— This post was written by Tim Wheeler —

Firstly take a look at this link on Google Plastic. It has 20×20 resolution, is fully interactive and absolutely no lag!

https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/plastic .

I have to say I was very excited to see what Google had to offer next…. (thanks Lizzie!)

Samsung Gear VR

On to more virtual offerings. We had a Samsung Gear VR delivered to us by Siobhan Moyes last week (ty x) and annoyingly we didn’t have the right phone with which to use it till this week, so it was a bit of a damp squib until yesterday. It looks impressive though!

I managed to borrow the required Samsung S6 from a friend for the week and I have to say the experience was definitely worth the wait.

There is nothing like watching a great film, in fact I recently went to see Eddie the Eagle and I have to say it realy was a great film. Also if you have seen 3D films you get that it is a cool thing, until you’ve seen a few then they become a bit samey and they don’t seem to put the same amount of effort into making them as they did when making Avatar. I haven’t hit the IMAX cinema yet so can’t comment on that but I get the idea, a wrap around massive screen in amazing picture and audio definition. Sooo…. what about putting all of that together? Oh yes!!! it realy is an amazing experience to watch a 3D fully 360 movie with awesome headphones on (not supplied). It just makes you laugh out loud with enjoyment, I was literally ducking as meteorites were whizzing past me, watching in awe as I flew past a massive moon just a few kilometers away and having a little scaredy wee as I was pushed into a gruesome manky old zombies mouth. I have to say it was the most visually brilliant and exciting experience I’ve had in awhile.

But the awesomeness doesn’t stop there. The Gear VR can blend amazing graphics with reality using a process called camera passthrough. This means that you superimpose the 3D graphics over the S6’s camera view of your actual environment. So you can walk around your home watching the most massive TV you have ever owned.

What does this mean for medical and dental students?

Add a little magic with Augmented Reality and image recognition, a student would look at part of a patient’s body and the Gear will overlay information or questions for the student to engage with, such as an open fracture or a broken jaw. It could also present changing stats on how the patient is reacting to medication they are allergic to, and pose questions about how to treat the symptom from a selection of interventions, all happening in real time and fully interactive. Just like google plastic but better!