Google Product Helping Blog

Virtual reality has brought us to places ranging from the bottom of the ocean to the surface of Mars. But as good as VR is, it�s never been quite as real as, well� real life. Google Cardboard Plastic, launching today, changes all that. It�s our latest step toward truly immersive technology�a new viewer that lets you see, touch, smell and hear the world just like you do in real life. Cardboard Plastic is the world�s first actual reality headset, complete with 4D integrated perspective, 360� spatially accurate sound, 20/20 resolution, and advanced haptics for realistic touch sensations. Expertly crafted from polymethyl methacrylate, Cardboard Plastic is lightweight, waterproof, and engineered to last a lifetime�no batteries, no wires. And unlike other VR headsets, it integrates seamlessly into your life�so you�ll never miss a thing. Unless you blink. Find more about Cardboard Plastic at google.com/cardboardplastic . The future is clear. Posted by Jon Wiley, Director of Immersive Design, ...

Last year, we opened the doors to the music landmark Abbey Road Studios , where musical legends like the Beatles and Pink Floyd have recorded. With a click of a mouse or a tap of a screen , more than 2 million fans from around the world have stepped Inside Abbey Road to explore the famous studios. Now you can go even further and experience what it actually feels like�and sounds like�inside the studios, using Google Cardboard and your smartphone. To get this virtual reality experience, download the app on Android (iOS coming soon), then start your journey with a nine-part guided tour narrated by Giles Martin , the son of the late Beatles producer, George Martin, who shares the history of the studios from the 1930�s to present day. After the tour, you can quite literally move around the studios at your leisure to see hidden treasures like Studio 3�s Mirrored Drum Room, where the mirrors help to create a close, bright and loud sound quality. Uncover one of Abbey Road's Mastering S...

A year and a half ago we introduced Google Cardboard, a simple cardboard viewer that anyone can use to experience mobile virtual reality (VR). With just Cardboard and the smartphone in your pocket, you can travel to faraway places and visit imagined worlds . Since then everyone from droid lovers and Sunday edition subscribers , to big kids  and grandmas have been able to enjoy VR�often for the very first time. Here's a look at where we are, 19 months in: 1. 5 million Cardboard fans have joined the fold. 2. In just the past two months (October-December), you launched into 10 million more immersive app experiences: 3. Out of 1,000+ Cardboard apps on Google Play, one of your favorites got you screaming �aaaaaaahwsome,� while another �gave you goosebumps.� 4. You teleported to places far and wide, right from the comfort of YouTube . 5. Since we launched Cardboard Camera in December, you�ve captured more than 750,000 VR photos, letting you relive your favorite moments anytime, ...

With Google Cardboard, you can take amazing trips to faraway places and feel like you�re actually there. But what if you could also use Cardboard to go back in time�to step inside personal moments like your favorite vacation or a holiday dinner with family? Now you can with the new Cardboard Camera app for Android . Cardboard Camera turns the smartphone in your pocket into a virtual reality (VR) camera. It�s simple to take a photo: just hold out your phone and move it around you in a circle. Later, when you place your phone inside a Google Cardboard viewer, you'll get to experience something new: a VR photo. VR photos are three-dimensional panoramas, with slightly different views for each eye, so near things look near and far things look far. You can look around to explore the image in all directions, and even record sound with your photo to hear the moment exactly as it happened. Taken with Cardboard Camera at Jackson Lake, Wyoming. This simulates the 3D effect when seen in a Car...