Welcome to my very first blog and blogpost guys,
Gone are the days when you needed to root your phone or pay for an app or compromise with the fitting of the phone in Gear VR or adjust with the misalignment of center-line to play Cardboard or any other VR app or game on Gear VR.
Don't let the phrase "hacking the hardware" fool you though. You don't need any skills for this. Just a fundamental knowledge you learnt in school. Hope you paid attention in your class. 😉
Do it at your own risk, which is pretty low though. I won't be responsible for anything bad that happens to you, your phone, your Gear VR or anything else.
So, lets begin...
Remember the normal operation of your Gear VR? As soon as you plug your phone into the micro-usb hub, a beep sounds and the phone screen turns off while starting the Oculus app automatically. You can see the app if you wear the headset or by covering the Gear VR light/proximity sensor which lights up the screen. But you cannot operate the phone as the phone doesn't respond when screen is touched or any button is tapped or pressed in this mode. So you cannot open any desired app or game and go on enjoying it on Gear VR unless the app or game is signed to be used that way.
Now there are many other workarounds to this problem already out there. Software hacks either require either an app to disable Gear VR Service which you need to pay for or need your phone to be rooted. Hardware hacks need you to compromise either with the fitting of your phone in Gear VR or the misalignment of the center-line of the app or game which causes discomfort or both. Hmm...these are unreliable...What about my hack?
Lets move on to see the simple hardware hack...
Tried it? Worked for you? Liked it? Ran into any problem? Anything else? Let me know in comments.
If you share this idea anywhere via any medium please consider giving me the proper credit, thanks.
Gone are the days when you needed to root your phone or pay for an app or compromise with the fitting of the phone in Gear VR or adjust with the misalignment of center-line to play Cardboard or any other VR app or game on Gear VR.
This guide will teach you how to hardware hack your new Gear VR to prevent it from auto-starting the Oculus Home app on any compatible phone so that you can run your desired VR app as well as VR game and enjoy it on Gear VR just as you do on any other Cardboard VR.
Don't let the phrase "hacking the hardware" fool you though. You don't need any skills for this. Just a fundamental knowledge you learnt in school. Hope you paid attention in your class. 😉
Do it at your own risk, which is pretty low though. I won't be responsible for anything bad that happens to you, your phone, your Gear VR or anything else.
So, lets begin...
Remember the normal operation of your Gear VR? As soon as you plug your phone into the micro-usb hub, a beep sounds and the phone screen turns off while starting the Oculus app automatically. You can see the app if you wear the headset or by covering the Gear VR light/proximity sensor which lights up the screen. But you cannot operate the phone as the phone doesn't respond when screen is touched or any button is tapped or pressed in this mode. So you cannot open any desired app or game and go on enjoying it on Gear VR unless the app or game is signed to be used that way.
Now there are many other workarounds to this problem already out there. Software hacks either require either an app to disable Gear VR Service which you need to pay for or need your phone to be rooted. Hardware hacks need you to compromise either with the fitting of your phone in Gear VR or the misalignment of the center-line of the app or game which causes discomfort or both. Hmm...these are unreliable...What about my hack?
Lets move on to see the simple hardware hack...
Unlock the micro-usb hub and remove it from the VR...
Now the trick concept is that...
Paper is a bad conductor of electricity.
and why am I saying so?
that's because...
..the trick is "to prevent the communication between phone and VR which happens across the pins that you can see now both on micro-usb hub and Gear VR when you remove the micro-usb hub".
And this is can be done by simply using just a...SMALL PIECE OF PAPER! 😛
Place a thin rectangular piece of paper of size to cover just the pins of Gear VR and slide the micro-usb hub back in and lock it.
That's it! Isn't that easy?!
Make sure the piece of paper is just enough to cover those pins and not the micro-usb hub locking mechanism.
Plug your phone back in...
The phone screen goes off as before, but don't worry, it will light up after a while or when touched the screen or buttons and is fully operational even when connected to Gear VR unlike as before.
YAY!!! 😃💥🎊🎉
Now you may open any app you want on your phone and plug it into the Gear VR. You don't need to plug in your phone for first use, just open your app or game, unlock the hub, remove it, place the paper piece in its place, replace the hub, lock it, plug the phone and enjoy.
Note that all the Gear VR functions i.e. all the buttons on the headset plus the touchpad will no longer work in this mode. So to use screen tapping function, use Bluetooth gamepad in mouse mode, hide cursor and press the button for left click to select.
Unfortunately, the consumer version of new Gear VR does NOT support physical input devices through micro-usb. Also that even if it did, you could not have used it in this mode of Gear VR as the micro-usb of phone is accessible only via the headset port, but this piece of paper you just placed would not have allowed the communication in between the gamepad and phone too!
So use BLUETOOTH GAMEPAD ONLY!
Use Mouse mode on it and press the button which acts as left click to simulate a tap on screen and select. Hide the cursor in center(avoid Cardboard settings gear button) or a corner away from your vision in VR.
Remove the paper again by undergoing similar steps as before to use Gear VR as it is designed for...
This method is well-tested on new Gear VR but not on the older version.
If older one has similar micro-usb hub, there is no reason for this method not to work on it too.
Watch the video for more guidance and visual proof.
Tried it? Worked for you? Liked it? Ran into any problem? Anything else? Let me know in comments.
If you share this idea anywhere via any medium please consider giving me the proper credit, thanks.
Enjoy!!!
