The Alcatel IDOL 5 from Cricket Wireless is a very nice cell phone – a friend complimented how slim and nice it looked. In addition to providing the usual phone calls and internet experience, the Alcatel IDOL 5 also allows you to explore the strange world of Virtual Reality. All you really have to do find the VR Home icon on the phone and tap on it.
Every time you start the VR Home app you will see this warning. It’s a good idea to read it at least the first time. It’s an excellent idea because the first time I used the VR feature I felt slightly dizzy after just about 30 minutes using it. And I was sitting down. It can be disorienting if you aren’t accustomed to it.
You don’t need to use headphones but it can give you more of a feeling of being “surrounded” by the Virtual World.
The VR Uni360 device is packaged with blue plastic protectors over the lenses on BOTH sides (front and back). Remove those before you slip the phone into the back slot. Otherwise, you will be looking at strange blurry bluish worlds.
Before you place the VR Uni360 device over your head become familiar with the Select (button on the right side) and Back (on the left side) buttons. The center wheel is for focusing. After you start the software you are taken through a tutorial to acquaint you on all these features.
A few permissions that you say yes to. This is so you can download VR images and videos to the phone and view them at any time.
while viewing via the VR device you can save a screenshot of VR scene
screengrabs saves at 1024 x 1024 resolution in png format.
You can download movies directly to the phone and view whenever you like. The original resolution is 3840 x 1920.
Original resolution is 4000 x 2000.
if you have a different phone than the Alcatel IDOL 5 just scan the QR code to determine if your phone will work with this VR UNI360 device.
The VR Home app allows you to access all sorts of VR films and stills. There’s also the Inception VR app which allows for streaming VR videos. That should keep all you VR fans quite busy. But, as I said, if you are new to this, start slowly or you’ll end up with a headache,/stiff neck or some other uncomfortable situation because this WILL confuse your inner ears. But it’s definitely a cool experience. I was watching a scene in which soldiers and medics were going through an area where people needed help and it was just so fascinating watching all this (as I turned left and right) as if I was “sitting” on top of the guys head. I mean that’s where the 360 camera was, but I really felt as if I Was There. Very eerie sensation.
I do like the feature that you can switch to a view via the cell camera so you can see what is going on in your room without having to take off the UNI360. And I like being able to easily take screen grabs. Check this UNI360 device out. It’s very cool.