# Non-VR headset for mobile phones?



## Moyt (Sep 25, 2021)

Hi,

I don't want to do any VR gaming, but I basically want to stream the display from my Alienware m15 laptop (gtx 1060m) to my Samunsung s21 ultra phone. But I want a headset device to slot my phone in and just chill to watch movies and play games.

Hopefully I made sense. But anyways all I can see is VR headsets for sale, or is this method the only way?

Any help pointing me in the right direction would be great thanks.


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## xkm1948 (Sep 26, 2021)

Phone based VR box should be plenty to find on Aliexpress. However the experience is quite bad. It was a necessary step to get into VR when not much HMD device was available. Nowadays? I see 0 reason to not get a HMD


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## Moyt (Sep 27, 2021)

xkm1948 said:


> Phone based VR box should be plenty to find on Aliexpress. However the experience is quite bad. It was a necessary step to get into VR when not much HMD device was available. Nowadays? I see 0 reason to not get a HMD


To be fair to just even wear as a headset for normal viewing, or when I'm in bed I think would come handy. I'm suprised there's not a market for this kind of thing. Thanks for pointing me out to AE. Cheap enough over there, but a lot of mixed reviews as expected.


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## xkm1948 (Sep 27, 2021)

Moyt said:


> To be fair to just even wear as a headset for normal viewing, or when I'm in bed I think would come handy. I'm suprised there's not a market for this kind of thing. Thanks for pointing me out to AE. Cheap enough over there, but a lot of mixed reviews as expected.




You want one that has a per-calibrated model for phone VR display. It usually just hides in a QR code or something, Stuff can look shitty without proper lens calibration


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 27, 2021)

Moyt said:


> To be fair to just even wear as a headset for normal viewing, or when I'm in bed I think would come handy. I'm suprised there's not a market for this kind of thing. Thanks for pointing me out to AE. Cheap enough over there, but a lot of mixed reviews as expected.


The market died a few years back I think VR killed it I'm guessing. There used to be a few video display headsets about I can vaguely remember the advertising of "feels like a 300inch screen"


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## Moyt (Sep 27, 2021)

If we scrap the idea of VR altogether, and just being able to wear your phone as a video display headset I think is a great idea - bonus with a cinema screen size feel. But I must be the only one thinking this, hence why such a product doesn't exist 


But anyhow I've given up on the idea of even trying anything with this, seems as video headsets are dead in the water by the sounds of things.


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 27, 2021)

China still make them though the idea of wearing them makes my back ache laughing.


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## Moyt (Sep 27, 2021)

Now I definitely give up


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## Valantar (Sep 27, 2021)

Might something like the MovieMask MagiMask fit your wants?


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## elghinnarisa (Sep 27, 2021)

I mean, obviously.
Or for the sake of why not, a old Sony Glasstron? 





Magimask seems to be the closest you get, I personally just use my switch to stream games with moonlight when i feel like it, its nice and handy in one package.


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## Mindweaver (Sep 30, 2021)

I would suggest buying a used Oculus Go. Carmack just announced that oculus is releasing a open source rooted OS for the GO last week. It would be much better than a phone VR HMD.


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## Octavean (Oct 18, 2021)

Mindweaver said:


> I would suggest buying a used Oculus Go. Carmack just announced that oculus is releasing a open source rooted OS for the GO last week. It would be much better than a phone VR HMD.


Good idea.  They should be reasonably priced and IIRC the Oculus Go also supported Plex which IMO would be one of the better ways to watch your local media.



Moyt said:


> Hi,
> 
> I don't want to do any VR gaming, but I basically want to stream the display from my Alienware m15 laptop (gtx 1060m) to my Samunsung s21 ultra phone. But I want a headset device to slot my phone in and just chill to watch movies and play games.
> 
> ...


I guess it makes sense but I got a little confused when you said you didn’t want to do any VR gaming at the beginning of the paragraph but at the end said “chill to watch movies and play games”. I guess the distinction there is between ”VR gaming” and “games”.


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## Mindweaver (Oct 18, 2021)

Octavean said:


> Good idea.  They should be reasonably priced and IIRC the Oculus Go also supported Plex which IMO would be one of the better ways to watch your local media.
> 
> 
> I guess it makes sense but I got a little confused when you said you didn’t want to do any VR gaming at the beginning of the paragraph but at the end said “chill to watch movies and play games”. I guess the distinction there is between ”VR gaming” and “games”.


