Zeiss is well known for producing high end optical lenses that all started off when Carl Zeiss founded the company in Germany and started producing microscopes followed by cameras and eventually, 60 years later, the virtual reality headset. To break it down It works by using two lenses in a headset, a slot to put your phone into and a selection of apps to download to work alongside this, and comes at a reasonably low price. Let’s start with the good, the headset is made from a tough plastic comfortable to wear with soft padding around the eyes that doesn’t rub or leave marks, you can even wear your glasses with this headset, its looks great with a futuristic feel similar to the other headsets we have seen out there.

The lenses magnify the image off of your smart phone screen, they produce a good image with only a little bit of distortion in the far corners. You will need to make sure you have the right tray for your device which are sold separately and current available in either iPhone 6 or Galaxy S5 or S6 a rather limited range. The headset itself is good but you can’t use the headset without the apps and this is where the VR One becomes disappointing, I was surprised to find there were no buttons meaning you had to remove the phone every time you need to change the app, volume or anything which is a little annoying, there are 100s of apps ready to use with this device that are all free, great but the actual viewing experience was slightly unpleasant, there was no way of adjusting the focus with the VR One suggesting there is just no need but because of this some of the apps left me feeling a little dizzy and uncomfortable.

The lack of controls actually means that some apps aren’t compatible, I also found I lost interest in the apps quite quickly for example the cinema app, I put it on and thought okay this is cool but after a few minutes I got bored and I doubt I would ever watch an entire movie like this, I did enjoy a zombie shooter game but sadly was still lacking in emersion. This is the kind of gadget that all my friends want to have a go at and go oooh and aarrh over for a few minutes when they come over but would never buy themselves, it is a strange mix of a good product that can’t really be used for anything right now, it shows great promise but is more of a gimmick until the apps can be improved.  RRP £124.99

2.8 out of 5

Buy now

Pros

Comfortable, durable head set

High end lenses

Reasonably priced VR

Cons

Limited compatibility

Limited interaction within the apps

No focus adjustment

Just not quite ready yet