You've probably seen a lot of talk about VR and AR killing smartphones, but they never explain how VR and AR do it.
Smartphones are the biggest enemy of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
It puts everything at the tip of our fingertips. We watch the news, we chat with friends, we take pictures, we email, we use GPS, we shop, we play games. We do almost everything from our smartphone to make it convenient and comfortable for you.
Also, some of us - probably most of us - look down on VR and AR.
We might hear them say...
Why do we even need to wear VR or AR headsets, if we can do everything from our smartphones?
How can VR and AR be more convenient than smartphones?
Why are they so important? Because I haven't found a strong urge to use it yet.
We believe that VR and AR will be the next big thing, but what I see today is that we create fun in VR and AR ( which is really good ). We forgot to list the love-hate-hate that people have for smartphones, though. By understanding what people like and dislike about their smartphones, it's possible to kill smartphones.
1. Watch YouTube on a virtual big screen
More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices
Now let's list the reasons why we love watching YouTube on our smartphones:
1. It's so simple, we can do anything anytime, anywhere. We can watch videos in fancy poses.
2. We don't need to turn on and off the computer. (It's not too much of a hassle to turn the computer on and off, but, you know, the age of smartphones makes us so lazy.)
3. Small screens give us more privacy. We can watch any video you want without anyone knowing.
Why we hate it:
1. The screen is really small, but we don't have any options. When watching video, especially high-resolution resolutions, nothing can beat a monitor or TV. I did a little survey asking the same question, and most people still prefer TVs and monitors.
2. Do we find it tiring to watch videos while holding a smartphone in a certain location? That's why TV still wins because we don't need to hold anything, just sit down.
This is how VR and AR solve this problem.
YouTube in VR: VR is about being virtual, which means we can have a virtual home theater: sitting in a virtual cozy room, with a virtual big screen. We don't need to hold the screen with our hands because it's a head-mounted display. Even if it's going to be a big screen, we still have our privacy because we've seen our own VR headsets just belong to us. Google and HTC are working together to create standalone VR glasses so it's as easy as using a smartphone.