Eleonor Hecks The virtual reality (VR) market is growing, and that growth means increasing variety. As new players emerge in the VR space, headsets will showcase greater diversity, but there are still some commonalities between every piece of hardware.
Unique features and form factors are great, but any successful VR system must emphasize quality in the parts all headsets share. Here’s a look at eight critical components developers must consider.
1. Display
The most obvious component to home in on is the display. Today, almost every VR headset uses LCDs, but OLED alternatives hold potential, too. While OLED screens are expensive, they provide truer blacks and are thinner, leaving more room for other parts.
LCDs do have an advantage other than cost-effectiveness. It’s easier to produce a high-quality picture at short viewing distances with an LCD than with OLEDs. Still, the Apple Vision Pro has implemented OLED displays into a VR headset successfully, albeit at a high price.
2. Lenses
After choosing the optimal display technology, VR devs must focus on the lenses to translate the visuals into 3D experiences. Newer headsets often use pancake lenses for their smaller form factor and minimal distortion, but older fresnel lenses can work with less brightness.
There is a more niche technology to consider, too — aspherical lenses. These options fall in the middle in terms of cost and lose less light than pancakes while providing sharper images than fresnels. They’re particularly valuable when using an OLED display.
3. Sensors
The best VR headsets also include sensors to enhance the user experience. Gyroscopes to dictate positioning are an obvious one, but accelerometers and proximity sensors can add functionality and improve wearer safety.
Eye-tracking sensors are another option to consider. Most of these sensors today can achieve accuracies between 0.5 to 2 degrees, which is fine for video games but not precise enough for medical or other sensitive commercial uses. Some eye trackers can reach accuracies of 0.3 degrees, but these are more expensive.
4. Input Devices
All VR systems need ways for users to control them, too. Hand-held controllers are the go-to, but determining the shape, size and button orientation of these gamepads should be a key area of focus. Users can’t see the controllers when wearing a headset, so everything must feel intuitive.
Alternatively, designers could use voice controls or motion-only controls. These may feel more natural once users get accustomed to them, but they also require extensive testing to ensure they work well.
5. Power Units
All of these other components require electricity, so designers should consider the power supply, too. The challenge is delivering enough energy to run everything smoothly without getting wires in the way or weighing users down with bulky batteries.
Opting for energy-efficient components can help by justifying a smaller battery pack. LEDs use up to 70% less electricity than alternative lighting methods, so they’re a good option.
6. Comfort Features
While functionality and performance are the most obvious goals for VR hardware, comfort should not go overlooked. People may play games for hours on end, and the 35% of remote-capable workers who work entirely from home may wear headsets for long stretches of meetings. Consequently, any discomfort will become hard to ignore.
Reducing weight is the most crucial comfort-related step. Balancing that weight evenly is also important, which designers can do by placing batteries at the back of a strap as a counterweight to the display. Sufficient eye padding and comfortable straps matter, too.
7. Audio Systems
Audio is another easy-to-overlook but critical aspect of good VR design. VR’s unique visuals may be its most obvious selling point, but sound is just as important to complete immersion.
Watching TV shows and movies is the third most popular use case for VR, and these require accurate, engaging sound. The easiest way to address this is to make headsets compatible with existing third-party Bluetooth headsets. Built-in speakers are also an option, but it’s hard to deliver quality audio that way without making the hardware too bulky.
8. Software
Finally, VR systems need reliable software to run all of these components. On top of ensuring all hardware works correctly, VR designers should take time to create an engaging, useful user interface (UI).
A good VR UI isn’t necessarily the same as a conventional one. Navigation should require minimal, if any, head movement and support multiple input types. Text can be hard to read in VR, too, so keeping labels short and using graphics to illustrate things is crucial.
Impactful VR Headset Design Begins With Understanding
When designers understand each component and how it impacts users, they can develop better VR systems. A headset can include hardware outside of these eight options, too, but focusing on optimizing these is critical in crafting an engaging and comfortable experience.