Use virtual reality to browse the Web
MOZILLA has rolled out a virtual reality browser – Firefox Reality – for a more immersive web browsing experience.
Chief R&D officer Sean White announced that Firefox Reality is now available on three app stores – Viveport (for HTC Vive headset), Oculus (for Oculus Rift headset) and Daydream (for Google Daydream headset).
“The mixed reality team at Mozilla set out to build a web browser that has been designed from the ground up to work on standalone virtual and augmented reality (or mixed reality) headsets,” he said.
To make the experience more natural, users can use their voice to do a web search as VR headsets include a microphone.
The privacy and transparency standards are still based on Firefox but it uses a new Quantum engine for smoother and faster performance.
White says although Firefox Reality 1.0 just came out, version 1.1 is just around the corner.
“We have an always growing list of ideas and features that we are working to add to make this the best browser for mixed reality. We will also be listening and reacting quickly when we need to provide bug fixes and other minor updates,” he says, admitting that certain standard features like bookmarks, 360° videos, and user accounts are not available yet.
Mozilla Mixed Reality Platform Strategy head Andre Vrignaud says the team had to rethink everything, including navigation, text input, environments, search and more to design the browser.
“This required years of research, and countless conversations with users, content creators, and hardware partners. The result is a browser that is built for the medium it serves,” he said.
Based on research with VR headset owners, one main complaint was that users were having a hard time finding new games and experiences, so Mozilla built a content feed into the homescreen of Firefox Reality.