Cardboard

Cardboard is a client for virtual reality glasses by Google. It’s one of the biggest stores of VR games and apps for Android and iOS. Moreover, it’s a useful device for watching movies and traveling in exclusive virtual worlds. You can download Cardboard for Android on Play Market and iOS on App Store.

Functionality – 4.5/5

If you have the Cardboard VR glasses by Google, the Cardboard app is the only way to unlock all their features. This app activates the special interface so that you could control it with the buttons on glasses. It’s also a real-time converter of video files and images into the panoramic format. At the same time, it’s a huge store of VR games and apps.

Design – 5/5

Google Cardboard hasn’t changed a lot since launch, but it’s still convenient enough. It looks very similar to the Play Music App, which is all orange and white. There are just 2 tabs that provide access to the library of downloaded apps and the store. It’s quite big, but there’s no need in browser with categories because you can find anything just by scrolling the list.

Usability – 5/5

The Cardboard headset is the cheapest way to experience real VR. This device is made of carton, and you should assemble it on your own, but it will give you quite a lot of new emotions if you’ve never tried anything like this before. The quality of visuals in games and video playback is quite high. We compared it with other VR helmets for mobile devices, and it’s somewhere near them. In some games, it may perform even better. Besides the games, you can download the 360 Video Channel addon and enjoy high-quality VR streaming. There’s not much to argue about in this Cardboard review because you can’t wait too much from a $15 VR set! It does the possible maximum at a competitive level, and that’s why we like it.

Cross-platform use – 5/5

You can install Cardboard on Android 4.4, iOS 8.0, and all later versions. System requirements of the app are surprisingly low, so it runs smoothly on a wide range of old low-end devices.

In-app purchases

The free Cardboard bundle provides you with access to quite a lot of ad-free apps and games. Perhaps, that’s because they’re all something like demo products that show possibilities of this VR headset. Hopefully, there will be more titles to try later on.

The Bottom Line

VR technologies used to be one of the most promising realms of software and hardware development, but they currently froze on one stage. Google Cardboard is quite enough to get familiar with this impressive technology. The best way to use it is to watch 3D videos. You will definitely remember everything for a very long time.

• Graphics 4.5
• Gameplay 5
• Controls 5
• Replay Value 5

Pros

Many free games and apps;
The cheapest VR experience on the market;
Awesome 3D videos and movies;
Exciting virtual exhibitions.

Cons

It’s certainly not for everyday use;
Eyes may hurt if you use the device for over an hour.