#HTE

The Design Winner Among Google’s New Products: The Daydream View

For jaded designers and/or consumers, it’s tough to get excited over Google’s new products, as they’re all derivative of existing offerings. There are some incremental improvements: The Pixel phone can reportedly gain 7 hours worth of battery life off of a measly 15-minute charge, for instance. But taking a close look at the Daydream View VR goggles reveals true innovation.

First off, VR goggles are a weird thing to have strapped to the front of your face. The designers have recognized this and tried to make it less weird, and from afar at least, it appears to me that they’ve succeeded. For instance, no one wants to wear a bulky metal or plastic thing on their face, and the designers have intelligently opted to build the thing out of fabric. Seven different types of foam with varying densities are laminated within the fabric, providing rigidity where needed. The fabric itself is a breathable microfiber. The materials choice means that it weighs 30% less than “similar devices"—we’re assuming Oculus Rift—and is touted as being comfortable to wear.

The user drops a new Google phone into the front, and it latches in with a simple bungie-style loop, rather than a latch that can break. Trolls will complain that the Daydream View is only compatible with new Google phones, but that’s the company’s right, and as we mentioned in the last post, it’s all about the ecosystem.

The goggles are nearly technology-free, with the only piece of tech within them being an NFC chip that automatically recognizes and pairs with your phone upon insertion.

Another nice touch is the storage place for the included remote, which I imagine is the first thing I’d lose. The designers have created a space for it to nest inside the goggles themselves, held in place by elastic, when not in use.

So, that’s the physical design, which it appears (again, from afar, I haven’t tried these on) that they’ve nailed. At an affordable $79, too. Now we’ll see if they have also gotten the ecosystem part correct, and will have enough compelling apps ready for it by the November release.