Google Cardboard: The Weirdest Thing At Google I/O 2014

Each year at I/O, Google gives all of the developers in the audience a gift. Some years it’s a tablet while some years, it’s a laptop. But this year at I/O, Google, along with some other stuffs, has given the attendees as well as developers a piece of cardboard! Who would have thought that Google would give the attendees such a weirdest gift?


Cardboard

Google Cardboard is an app that lets Android users transform their phones into Virtual Reality (VR) headsets with the help of a DIY cardboard viewer. The Cardboard app lets users watch YouTube, virtually carouse on Google Street View or virtually scale the Himalayas with Google Earth, among other immersive demos. But first, people have to put their cardboard viewer together.

Cardboard By Google

The Cardboard kit contains corrugated cardboard, some lenses, magnets, two strips of velcro and a rubber band. Google has provided directions to put together the viewer.

Cardboard - 4
Cardboard - 1
Cardboard - 2
Cardboard - 3
Cardboard - 6
People Experimenting Cardboard

The reason why Google gave audiences such weirdest gift is that it wants developers to combine Cardboard with its experimental VR Toolkit to build immersive virtual experiences.

Cardboard
Cardboard

However, as the VR Toolkit is experimental, it won’t get the same level of quality and support that Google offers to other Android SDKs and libraries. On the other hand, Google has warned that the toolkit’s contents may change or break without warning. But still, this is a fun way for developers to look at experimenting with VR.

Source: Cardboard
Courtesy: Mashable

[ttjad keyword=”android-phone”]

Anatol

Anatol Rahman is the Editor at TheTechJournal. He loves complicated machineries, and crazy about robot and space. He likes cycling. Before joining TheTechJournal team, he worked in the telemarketing industry. You can catch him on Google+.

Leave a Reply