A first look at Oculus’ standalone VR headset.

One of the biggest announcements that came out of Oculus Connect in October was the unveiling of a $199 standalone VR headset. Dubbed Oculus Go, the upcoming headset is basically an all-in-one mobile computer.

The days of sliding in your mobile device or plugging into a PC may behind us.

And with a price tag of $199, Oculus Go not only cuts the cord, but makes VR more accessible to the masses. There are large swaths of consumers sitting on the sidelines waiting to jump into VR. They’re just not ready to fork over the dough for a pricey gaming PC or they don’t have a compatible mobile device that makes snatching up a Samsung Gear VR or Google Daydream View an easy purchase decision.

So you can see why many of us have been eager to hear more, or even just see the Oculus Go up-close in person. Few details were revealed at Oculus Connect and there were no onsite units to demo or place on our heads.

Well now it looks like developers are finally getting their hands on dev kits of the Oculus Go, which means early hardware pics of the device in our inbox! So for the first time, we actually get to see the device out in the wild.

Although no further details or hardware specs were shared along with the photos to VRScout, its great to see the Oculus Go in the hands of developers. With the Oculus Go expected to go on sale “early 2018,” we’re going to have to rely on what this initial group of developers shares with the world for now.

What we do know according to Oculus is that the standalone device is “super lightweight” with a new fabric used for the facial interface that’s “soft and breathable.”

We can expect improved visual clarity with “next-generation lenses” that offer a wider field of view with reduction in glare according to Oculus.

Oculus Go also ships with integrated spatial audio, which means the speakers are built right into the headset. If you need it, there’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for private listening, but it’s not visible in any of the images we had access to. The Oculus Go also has its own 3DOF controller, but the best part is it shares the same software as the Gear VR. This means developers building for Gear VR are already building for Oculus Go.

It’s unclear whether Oculus is still accepting hardware dev kit applications, but if you are a developer, you can head on over to their sign-up portal.

If you’re a developer, drop me a line at jonathan@vrscout.com. Would love to hear about your experience.