The portable sibling to Oculus Rift doesn’t require a phone or PC, and will come in at a cheaper price.
The Oculus Go standalone virtual reality (VR) headset will launch at Facebook’s F8 developer conference in early May, according to a new report.
Variety has the word from several sources familiar with the social network’s plans that the Oculus Go launch is slated for May 1, the first day of F8.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives always kick off the conference with an announcement-packed keynote, so revealing the Oculus Go release date (and possibly putting it on sale that day) would make sense.
Facebook unveiled its take on standalone VR – or a headset that doesn’t require a phone or PC to operate – during the Oculus Connect 4 conference in October 2017.
At the time, the Oculus Go price was announced at $199 (about £150, AU$255). As for its release date, Facebook said it would launch to consumers in ‘early 2018.’ May is certainly stretching it.
No wires means more movement
Since then, there hasn’t been much word on Oculus Go (it wasn’t available to try out during Oculus Connect 4). But a big leak from February showed off some polished packaging, suggesting the retail version of the device is nearly ready, if not already complete.
The box also revealed at least one version of the headset will have 32GB of storage, plus support for over 1,000 apps, games and movies. Supported apps include Netflix, Hulu and Facebook.
Some rumors point to a more expensive version of the Oculus Go with more storage also being available, according to Variety.
As an all-in-one headset, the Oculus Go is portable and unencumbered by the tether holding back its older brother, the Oculus Rift .
Oculus Go won’t be as powerful or immersive a device as Rift, though you will get to play the same apps and experiences as the Samsung Gear VR since the two are built on the same platform.
We’ll bring you all the latest on Oculus Go from F8, so stay tuned. Oculus Rift competitor: it’s our HTC Vive review
