The New Android Is VR-Ready, And Compatible Phones Are On The Way

This week at the I/O 2016, Google announced that their new Android N Developer 3 will have a built-in virtual reality mode called Daydream.

"Google currently has Cardboard, but Cardboard worked in spite of Android, if you'd like," says Dave Burke, Android VP of Engineering. "It's clever and simple, but we never did anything at the platform level to make it work. With N, we have."

Android N is dedicating a CPU core to the UI thread to prevent the nausea-inducing lags, and tuned motion sensor pathways help Android N receive updates from the gyroscope and accelerometer faster. Google is working with manufacturers to make sure that devices will be compatible with Android N’s new VR capability.

Daydream requires hardware with an Active Matrix Organic Light-emitting Diode (AMOLED) display. The first model to meet its requirements is the Nexus 6P. With the software ready, now we just have to wait for manufacturers to come up with more hardware to choose from.
Recently, Samsung, HTC, Huawei, LG, ZTE, Asus, Alcatel, and Xiaomi have announced that they will be making phones compatible with Daydream.