Last week, Psychic VR Lab Ltd announced the debut of its virtual reality (VR) creative platform STYLY for HTC VIVE’s Flow virtual reality (VR) headset.
STYLY is a cloud-based application that gives extended reality (XR) content creators a place to showcase their work and collaborate with other artists in a online VR space.
Users can access the platform via a web browser, smartphone, or application downloaded directly to a VR headset such as the Meta Quest.
The news comes as firms are planning to incorporate 5G in a hope to shift processing power to the cloud to seamlessly stream interactive real-time 3D (RT3D) VR content to users.
Kevin Joyce, Local Coordinator for STYLY and Tiny Brains, discussed with XR Today some of the benefits of 5G-enabled mobile VR experiences.
What are the benefits of 5G streaming for standalone hardware?
Kevin Joyce: From the consumer level, it’s a simple case of increasing devices compatible with the technology.
Here in the UK, we only have a handful of smartphones that currently offer 5G, with mid and low-end devices still opting for 4G connectivity. This needs to change rapidly.
Furthermore, many networks are offering 5G connectivity at a premium which frankly I find ridiculous, especially given that 5G can actually reduce infrastructure costs in the long-term!
We’re still a long way away from VR head-mounted displays that look like Ray-Bans (regardless of what Meta may be telling you) but with 5G, we’d certainly make significant strides towards that goal.
What specifically does 5G technology afford for the many people, firms, and systems that will depend on it?
Kevin Joyce: In its simplest form, 5G allows providers to transfer larger packets of data at higher speeds.
This allows for a wealth of new opportunities in XR, from simply affording heavier applications to run on a device, to the removal of potential lag in VR telecoms and gaming.
As far as most consumers and companies will be concerned, this is essentially all that 5G will bring.
However there’s also innumerous benefits for other areas such as healthcare, education and big data [infrastructures], thanks to the potential for wide-ranging access via the potential employment of 5G compatible Mobile Edge Computing (MEC).
Kindly visit STYLY’s website for more information and additional updates.
