PC virtual reality games on your smartphone

The ZEISS VR ONE Connect brings PCconnected VR games to the smartphone.

Virtual reality (VR) gaming isn’t the easiest thing to get into — you’ll need a powerful computer, large headset, and gaming controllers. These usually add up in both cost and complexity, which is a shame, as VR games can be so much fun to play.

The ZEISS VR ONE Connect, however, promises to reduce that complexity. The VR ONE Connect lets you play using a mobile VR headset at a comparatively low cost, and works with SteamVR, so a large collection of PC VR games is available when you put it on.

The system works by connecting a current smartphone, either running iOS or Android, to a VR-ready gaming PC via USB. The smartphone then slides into the ZEISS VR ONE Plus headset, or another mobile VR headset, immersing you into the virtual world.

You control the game via two wireless ZEISS controllers, which are connected by Bluetooth to your smartphone. Together with the sensors in your smartphone, sensors in the two controllers track three degrees of freedom (3DoF) motion to calculate where your hands are in VR.

By using the PC to do the heavy lifting and transmitting a pre-rendered display to a smartphone, the VR ONE Connect remains light and comfortable, and enables PC VR gaming at a fraction of the cost of traditional desktop systems.