Google's Daydream: The $79 headset that could bring VR to the masses - if the apps can catch up

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While there are a plethora of VR headsets on the market, none have quite hit the sweet spot of comfort, price and usability to make them true mass market devices.

But Google's new Daydream may be the first to that - in terms of hardware, at least.

It's got a huge amount of potential, but at the moment is hampered by a lack of apps, and the fact it only works with Google's Pixel phone.  

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Google's $79 headset is superb in terms of hardware - but is currently let down by a lack of apps. However, it has absolutely huge potential to finally bring VR to the masses.

Google's earlier attempts at a headset, the low cost cardboard app, was great - but undeniably low budget and, well, a little shoddy.

Daydream, however, is different.

It's incredibly well designed, and crucially, doesn't look like a gadget - it's soft, with a fabric coating and feels far more at home in a living room that the harsh, brutal plastic and strange stylings of its competitors.

It's also light, and incredibly comfortable (although be warned, do clean your phone's screen before putting it into the headset, otherwise you'll be appalled by the hairs and other gunk that you'll see!) 

But in fact, the best thing about Google's new virtual-reality headset isn't the headset at all.

The big surprise of Daydream is the controller - it's absolutely fantastic. 

It's about the size and shape of a chocolate bar, and it has motion sensors to track movement, rather like  Nintendo's Wii.

For Star Wars fans, navigation also feels rather light a lightsaber fight - a virtual line comes out of the controller with which you point at menu items.

In many ways, Daydream View would pale compared with Samsung's Gear VR headset were it not for the controller.

With the Gear VR, you have to move your head to point a cursor at something, then reach for a button on the headset - which is far from ideal.

With Daydream, you can just aim and click the controller in your hand, and that gives a much better sense of being immersed in the world. 

With Daydream, you can just aim and click the controller in your hand, and that gives a much better sense of being immersed in the world.

Sensors in the device tell the headset what you're trying to do, whether it's swinging a tennis racket or casting a fishing rod.

It's extremely accurate, and most importantly, just works - I found I didn't have to explain it to anyone who tried the device.

The controller also makes it easier to navigate menus without making yourself dizzy; just move it around to point at things. 

Some apps in Daydream, like some YouTube 360 videos, let you grab the scene with your controller and drag it around you, just as you would with a PC mouse.

One game lets you shooting water out of a hose to put out fires. 

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH IT? 

You can view 360-degree YouTube videos and any 360-degree photos you store on Google Photos. 

In fact, Google has an entirely new version of YouTube available from today. 

This new standalone app was built from the ground up and optimized for VR. 

You just need a Daydream-ready phone like Pixel and the new Daydream View headset and controller to get started. 

In fact, Google has an entirely new version of YouTube available from today.

'Every single video on the platform becomes an immersive VR experience, from 360-degree videos that let you step inside the content to standard videos shown on a virtual movie screen in the new theater mode,' Google  said.

The app even includes some familiar features like voice search and a signed in experience so you can follow the channels you subscribe to, check out your playlists and more. 

You can visit other destinations such as the Galapagos Islands in a 360-degree version of Google's Street View. 

A few games, museum artworks and The Wall Street Journal's app were also available to try out prior to Thursday's launch.

A handful more are coming Thursday. 

Google has worked with everyone from the Natural History Museum in London, to fitness and travel sites to create VR videos

Even more are promised by the end of the year, including apps for Netflix and Hulu — though all that does is offer video on a giant screen in a virtual living room.

There's much more available for Cardboard. 

Unfortunately, app developers will need to make some tweaks first to make them compatible with Daydream. They'll need to do even more to take advantage of the motion control. 

You simply hold a button to spray and move the controller around to douse flames.

You can even tilt the controller to control the angle of the hose.

Another app lets you explore the universe by using the controller as a laser pointer to bring up more information. 

It's also handy to have volume controls and a home button in your hand rather than on your head. 

We were also able to try a preview of a Harry Potter game which turned the controller into a wand - and is great fun to play.

Three colours of the fabric headset will be available

For now, Daydream works only with Google's Pixel phone - although others are set to arrive soon, and the firm has been open about the specs needed.

In many ways, Daydream is rather like Google's home speaker.

The firm has nailed the hardware - but not yet the software.

However, that's not to say it won't, and that it won't do so quickly.

But at the moment, Daydream is really about potential - but it has so much of it, one can only hope that app developers rush to capitalise on what is by far the best mobile VR solution out there at the moment.