> I'm pretty bearish on it being the next 3d TV's

I'm actually pretty bullish on that, considering 3D TVs fizzled out pretty quickly.

Edit because I think I wasn't clear: I think setting the bar for VR as what 3D TVs accomplished is very pessimistic. VR seems vastly more promising, both moreso than 3D TVs did at their peak, and also on their own right as a very interesting and wide open medium.

I'm inclined to agree, simply because everyone I've seen review this recent iteration of VR has great things to say about it. I don't recall hearing many positive things about 3D.

Well 3DTVs looked really good, they just also hurt your eyes and you had to wear glasses, so people weren't willing to make that tradeoff. Those concerns are pretty consistent with VR's current iteration.

Could I get a little context with the VR metaphor? Perhaps my interpretation is a little off, but would you not be bearish on VR, and bullish on the concept of it being the next 3D TV?

Sorry if that was too vague. VR is an interesting technology but I am very skeptical of it gaining wide spread adoption. That is why I don't think it should be considered a defining feature of a phone.

I agree, personally I think VR has interesting applications in gaming and other areas that we haven't seen yet. But you're never going to get my mom to spend money on VR.

While most people here will probably disagree, I believe that Microsoft's approach, that is, with AR, will be more successful. Virtual Reality has yet to prove that it can be useful in areas other gaming.

Augmented Reality has plenty of use cases - in more areas than the consumer space. For example, the demo that Microsoft showed off yesterday with testing out how furniture looks before you buy it could be huge. Or how about an app that has you stand in front of a mirror and try on clothes - online?

AR is life++; VR is reinventing life. The former will almost inevitably come easier and find more success, at least initially.

With AR, you don't have any of the motion-sickness issues either. And you can move your eyes more naturally instead of swinging your head around.

>you're never going to get my mom to spend money on VR

We'll see how personal they can make Play With Your Grand-Kids on the Other Side of the Country™, before I make that call.

The younger generations may one day enjoy Walk Around your Grandparents' House, Decorated for Christmas, from When You Were Eight Years Old

I've got no interest in VR that costs any serious amount of money, but hell, I'd go buy a VR headset and high-end video card tonight if it could offer me that. Maybe they'll come up with a way to stitch it together from old Polaroids.

Yep. But the same can be said for a lot of tech that eventually trickles down to the mainstream. Video teleconferencing was once the domain of enterprise and higher education but now your mom does video calls on Facebook or Hangouts or Skype when she wants to see the grandkids (maybe not your mom but lots of moms)

I actually think VR telepresence is a lot more intriguing to me than just playing cooler looking video games. I mean...the game stuff is the easiest thing to do first because you've already got established frameworks in place for the creation and rendering of complex 3d environments. But when you start getting into depth cams or light field cams combines with more advanced and ergonomic display hardware and high speed networks, you're moving toward having the pieces in place to allow people to virtually be someplace else and communicate with others in a way a webcam can't replicate.

Definitely interested to see how that field looks in 10-15 years.

There is an episode of The X-Files where Mulder teleconferences with the lone gunman and they make a whole huge deal about the amazing high-tech capabilities they are using to project their voice/image in to the specially set up conference room.

The way the writers even notice the technology compared to it's transparency/ubiquity today is quaint.

Totally. Maybe it's the Canadian in me, but put a fancy camera above the goalie net and I will pay to be transported there during a game.

My mom would never buy lots of stuff that has succeeded spectacularly. She'd never buy video games in general. I don't think this "mom metric" is very useful or meaningful.

That's a good point. But when talking about cell phone sales, the mom metric is pretty big.