TechElec offers a variety of products, which includes a VR headset. With this new offering that ties into mobile handsets getting a lot of buzz and PR lately, it’s not surprising in the least to see these headsets pop up all over the web. This one has some flaws to it, as well as some good ideas, so it’s a mixed bag at best.
The unit is comprised of hard plastic and elastic straps that can be adjusted via velco; all of this is done in black, save for a little silver trim that encircles the the periphery of where your phone is locked into place. All told, it’s not a bad look. The goggles have a decent set up, where the cover is hinged, opening forward, much like a castle drawbridge would, and it snaps closed again after users begin their app/game. It is held in place by a magnet. It has openings within the cover that allow light to pass through, for apps that might need to use the camera on the phone that is being viewed. There’s an additional cover that fits over those openings to darken the viewport, and is also held in place by magnets. Their use of magnets is a great choice here, for a couple of reasons. First, it simplifies things as the cover for the viewport is held in place exclusively by them, so there’s no snapping things into place with clasps that wear down over time. Second, magnets work well, so each place they’re used has a snug fit.
The straps are held in place that begins at a pleather patch in the back, are looped through the viewport, and held in place by Velcro. Compared to the adjustable straps that use sliders (they always jam, in my experience), using Velcro was MUCH easier. It let me pick my spot, and stick it in place. The viewport is cushioned by a soft plastic, that is stuffed with what feels like a soft, foam-like substance on the inside of it. On the whole the fit was fairly comfortable. There are two knobs that sit on the outside, each controlling where one of the lenses sit, in case you need to adjust the focal point between them, your eyes, and the phone, and accomplishes this by extending or retracting the bay that the phone sits in. This bay holds your phone in landscape, with the top and bottom brackets both using springs, making them both adjustable. It allows a variety of phones to fit inside, but how well it’ll perform depends on the button layout. With my phone being a Nexus 6, my power button was depressed, no matter how I positioned it. Unlike the VR Box I reviewed several weeks back, this unit fails to include any adhesive, foam inserts to buffer against this scenario. So for users with power buttons on the tops of their phone, they would likely be able to enjoy this unit. Every time I put my phone, and attempting this with the phone facing different ways at different times, it didn’t “end well”, with one time going so far as to cause it to crash, causing minor data loss on the reboot. A prior attempt booted me into recovery mode. There is a gap in the top bracket, and not in the bottom, but again, no matter which way I faced the phone, pressure was applied to the power button and problems ensued.
My last gripe about this headset is that it isn’t compatible with Google Cardboard’s app. Now this doesn’t make the headset useless, but like I found in the VR Box, it will greatly reduce the number of VR apps that one can enjoy with it. Youtube will work just fine, as weill others. Many apps found in Google Play are built around cardboard’s guidelines though, so users may have to try out a few before finding one that doesn’t require the “button” that is standard in Cardbaord, or googling around for apps and games that are more ubiquiteous, and work outside of Cardboard viewers.
On the whole, this is a tough product for me to recommend. I genuinely like how this was built, as it includes some thought that sets it apart from other units I’ve tried, like in its use of magnets. On the other hand, the number of viable phones is reduced by how the brackets are designed in the phone bay, by precluding ones with power buttons on the side of the device, and not being able to use Google Cardboard apps will reduce what can be done with it. In light of all of that, I’m going to give this headset a five. If it was built to at least support Cardboard, even if they want to also work beyond it, it would’ve scored much higher for me, as most phones don’t have the button layout that mine does… See more here
