Gadgets

Is it worth buying a cheap cardboard VR headset from AliExpress

Smartphones have taken away a lot of our dear gadgets from our life. The walkman, voice recorder, radio, compass, camera, and so on. These gadgets were very dear to us and we had different emotions attached to each one.

But smartphones are also giving rise to new unique gadgets which easily integrate with them. These new gadgets improve our lifestyle. Some examples of these gadgets are the smartwatch, drones, and VR headsets. These new gadgets do not cost so much because they can easily integrate with our smartphones. Using our phones we can easily control them. Without our smartphones, these gadgets would have cost a lot.

Let’s specifically discuss VR. VR stands for Virtual Reality. In the past, VR headsets used to cost a lot, thousands of dollars. Because previously all the control mechanism and display components used to be in the VR itself.

But nowadays most modern-day VR uses the power of smartphones. It uses lenses to zoom into the smartphone display. Giving us a virtual reality experience. Recently I bought a cheap cardboard VR from AliExpress for only $2.55.

What is included with the carboard VR

I hardly had any expectations from this. But it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. It came in an envelope, folded up. I had to set it up myself which was a bit tricky. There were a pair of lenses for the eyes. An elastic band to hold the VR to the head. Soft padding for around the VR so the sharp edge doesn’t hurt the area around our eyes.

My experience using the cardboard VR

The experience using the VR wasn’t that bad but also wasn’t so good either. You can watch some VR videos on youtube. But as you have to place the phone inside the VR. The phone controls are inaccessible. You cannot play any games using it. The elastic band is not strong enough to hold the weight of both the VR and phone to the head. So you will constantly have to hold the VR. Light from the surroundings leaks in. Basically, you get the experience of watching a giant screen in a cinema hall.

The cardboard VR just gives you a small taste of using a VR headset for a low cost. But it is nowhere near the quality of better and higher-priced VR headsets. So I would recommend you to spend a bit more money and buy a VR in the range of $30-50.

Pros	Cons
Low cost	Hard to properly set up
A small taste of VR for a low cost	The elastic band is not strong enough to hold VR to the head
	Light leaks in
	Unable to control phone while inside VR
	Uncomfortable to use for a long time