Daydream View, Google's VR headset and controller made by Google, is available in stores today. Pricing and selling points are as follows:

• United States: Google Store, Verizon, Best Buy; $79 (USD)
• Canada: Google Store, Bell, Rogers, Telus, Best Buy; $99 (CAD)
• United Kingdom: Google Store, EE, Carphone Warehouse; £69 (GBP)
• Germany: Google Store, Deutsche Telekom; €69 (EUR)
• Australia: Google Store, JB Hi-Fi; $119 (AUD); Coming to Telstra on Nov 22nd
  

The Daydream app, available on any Daydream-ready phone starting with Pixel and Pixel XL, lets you launch VR experiences and browse from a collection of apps, games and videos. Plus, the app brings new featured content front and center so there’s always something fresh when you put on your headset.

With Daydream, you can experience popular Google apps like Google Photos and Google Play Movies in virtual reality. You can visit 150 of the world’s most amazing places like the Pyramids and the Taj Mahal with Google Street View. And with YouTube VR, you can watch the entire library of YouTube videos on a virtual big screen and experience hundreds of thousands of videos from top creators.

Google is also bringing Google Arts & Culture to Daydream. Step inside a virtual gallery and view masterpieces from over 50 world-renowned museums. The app is launching today as a Preview Edition with more enhancements to come in future updates.

In addition to Google apps, there are many other experiences available on Daydream. Explore new worlds, kick back in your personal VR cinema and get in the game with a controller that puts you at the center of action.

Obviously, the best thing about Google's new virtual-reality headset isn't the headset at all. Daydream View would pale compared with Samsung's Gear VR headset were it not for Daydream's controller, a handheld device that responds to gestures and other motion.

With Gear VR, you have to move your head to point a cursor at something, then reach for a button on the headset. With Daydream, you can just aim and click the controller in your hand. Sensors in the device tell the headset what I'm trying to do, whether it's swinging a tennis racket or casting a fishing rod. The headset's display responds accordingly.

While sophisticated systems like Facebook's Oculus Rift and HTC's Vive let you walk around in the virtual world, Daydream View is a sit-down experience in which you use the controller to move yourself around. You could walk around with the Daydream on if you wanted to, but you won't go anywhere in virtual space - and you might run into the wall.

But the Rift and the Vive each costs more than $1,500, once you include powerful personal computers they require.

Gear VR, at $100, takes a similar approach, but it works only with Samsung phones. While Daydream works only with Pixel for now, several other Android makers plan to make compatible phones. Sorry, iPhone users.

Daydream has promise, but until more apps arrive, its potential is still a dream.

Daydream VR requirements

Google's Daydream View virtual reality goggles currently work with Google's new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, but how about devices from other manufacturers? The latest compatibility document for Android specifies what a phone needs in order to be compatible with Google's latest foray into VR.

Starting with the display, Daydream-compatible phones need a screen with a diagonal larger than 4.7" but smaller than 6". That screen needs to update at 60Hz. In addition to having response time under 3 ms, the display also needs a low-persistence-mode in which pixels emit light for less than 5 ms. Google says that 1080p screens are okay, but recommends that manufacturers use 1440p resolutions or higher.

In addition, the SoC inside a Daydream-compatible phone must have at least two physical cores capable of simultaneously decoding two instances of 60 FPS video. Additionally, the device must support OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan, and Bluetooth 4.2. The phone should also have a full fleet of sensors, including one to monitor the surface temperature of the device in addition to the expected gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer sensors.

Finally, Daydream VR requires Android Nougat.