Google's kills VR headset on same day it unveils Pixel 4 smartphone
A chair that reads your Gmail and orders new pencils... Not a thing yet, but Google's getting close. At its annual product unveil day in New York, Google did its best turtleneck-free Steve Jobs impression and revealed its newest gadgets — the focus was to ensconce your life in Pixel-branded tech. The 2 highlights:
- Pixel 4 phone ($800) features a radar technology that lets you interact with the screen without touching it.
- Pixel Buds 2 ($179) to take on Apple AirPods cord-free.
But the real highlight is what's gone... Daydream — Google's virtual reality platform is designed so you can "Dream with your eyes open." Its headset though will be discontinued because (per a company spokesman) “there hasn’t been the broad consumer or developer adoption we had hoped.” Google's definitely been trying, having unveiled Google Glass twice and also $15 cardboard VR headsets for the masses.
Virtual reality has been a disappointment... but that doesn’t mean Google's given up on it. Instead, Google is “Androiding” this thing — it's applying the strategy it uses with its Android phones to the early stages of virtual reality: It'll focus on the software, but let someone else make the hardware (like the VR headsets).