device sports a brand that should be familiar to many parents: View-Master. ![]()
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