Yeah, I may try and pick one up if I can find one around 70 bucks. I did see a few around that price a few months ago. I'm excited to see what Oculus has to show us next week. Micro-OLED HMD's are going to be much smaller. I just hope I can afford one.. lol


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## Octavean (Oct 19, 2021)

Mindweaver said:


> Yeah, I may try and pick one up if I can find one around 70 bucks. I did see a few around that price a few months ago. I'm excited to see what Oculus has to show us next week. Micro-OLED HMD's are going to be much smaller. I just hope I can afford one.. lol


Yeah I’m sort of in a holding pattern myself.  As I’m sure you know I’ve been mulling over the notion of just buying an Oculus Quest 2 ASAP.  While I could do that it would be prudent to just wait the 9 or so days to see what FB Connect brings to the table. Although, newly announced products would likely require further waiting for release.

I just returned an Amazon purchased Smart Thermostat to Whole Foods today and received notification of full refund a few hours later.  So it’s almost like it doesn’t matter when returns are so fast and easy.  Newegg had a ~$10 gift card with the 128GB Quest 2 at the usual ~$299 MSRP.

Conversely, I could just buy a nice ultra wide gaming monitor (maybe 1440) or 4K monitor and call it a day.

However, if there is an Oculus spec bump on a new HMD it might be worth it to me to spend a little more. Maybe something like ~$399 or ~$450.


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## Mindweaver (Oct 19, 2021)

Octavean said:


> Yeah I’m sort of in a holding pattern myself.  As I’m sure you know I’ve been mulling over the notion of just buying an Oculus Quest 2 ASAP.  While I could do that it would be prudent to just wait the 9 or so days to see what FB Connect brings to the table. Although, newly announced products would likely require further waiting for release.
> 
> I just returned an Amazon purchased Smart Thermostat to Whole Foods today and received notification of full refund a few hours later.  So it’s almost like it doesn’t matter when returns are so fast and easy.  Newegg had a ~$10 gift card with the 128GB Quest 2 at the usual ~$299 MSRP.
> 
> ...


Yeah, if all you want to spend is $299 then the standard Quest 2 is still a great purchase, but like you said waiting to see won't hurt to wait 9 days. The word is that the pro version will have new optics that won't be ready until Q2 next year and the Plus version will more than likely have the same optics as the current Quest 2 model. I think the Plus version is just the one to replace the 256gb version with a new strap for $399. The new optics are the same optics that will be in the new PSVR 2 or at least that's what it sounds like because Facebook just bought a ton of new optics from the same company that Sony is using for the PSVR 2.

Also, Varjo is announcing a new HMD on the 21st. It sounds like a Consumer VR HMD. It will have to be much cheaper than their business model they announce in June for $5500. lol


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## Octavean (Oct 19, 2021)

Mindweaver said:


> Yeah, if all you want to spend is $299 then the standard Quest 2 is still a great purchase, but like you said waiting to see won't hurt to wait 9 days. The word is that the pro version will have new optics that won't be ready until Q2 next year and the Plus version will more than likely have the same optics as the current Quest 2 model. I think the Plus version is just the one to replace the 256gb version with a new strap for $399. The new optics are the same optics that will be in the new PSVR 2 or at least that's what it sounds like because Facebook just bought a ton of new optics from the same company that Sony is using for the PSVR 2.
> 
> Also, Varjo is announcing a new HMD on the 21st. It sounds like a Consumer VR HMD. It will have to be much cheaper than their business model they announce in June for $5500. lol


Interesting,…

Yeah, it’s reasonable to assume that if there are any new models announced that there won’t be immediate availability if there are significant changes.  A 500GB or larger Oculus Quest 2, for example, shouldn’t be too difficult to pinch out quickly but something like new optics is a different metric altogether.

Something like a new head strap may have some challenges but those can be overcome easily.  For example, the original Oculus Rift shipped without the controllers and instead had a remote like pointer.  Early Oculus Touch Controllers had separate packaging (bundled with an additional sensor).  So my Oculus Rift shipped with the original Rift Packaging (Xbox Controller) and the separate Touch Controllers (two boxes).   If, for example, Oculus wanted to upgrade the Quest 2 head strap, they could find a way to ship the new strap to new customers until such time as they reworked the retail packaging to include it or they could make it a two box bundle.


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