Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Reviews

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Homido VR headset review

It's not Oculus, but Homido lets you dabble in VR for $80

Andy Boxall
By
Homido VR Headset
Homido VR headset
MSRP $100.00
Score Details
“The Homido VR provides a low cost intro into smartphone-based virtual reality -- and it’s more convenient than Google Cardboard.”
Pros
  • Works with most phones
  • More convenient than Google Cardboard
  • Adjustable focal lengths
Cons
  • No standard control system
  • Can be uncomfortable
  • Offers no major features beyond Cardboard

Available from:

Amazon

Virtual reality headsets are likely to be one of the big tech hits of next year, but smartphone owners don’t have to wait to get a taste of the virtual world, thanks to hardware like Google Cardboard and this, the Homido VR headset. It’s designed to hold a smartphone in front of your eyes so you can view VR and augmented reality content in the most immersive way possible. Does it compare to the experience delivered by the Oculus and its competitors?

Let’s answer that straight away. The answer is no.

Related

The Homido won’t steal hordes of buyers away from Sony, HTC, Oculus, or even Samsung’s Gear VR. This is a posh version of Google Cardboard — one that doesn’t need to be physically held in front of your eyes, and will only fool the casual observer into thinking it’s something more high-tech.

A nicer version of Google Cardboard

This doesn’t make it useless though, it’s actually rather good, apart from one major problem, which we’ll come to later on. First, let’s look at how it works. The Homido uses a pair of elastic straps to hold itself to your head, which can be adjusted to fit snugly. The unit is very lightweight on its own, and is made of plastic.

The lenses are the most important part of any VR headset, and the Homido comes with three different cones to hold them in place, all made for different focal lengths. I’m moderately shortsighted, and easily found a pair which suited me perfectly. It’s a good thing, because the Homido can’t be worn with glasses — it’s just too small. The lenses provide a 100-degree field of view.

The Homido isn’t going to steal buyers away from Sony, HTC, or Oculus.

On the faceplate there are two rotating knobs for adjusting the depth of view and IPD settings (a fancy acronym for the distance between your pupils). These settings help eliminate blur or distortion, but it’s impossible to get rid of the slight fishbowl effect produced by the Homido’s lenses. It’s not a terrible problem, but it does spoil the VR effect occasionally.

To make the Homido more than just a silly piece of plastic on your face, a smartphone needs to be slotted into the front panel. Any device with a 5-inch 1080p resolution is recommended, but it’ll work with just about any phone, regardless of OS. We tested it out using the Nexus 5, an LG G4, which both run Android, and the iPhone 6 Plus. There’s a definite benefit to using a lighter device, because the padding around the nose piece on the Homido is pretty thin; the heavier the phone the more the plastic digs in.

The VR experience you get wearing the headset comes down to the competence of your phone, so provided your chosen phone is powerful enough to run VR apps, then it’ll work well with the Homido, and vice versa. We recommend a high-end phone to get the best experience. It was fun trying out 360-degree video, and playing basic movement controlled games, an experience enhanced over Cardboard thanks to the hands-free nature of the Homido. The G4 was especially good at playing 3D video and providing that all-important feeling of immersion.

It was fun trying out 360-degree video and playing basic movement controlled games.

Now we come to the Homido’s major drawback. Unlike Cardboard and its clever select button on the side, there’s no way to control an app that doesn’t have its own movement-based control system built in. Selecting and playing videos is a pain, for example, because many require the use of the touchscreen, so you need to take the phone out of the headset, start the video, then put it back. It’s fiddly, it can often mess with centering on 3D video, and it entirely ruins the immersive feel of VR, for a start. Homido will sell you a Bluetooth gamepad for 20 euros/$25, which should solve the remote control issue, if you’re willing to pay out a little more.

Conclusion

Get past this, and the Homido gives a solid introduction to the world of virtual reality video and gaming. It’s also a cheap intro, at 70 euros, or $80. Cardboard sets may cost less, but needs to be held up to your face, and doesn’t come with any extra lens holders for the hard of seeing. The Homido also works with Android and iOS.

