A year on from announcing the surprisingly awesome Google Cardboard-inflected View-Master revival, Mattel has unveiled an improved update.
Last year’s View-Master was much more than a simple revival of the classic kid’s toy, which offered up a number of rudimentary scenes through a plastic headset. Rather, it was a full-on collaboration with Google, presenting a child-friendly adaptation of the Cardboard VR concept.
We found the View-Master to be an impressive piece of kit, with a decent design and some strong educational content – albeit with a couple of basic faults.
Now Mattel is looking to address some of those flaws with a new and improved model. At the New York Toy Fair this weekend past, the toy company unveiled the View-Master Virtual Reality Viewer 2.0.
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This time around, Mattel has included a headphone jack, which was one of the glaring omissions the first time around. It also has an improved mounting system that will accept a greater range of smartphones, including older 4-inch iPhone models like the iPhone 5.
There’s now a focus wheel that enables the fine adjustment of the lenses, which Mattel claims have also been enhanced.
Related: Google advancing from Cardboard to plastic with proper VR headset
As Toyland points out, the result of such refinement is a $10 price bump, but that still only means that the final cost will be $40, or around £28.
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Expect to see the View-Master Virtual Reality Viewer 2.0 to hit shops some time this autumn.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.