And Google got a fair bit of support for this platform, too, with names like Hulu, HBO, and Netflix bringing entertainment, while games included Need for Speed and even Harry Potter experiences. When using Daydream View, users were able to run VR versions of the apps and games that were installed on their smartphone, and control it all with a remote that’s, in hindsight, remarkably similar to the one Google uses on its new Chromecast streamer. Google even redesigned the headset in 2017 with some upgrades. The Daydream View VR headset, to this day, is still one of the most comfortable pieces of VR gear out there, and the phone-based system certainly had cost advantages. The platform was still phone-based, using your smartphone’s display and a headset with special lenses to create a viewing experience that could feel quite immersive. That eventually morphed into Google Daydream, which made its proper debut in 2016 alongside the first Google Pixel smartphone. VR is a technology that Google was working with for quite a while, with the debut of Google Cardboard in 2014 using your smartphone and a viewer literally made from cardboard to create a virtual reality viewing experience. Google’s Daydream had good ideas, but its death was probably good

This issue of 9to5Google Weekender, is a part of 9to5Google’s rebooted newsletter that highlights the biggest Google stories with added commentary and other tidbits.

On the eve of WWDC 2023 and Apple’s new headset, let’s take a look back at that time Google tried to jump on the VR bandwagon with Daydream, which is now just a distant memory.

Protonmail macbook