Samsung Gear VR headset hands on: Eerie and cool at the same time

Virtual reality headsets seem to be the next big technological leap that all major companies are concentrating on, be it Facebook, Apple or Samsung, etc.Facebook, in fact now owns Oculus VR, which has been the leading company in creating 3D virtual reality technology and which also designed the Oculus Rift headset. More recently it has been reported that Apple is working on its own virtual reality gear headset, which would also allow the iPhone to be used as a display.With news of the Apple patent, the comparisons between the Samsung Gear VR headset (which Samsung developed with Oculus and that uses the Note 4 phablet as a display) and the potential future Apple headset are being discussed.So what's it like to actually wear a virtual reality headset? At the recently concluded Samsung Forum in Bangkok, we had a chance to try out the Samsung Gear VR headset. The one we tried out already had the Note 4 phablet fitted into the headset, and this is what is used as the display by the googles. To check out how you fit the Note 4 into the VR headset check out this GIF by Gizmodo.For starters, it's quite a bulky headset, but then this is likely to be an issue for very tiny people. The good thing is that Gear VR is wireless, so that makes up for the size. Although you've strapped the VR headset on, you'll also need the headphones separately to listen to sound.So how do you check out content? Thankfully you're not transported into the virtual reality zone as soon as you put on the Gear VR, which is a good thing, because that would be a bit of a system shock. On the right hand side of the outer body of Gear VR, there's a little tapping mechanism. Once you put on the headset, a menu opens up, giving you  various options, such as looking at videos, games, 360 photos, and more. You need to then keep tapping on the mechanism to choose what you want to see.For starters, I went with a video which showed an underwater scene with a huge whale swimming about along with tiny fishes. It's kind of like watching a 3D film, except that you're in the middle of the 3D film and you might feel a little dazed as to how you got there in the first place.[caption id="attachment_255215" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

Samsung Gear VR headset. Tech2[/caption]The other thing we looked at were the 360 degree photos. It wasn't easy tapping back and forth to get out of video and into the next mode. Of course once you get the hang of this, it's fairly easy to operate the headset.The Gear VR headset had a number of pictures pre-loaded with the photos either being mountain scenery or the night sky. The mountain scenery picture was actually quite stunning because just like the 3D film,  you find yourself in the middle of the whole scene. Looking left right or centre, all you can see is the scene that the Gear VR headset was projecting, which feels both eerie and cool at the same time. Eerie because somewhere in the back of your head you know this isn't real, and yet it's still there for you to see and experience.Personally, this virtual reality experience was just about enough to make me a feel a little dizzy and I decide to get out of the Gear VR headset before I ended up on the floor. Would I try something like this again? Sure, if the device isn't so bulky, which is probably going to take a couple of years before that happens.It's definitely an experience worth remembering, but it's unlikely that those who don't swear by technology will be lining up to experience something like on a regular basis.Of course Samsung's Gear VR Headset isn't the only device of its kind that has been talked about this year.  Early in January, in a surprise move Microsoft showcased also leaped into Virtual Reality by introducing the HoloLens Headset and Windows HoloLens.Although Microsoft' product is far from finished it aims to blend the digital with real and relies on holograms to transform digital content (a say a picture or a graph or a game) into real, physical objects in the room with which users can physically interact.  Then there's Google's Cardboard which is far more simple and inexpensive. It lets users turn cardboard into a virtual reality headset by just putting in a smartphone and then using the enabled apps.As early 2015 has shown, virtual reality goggles and headsets are no longer the talk of science-fiction and futuristic technology. They are here to stay and it is evident that this could be the next level of revolution in technology in the coming years and obviously no major tech company wants to be left behind.Disclaimer: Firstpost was at the Samsung forum in Bangkok courtesy of the company