Living with Google Cardboard v2

I bought a Cardboard a while back, but that was the first generation. And the first gen had plenty of rough edges—it didn’t fit big phones (even though my phone at the time was still a Sony Z1), and there were hardly any apps (aside from a few demos there was basically nothing to play). Then recently I stumbled on the fact that YouTube now has a proper 360° VR video channel, and that’s when it hit me: the second-gen version of that box from Google I/O was already dirt cheap on Taobao.

Unlike the first gen, which you had to assemble yourself, the second gen comes almost fully put together—already folded and glued. I assumed the Taobao seller had done that, since it’s a knockoff made from cardboard, but it turns out the official one is pretty much the same. Maybe that’s just the trend now.

The new box claims to support 6-inch phones, which should include the Nexus 6—but in practice, if your Nexus 6 has a case on it, you’re still out of luck. The Meizu Note, on the other hand, fits fine.

When you launch the new CardBoard it asks whether you want to scan the QR code on the box. My knockoff box actually has that QR code too, and scanning it unlocked the CardBoard 2 features—most importantly that YouTube stereoscopic channel. It’s full of big-budget stuff: mostly landscapes, diving, skydiving, haunted-house things… no porn (okay, I was hoping) and no narrative films, but most of it does a genuinely good job of selling the VR experience.

How to put it—after I bought the first-gen box it basically sat there collecting dust. The second-gen one probably won’t gather dust that fast, since YouTube’s stereoscopic channel has endless possibilities.