Virtual reality is really exciting, but even the entry level “proper” headsets coming in 2016 will be expensive and require expensive hardware to operate. The Homido works with the smartphone that’s already in your pocket — and while it doesn’t offer the same experience, you’ll have plenty of fun experimenting, without paying Oculus money.

Highs

  • Works with most phones
  • More convenient than Google Cardboard
  • Adjustable focal lengths

Lows

  • No standard control system
  • Can be uncomfortable

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Andy Boxall
Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Netflix games may be coming to TVs soon, as revealed by new iOS app
Selecting a game in Netflix Games.

It looks like Netflix might be expanding its gaming offerings to TVs soon, as a Netflix Game Controller is now on the iOS App Store. Netflix has yet to announce or comment on the purpose of the app, but a message shown when the app boots up confirms that it's coming.
Netflix has slowly made its way into the gaming industry over the past couple of years, acquiring studios and adding a dedicated game section to its mobile app that lets players download premium mobile games. The library includes some great games like Poinpy and Before Your Eyes, but has yet to break into the mainstream, likely due to its somewhat obscure availability. This new app, which was preemptively listed on Apple's storefront by Netflix and lines up with leaks from earlier this year, indicates that Netflix Games are coming to the TV.
The description for the app states that "this Game Controller app pairs with your TV and allows you to play games on Netflix using your phone or mobile device." After downloading and booting up the app, Digital Trends discovered two more messages asking players to "choose a game on your TV and follow the directions to connect" and that "Netflix Games on TV are in beta. Some devices may not be supported at this time."
All of this points to an impending beta rollout for games on Netflix's TV apps, which has not been announced yet. As such, we don't have any idea about which televisions or games the iOS app or Netflix Games on TV will support just yet. Regardless, this looks like a massive evolution for Netflix's gaming efforts, especially as it gears up to release a cloud gaming service.
Netflix declined to comment on the program when asked by Digital Trends, but it did refer us to previous statements it made about its intentions to break into cloud and TV game streaming.

Read more
Honkai Star Rail Sunright Tea Studio Event: how to attend, rewards, and meetup details
honkai star rail sunright tea studio event kafka holding card

HoYoverse is no stranger to collaborations. It even held a launch week event in Times Square for Honkai Star Rail, where fans could take pictures with a replica of the Astral Express and professional cosplayers dressed as the main cast. This time, HoYoverse announced a new global event for Honkai Star Rail related to bubble tea shops. It’s directly related to the "Sunright Tea Studio Event."

Cosmic Refreshment Supply, the global event in question, offers Honkai Star Rail fans a way to get merch by purchasing drinks from HoYoverse partners across the globe. Sunright Tea Studio, a popular bubble tea chain from California, is HoYoverse’s partner for the event in the United States. Other event partners include Happy Lemon in the Philippines, KOI in Malaysia, and CHAGEE in Singapore.

Read more
Fortnite Artifact Axe: how to destroy stones and best location
Animated image showing Fortnite Artifact Axe

Anyone who plays Fortnite long enough will come to love its yearly summer festivities, and as usual, this year's Summer Escape Event has proven to be a great time for players looking to engage in fun quests and earn new cosmetics. This week provides a new quest that tasks you with destroying 10 stones in battle royale mode, which offers you the reward of a new harvesting tool known as the Artifact Axe. If you're wondering what qualifies as a stone and how to destroy them, we'll give you the details below.
How to destroy stones in Fortnite to earn the Artifact Axe
First of all, you've probably hidden behind some of these stones before because, well, the game is actually just referring to the large rocks you can find scattered all across the map. Some are larger than others, but they're all easily identifiable and can be destroyed by smacking them repeatedly with a harvesting tool. In other words, you're quite likely to run across plenty of them playing naturally, especially if you spend any time in forests or along the coast.

If you're wanting to know of a spot that will help you knock the quest out quicker, you can try heading to the beach to the south of Kenjutsu Crossing at the bottom of the map.

Read more