iFixit Takes Apart the Oculus Rift DK2, Finds Galaxy Note 3 Display Inside 57
An anonymous reader writes with a teardown from iFixit of the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2: "iFixit's teardown reveals lots of interesting hardware within, including 40 infrared LEDs, a well-organized motherboard, and a display panel lifted directly from a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. They also took apart the IR tracking camera for good measure."
The review is the usual iFixit blend of funny, concise and technical; they include a nice shot showing those IR sources embedded in the plastic of the frame. Why the straight-from-a-phone display? "This seems to make economical sense, since Oculus is working to ship something like 45,000 DK2s—a goodly number for a mid-development prototype, but certainly not enough to warrant a fully custom display."
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Doesn't Samsung manufacture their own displays? I'm pretty sure that if Samsung had any issues with them incorporating that display, they just wouldn't have sold it to them.
I suppose it's possible that they might actually be buying Note 3's and disassembling them. And I can see that possibly causing a problem for them. But I also can't imagine that being particularly economical.
"This is how you disassemble a Note 3 and get the display from it without breaking it. Any questions?"
"Nope."
"Good. Now do it forty
Re:Gonna get sued! (Score:5, Informative)
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I agree completely. Samsung likes to make money. Samsung sold displays to Oculus (facebook). Samsung got paid. ........Lawsuit about what?
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pay-per-image residuals.
Re:Gonna get sued! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Gonna get sued! (Score:1, Funny)
And then Apple sues Samsung because why the fuck not.
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A common part is a huge deal when the common part is the logo for the company. That's typically a counterfeit product.
Not a big surprise (Score:1)
Samsung and LG both sell their TV panels to a lot of competitors to build their own sets, it's not shocking at all to hear they do the same with their mobile screens. Anyways, it's a stellar looking screen, running a commonplace resolution (1920x1080), why wouldn't they want to use it?
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Except in this case, Oculus and Samsung aren't operating as competitors, they have a partnership for producing VR devices? Samsung is contributing hardware to Oculus, and Oculus is contributing software to Samsung.
I thought that the OR2 delivered a 1080p display (Score:2)
Re:I thought that the OR2 delivered a 1080p displa (Score:5, Interesting)
Dual screens was never in the plans for any Rift, why would it be a surprise or a disappointment? The consumer version is expected to use at least a 2560x1440 display.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yo dawg, I hear you like specs ... I 'spec the specs for your specs aren't what you'd 'spec.
Just remember, just because the marketing department says something, doesn't mean carries the same meaning as you and I would assign to it.
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It's quad HD, not 4K [lg.com]
QuadHD is 2560x1440
4K is 3840 x 2160
Ah, Marketing....
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It's not about the cost. Carmack talked about it in one QuakeCon keynote. It's much, much simpler to render two views on one screen than trying to use two physical screens.
Surprise? (Score:4, Insightful)
I thought that Oculus had always planned on using off-the-shelf cell phone displays. If they can keep the retail price under $300, they will sell a ton of units.
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That's their claim.
I've only had my DK2 for two days but it gives me motions sickness at a very similar level to my old VFX1 (when the VFX1 was hooked to computer 4x faster than any available on it's ship date, resulting in 200fps, of course going through a 60Hz LCD display).
That said about the only software working on the DK2 is one of the roller coaster demos and breakout.
Re:Surprise? (Score:4, Interesting)
Manufacturers of high quality colour LCD/AMOLED displays will laugh at you if you ask for a custom design in quantities of less than 1,000,000. Even for the final version it will be hard for them to justify signing a contract for 1 million displays up front, not being certain of sales volume. Off-the-shelf displays are pretty much their only choice.
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Do those phones use custom or off-the-shelf displays?
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Well since the space shuttle program was cancelled; demand for the Nokia phones used as heat shield tiles has become diminished. That alone accounts for probably 80% of the Lumia models sold. So, blame NASA.
Similarly MS/Nokia is actively lobbying against gun control legislation; in an attempt to maintain demand for bullet-proof vests which utilize Nokia phones as armor plates.
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Manufacturers of high quality colour LCD/AMOLED displays will laugh at you if you ask for a custom design in quantities of less than 1,000,000. Even for the final version it will be hard for them to justify signing a contract for 1 million displays up front, not being certain of sales volume. Off-the-shelf displays are pretty much their only choice.
Facebook bought Oculus Rift for $2Bil. I don't think they will have any problem coming up with enough capital to buy 1Mil displays @ wholesale.
Even if they don't sell 1Mil units; FB will laugh and take it as a write off.
Got mine 2 days ago. (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't let anybody tell you they fixed the pukeyness of VR with low persistence!
It's still up to the software not to make the user sick.
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And that's all that Oculus claims. According to them, you can implement experiences that make nobody sick with the DK2. The hardware is no longer to blame. But why would an experience that makes you sick in real life not make you sick when simulated?
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Not what I said.
There are things that will make you sick in a VR environment that would not IRL. Because your inner ears are in synch with your eyes IRL.
My expectations aren't currently that different from my last VR headset (of almost 20 years ago). Keep up, up. Heli sims will do better then airplane. Mechwarrior will work better then descent.
Re: Got mine 2 days ago. (Score:1)
Must suck to get sick. Happily I don't. Not even the virtual boy made me sick so if that didn't nothing will
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Nothing IRL gives me motion sickness.
It's not like I can't handle Oculus games. It's just that the details matter a lot.
I could play Jane's ATF on the VFX1 well enough to escort Mothra to Monster Island. There were 2 hostiles in that IIRC.
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This is very true indeed. I've had tons of fun playing flight simulators Elite Dangerous and DSC. The games where you have to move around in first person make me a little dizzy, especially when turning. I really wish there was a way to adjust the speed at which you turn, or implement some method of making walking feel more natural. Anyway, I also tried out a roller coaster demo, and that nearly made me sick after about 6 seconds. Simulator sickness, due to lack of IRL g-forces, is a very, very strange feeli
Shut up and take my money already (Score:4, Insightful)
Finish this.. I've been waiting since the iGlasses came out in 1997..
Laser retinal painting (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know how practical it will be, but this looks much cooler:
http://www.laserfocusworld.com... [laserfocusworld.com]
Re:Laser retinal painting (Score:4)
No thanks, I don't want to attach sharks to my head.
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Was I the only one... (Score:1)
Leaving the entire panel intact makes sense... (Score:5, Interesting)
The cheapest and simplest thing for Samsung to do for a relatively small run of only 45k devices is to literally lift existing pre-built screens directly off the Note 3 assembly line and hand them over to Oculus. Virtually any kind of customization, like removing the Gorilla glass or touchscreen controller would require an assembly line change and could result in a much larger production slow down. I know it's hard to believe that 'wasting' unnecessary materials is actually cheaper than removing them, but if you know anything about manufacturing you understand the enormous impact that an assembly line change can have.
No Thanks (Score:3, Interesting)
A total of 1920x1080 for both eyes might be passable, but NOT when that 1920x1080 isn't actually 1920x1080.
The Note 3 has a pentile display - you're getting significantly reduced chroma resolution.
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A total of 1920x1080 for both eyes might be passable, but NOT when that 1920x1080 isn't actually 1920x1080.
The Note 3 has a pentile display - you're getting significantly reduced chroma resolution.
This version is just a DK.
Oculus is working on a 4K:
http://www.dvice.com/2013-10-2... [dvice.com]
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I have one. It's fine for development work which is what it's intended for. Frankly, in practice the resolution isn't all that bad either.
Like The Google Cardboard Glasses (Score:1)
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Disclaimer: I have no idea how good that aluminum case (is|will be).