Google reportedly building Android for VR

Google has already dipped into VR with Cardboard, and the search giant is apparently going even deeper with a new project designed around Android.

The Wall Street Journal reports Google has assembled a team of “tens of engineers” tasked with creating a version of Android specifically for virtual reality. You heard right: Google wants its famous mobile software to be the dominant OS for your consumer VR experience. The software will apparently be distributed freely, just like Android, giving companies the time to focus on hardware.

There’s been a ton of interest around VR over the past several months, and not just in gaming; Oculus has its own wing dedicated to VR movies, while big Hollywood studios have kept an eye on the development of the market. There isn’t any clear front-runner right now, but Google wants to make sure it’s in the conversation when virtual reality does become wide-spread.

To highlight just how prominent VR has become, HTC’s Vive was probably the best thing we saw at Mobile World Congress, an event that introduced the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge and the HTC One M9.

WSJ says right now the “project is speculative,” but perhaps we’ll get a small glimpse at Google’s I/O conference in a few months. There aren’t very many details about the project beyond that. Google already offers Android for phones, your wrist, set-top boxes and cars. Are we going to see the search giant add VR to its resumé?

Hopefully we won’t have to wait until Google works its way up to the letter “V” in its Android dessert naming scheme to find out.

Source: WSJ

from TechnoBuffalo http://ift.tt/1wN60jl

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