Sneak peek: A first look at YouTube’s VR interface within Daydream
At Google I/O 2016, we had our first look at the company’s virtual reality platform, Daydream. This announcement included a VR headset, wireless controller, and a home menu found within Android N’s VR Mode. During the announcement, several applications were shown onscreen that will be available once the program launches for the public. YouTube has now published a short blog post previewing the VR interface.
Over the last couple of years, YouTube has been slowly adding more VR features to the web and mobile versions of the video platform. These features really came to life when Google released Cardboard, a low cost, basic VR headset that uses your phone as the screen and computer. Within Cardboard, you could launch the YouTube application and watch 360-degree videos by simply rotating the viewer.
When it comes to Daydream, the YouTube team has taken steps to make the entire streaming experience as pleasing as possible:
“It … comes with all the YouTube features you already love, like voice search, discovery, and playlists, all personalized for you, so you can experience the world’s largest collection of VR videos in a whole new way.”
While we were only given the one image of the interface, we can see just how simple yet immersive the video player and controls will be. Both the video controls and the menu options will be floating within the background or currently playing video, giving users an easy solution for viewing content.
YouTube is currently working with several publications to build 360-degree videos with the help of the JUMP program. We should hopefully get more information about Daydream and the future of VR in Google in the coming months.