You might have an issue with this if your cellular data plan doesn’t allow tethering. Note that you don’t need to turn on your cellular data for the streaming applications to see your phone. Tethering is enabled by turning on a switch in Android’s network settings while the phone is plugged into your PC. The first step is to enable USB tethering on your Android phone. You can find the Fiit VR for around $25 on Amazon, but if you look around you might be able to beat that and get a free Bluetooth controller as well.

Phones from 4-to-6 inches should fit inside, but remember that bigger phones will fill out the visor’s 102 degree FOV better, and screens with more pixels will give you more detail. My visor is usually called Fiit VR, but the same model goes by a lot of different brand names. Visor Fiit VR is surprisingly workable for around $25.įor a proper PC VR experience, you’ll want to sidestep official Google Cardboard visors in order to get one with a head strap. While iPhone supports Google Cardboard, it won’t work since these streaming applications aren’t available for it. For best results, it should also support USB tethering for optimal streaming performance. You’ll also want a modern Android phone with an HD screen, gyroscope and Android 5.0 or above. If you can prevent your PC from rendering the extra frames, do so. There are several small performance advantages to this set up too for instance, Android is limited to 60 FPS which makes streaming the usual 90 FPS benchmark for Oculus and Vive overkill. You’ll still need a powerful computer with a modern GPU to get VR applications running, but since this is a budget guide, it won’t hurt to test it with your current rig.

It’s not perfect, but it is elegant and scalable. Luckily, there’s a solution that won’t break the bank: streaming you PC output to a Google Cardboard-compatible Android application.

Google Cardboard is cost-effective, but it’s limited by what the phone itself is capable of rendering. As high-end VR headsets amass more and more killer applications, enthusiasts on a budget have been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a more affordable solution.

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