Samsung Gear VR lands in stores today from Amazon and others

Right on schedule, the Samsung Gear VR has finally arrived today via Best Buy, Amazon, and AT&T — with T-Mobile also expected to offer the handset starting next week. While Samsung released two “Innovator Editions” of the Gear VR ahead of this one, the new Gear VR is the first fully commercial ready model and comes at a fairly aggressive price of $99.99.

The Gear VR basically sits somewhere between higher-end VR solutions like the Oculus Rift and low-end solutions like Cardboard and its many clones and relatives. Like the Cardboard family, the Gear VR utilizes an existing smartphone as its brains, but unlike the former, the Gear VR has extra sensors and components that help provide a more immersive experience than you’d get with Cardboard. Gear VR also has a much more unified library of games, media apps, and services, and is made in partnership with Oculus — further cementing the fact that this is the real deal.

At launch, there are over a hundred games and apps tailored for the Gear VR, with plenty more to come, including 25 brand new made-for-VR games and experiences arriving in early December.  Some of the most critically acclaimed VR titles available for the Gear VR right now include Land’s End (from UStwo, of Monument Valley fame), Mortal Blitz VR, Netflix, and more. There’s also the Oculus Store — Oculus’ portal to finding great VR-optimized experiences.

[related_videos align=”center” type=”custom” videos=”644610,592175,522432″]

Bottom-line, if you’re looking for a mainstream VR experience that isn’t the wild west that is Google’s Cardboard platform, the Gear VR is worthy of your consideration. On the downside, the Gear VR is only compatible with a handful of devices: the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, and the Galaxy Note 5.

Anyone pick up the Gear VR yet, or plan to? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!