November 26, 2018 – Virtual Desktop will be coming to Gear VR and Oculus Go this week, according to the app’s creator. Virtual Desktop is an application that allows users to view and use their computer in virtual reality. It was originally developed for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headsets, and launched on those platforms back in 2016.
Today’s announcement means that Gear VR and Oculus Go users will also be able to connect to their computers through the app, enabling them to browse the web, watch movies, and even play games on a virtual screen version of their own computer.
Virtual Desktop’s features include a 180/360 video player (which is compatible with 360 YouTube videos), positional audio, 360 photo viewing, and voice commands.
The Virtual Desktop app is built on the DirectX application programming interface (API), as opposed to Unity or Unreal Engine. Its creator, Guy Godin stated that it uses less CPU/GPU as a result, granting users a smoother experience without running into framerate issues.
Talking about the app’s visual quality in a Reddit post, Godin commented that Virtual Desktop “uses Timewarp layers to render the screen so the image quality of the desktop is better than other 3rd party apps.” And discussing the input delay of the app, he added, “The image has 20ms + network latency compared to what you see on your monitor. I wouldn’t play competitive CS:Go but it’s not bad otherwise.”
Virtual Desktop will be available to Gear VR and Oculus Go users on Thursday November 29. A PC version of the app also went on sale today to celebrate the announcement.
Video credit: Guy Godin/YouTube
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.