VR Tube
www.vr-tube.me
- Unique VR browser platform
- Low scene count
- Constant pop-up ads
- Still in beta mode
To rate VRTube as inoperable would be too generous. They have way too few scenes for a tube site and there’s no mobile version, which excludes the use of streaming the scenes in VR. There’s also no way in which to download their scenes and clicking on almost anything on the page opens up annoying popup ads. I couldn’t get away from this site fast enough!
My Full VR Tube Review
They’ve Got VR in Montenegro Now
The first thing I noticed when I tried out VR Tube was their unique domain address: .me. I looked it up and it seems like .me is the national domain of the small Balkan nation of Montenegro. Not the most important fact, but it stood out to me nonetheless. The second thing I noticed was that VR Tube is kind of a crappy site and after you visit it you’ll understand that my description is not only well deserved, but also a bit of an understatement.
...I could tilt my vision 180° and appreciate how the scenes were distributed around me in a 3D dome.
Houston, We’ve Got a Problem
Each time I clicked on one of these scenes an ad popped up and I couldn’t roll my eyes fast enough. The scenes play, but in a really wonky player that I could not even test in a Cardboard device since the site is not formatted for mobile use. There’s also no way of downloading them. So it’s not an exaggeration when I say that there’s nothing here for me.
A Unique Promising VR Interface
It’s one possible redeeming quality might be its interface, which I’ve never seen before. By this I mean when you arrive on the homepage there are two awkwardly placed little boxes (broken characters if you will that I think were originally Chinese characters), at the top left of the page, one of which is highlighted. If you highlight the other box you’ll land on the beta version of their homepage, which is meant to be viewed in a VR headset. The platform of the browser certainly looked really cool and while the scenes weren't responsive I could tilt my vision 180° and appreciate how the scenes were distributed around me in a 3D dome.
Check Out the Learn More Page
My best guess or rather my hopeful guess is that this site is currently under construction …
You’ll notice six links on the left-hand side of the page, the first first two labeled “Browse All” and “Most Popular,” both of which just bring you back to the homepage. The third link, “Learn More,” provides an interesting primer into virtual reality technology and a side-by-side comparison of the most commonly used devices. This is nice, but if the ultimate goal of this page is to presumably educate those for whom VR is still relatively new, you’d think the makers of VRTube would include step-by-step instructions on how to run their scenes on those devices.
The fourth link, “Get In Touch,” is a contact page that has not been formatted correctly and contains broken characters and a pair of contradictory messages that inform me that my message has been both sent and failed before I even tried to send anything through. The fifth link reads “Sign Up/Sign In” and is completely unresponsive. Finally the sixth, “Donate BTC,” just wants you to give them your Bitcoins. I didn’t even bother to try to see if it was functional and I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t.
The Site’s Bound to Improve
My best guess or rather my hopeful guess is that this site is currently under construction, which could have been easily indicated with a simple text or banner. The beta version of their homepage also seemed super interesting. Perhaps they will have updated and improved their site in a few months’ time.
