Unlike Santa Cruz, which is designed to put high-end desktop VR experiences in a mobile package, the Oculus Go is more like a sibling to the Gear VR. Its app library is mostly identical to the Gear VR’s, so you won’t be getting access to a bunch of different experiences. So if these issues have been keeping you away from VR, the Oculus Go probably won’t change your mind.

Oculus isn’t trying to fix VR’s biggest shortcomings here All VR headsets are noticeably grainy and blinkered, and the Oculus Go is no exception. But after a certain point, these differences become moot. You could probably also measure some difference in field-of-view or latency. The Gear VR’s image quality depends on your phone, and my Galaxy S7 Edge displayed harsher and brighter colors than my Oculus Go’s screen. Looking into an Oculus Go isn’t that different from looking into a Gear VR. It’s also replaced the Gear VR’s magnifying glass-like lenses with higher-quality fresnel lenses, similar to those on the Oculus Rift. These aren’t incredible components, or even up to par with what’s in the latest Android smartphones, but Oculus promises that it’s optimized them especially well for VR apps. It’s based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 processor from 2016, and the $199 base model includes 32GB of storage, with a 64GB version selling for $249. Its screen is a 5.5-inch display with a 2560 x 1440 resolution (1280 x 1440 per eye). The headset also has smartphone-like technical specs. It’s got basically the same features as Samsung and Oculus’ Gear VR, but as a dedicated piece of hardware, not a combination of smartphone and plastic shell. You can move its small controller like a laser pointer, but not fully mimic a virtual hand. It allows you to rotate your head, but not lean or walk around. Unlike the Oculus Santa Cruz, the Oculus Go doesn’t include full motion controllers or futuristic inside-out tracking technology, which lets users walk around rooms with no external cameras. But it’s the best that simple mobile VR has ever been, and it gives fledgling VR apps and games space to stand on their own, without having to compete for space on people’s phones. It’s not the flashiest or most high-tech headset on the market.

The Oculus Go is one of a few big “standalone” virtual reality headsets, a category that includes the upcoming Lenovo Mirage Solo and Oculus’ own Santa Cruz prototype. That’s starting to change, and one of the major catalysts is the Oculus Go headset, which launches today in nearly two dozen countries. For the past few years, consumer virtual reality headsets have mostly come in two flavors: tethered headsets that connect to a computer or console, and mobile ones that are powered by a smartphone.

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