Heads on with the Sony Head Mounted Display for mobile

Sony brought their own VR headset to IFA 2013, so we strapped it on and took it for a spin

IFA

VR headsets are back in the news of late, primarily because of the Oculus Rift, but what we have here is something that Sony has cooked up. Right now it's known as the rather unimaginative Head Mounted Display, and while it will hook into your home entertainment system, we're more interested by this one, the one that hooks into your smartphone.

Essentially what you have is a VR headset with a bunch of adjustable components to make it fit your own head size, and I have to say it was actually pretty comfortable. There's plenty of cushioning where it matters, and the whole get up sits pretty snug on your head.

Everything is driven via MHL directly from a smartphone, in this case a Sony Xperia Z1. The unit has a battery pack that the MHL runs to, which then pipes the video to the headset and audio to a set of headphones.

Inside, the headset sports a HD OLED display panel, and the whole experience felt kind of similar to sitting in a cinema. The display looks so massive being so close to your eyes that it gives that same sort of effect as trying to watch a movie in the cinema. It didn't feel uncomfortable to look at, but it does take a little adjusting to. But it's pretty cool if you don't mind strapping all this stuff to your head.

At this point we're not sure whether or not this particular product will come to market in this form. But, it's another pretty cool piece of technology that Sony has built to work with your smartphone. Check out a short 'heads on' video after the break.