Explorer 2D for phones and tablets

[emalafeew]

I just tested sideloading it to Quest and it works fine! You can use the Oculus hand controller to select buttons and look around. Autosteering doesn't feel bad because the scene is contrained to a virtual TV-sized window.

[Auld_Pharrrt]

Woohoo ... By hand controller do you mean the VR Button or the Quest's touch controllers?

I just tried it on my S8 and it is working well, but, I might have noticed a bug.

When you stop pedalling, the timer keeps running ... I had noticed this before but it only really mattered when I paused to get a glass of water ... Now I can't help noticing it.

I will give it a go on my S6 shortly ... I might also try my old Kindle E-Book reader, but I don't expect that to wotk and I have an ancient S3 somewhere I might just go crazy and try too.

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Right, that's an 11 minute ride on the S6 and it was just as smooth as the S8.

The ride I am using is one of my own and there are VERY steep climbs with alpine like hairpin bends ... I noticed on two of them, the road surface was at almost eye level as I was dropping off the map, but this corrected very quickly on the next frame (or two).
I can live with that, but you'd maybe like to know about it.

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No joy on the Kindle ... It couldn't "parse the file" ... A common result of trying to do something like this with it.

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I need one of these for all my devices on the exercise bike ... Ha ha ha

[emalafeew]

Woohoo ... By hand controller do you mean the VR Button or the Quest's touch controllers?

I just tried it on my S8 and it is working well, but, I might have noticed a bug.

When you stop pedalling, the timer keeps running ... I had noticed this before but it only really mattered when I paused to get a glass of water ... Now I can't help noticing it.

I will give it a go on my S6 shortly ... I might also try my old Kindle E-Book reader, but I don't expect that to wotk and I have an ancient S3 somewhere I might just go crazy and try too.

---

Right, that's an 11 minute ride on the S6 and it was just as smooth as the S8.

The ride I am using is one of my own and there are VERY steep climbs with alpine like hairpin bends ...  I noticed on two of them, the road surface was at almost eye level as I was dropping off the map, but this corrected very quickly on the next frame (or two).
I can live with that, but you'd maybe like to know about it.

---

No joy on the Kindle ... It couldn't "parse the file" ... A common result of trying to do something like this with it.

---

I need one of these for all my devices on the exercise bike ... Ha ha ha

Great thanks for confirming on S6!

I meant Quest touch controllers. I didn't even realize you could run 2D apps on the Quest.

Steep climbs with hairpins are the toughest for us to correctly determine pitch, and really aren't comfortable in VR so that's a good use for 2D  ;->  

Btw we use this for testing Explorer 2D on bikes https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LCJ83S7

[Auld_Pharrrt]

Nice bracket, but I have a fair selection for devices on my road bike ... The stationary bike has a small display that my phone sits on happily ... I was joking about the basket.

[BigDog]

We've heard a number of requests for Explorer running on your phone or tablet, for when your VR headset isn't handy.  

Our focus is VR exercise, but agreed that could be a cool benefit to Premium members.  We have made a build that works now on Android OS 7 or greater devices, and would appreciate if Android owners would try it and give us feedback. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=117sUnc...Y9XC6XVY2k

1. Click the link above to install, and allow "unknown sources" since this isn't on the Play store yet.  
   
2. Make sure you have bluetooth and location services enabled to connect with VZ Sensor.
   
3. Do not pair your VZ Button!  Touch the screen to select things like a normal app.  You can also drag the screen to look different directions, and tap it to recenter.
   
4. Everything should work as expected, except steering is automatic so you cannot make open-ended rides.
   

If people like it then we'll announce as an official benefit, get it on the Play store and also make an iOS version.

I hate to say it, but it works better for me than the main Explorer app. It recovers from the "run in" issue better. Auto follow dots should be an option on the main app as well, it was great barring the occasional odd dot not following the route. Didn't freeze up on me either. The only issue I had was that it wasn't as smooth transitioning from one map section to the next as the VR app is. It hesitates and then continues. I even casted it to my TV! Would love an iOS and iPadOS option.

[emalafeew]

I hate to say it, but it works better for me than the main Explorer app. It recovers from the "run in" issue better. Auto follow dots should be an option on the main app as well, it was great barring the occasional odd dot not following the route. Didn't freeze up on me either. The only issue I had was that it wasn't as smooth transitioning from one map section to the next as the VR app is. It hesitates and then continues. I even casted it to my TV! Would love an iOS and iPadOS option.

Our iOS plugin is partially developed, glad to hear you'd like that.  The smoothness may be improved in next Explorer build.  

The reason we don't offer auto-following is it would make you more quesy in VR.  To keep your inner ear and eyes in sync, it's important to turn your head when you go around turns.  We require that in addition to a steering input so you also have the freedom to look around without turning.  

If you prefer the 2D version but still want to use your headset, you an "sideload" this APK to your Go or Quest.  Running it appears then as on your phone but on a large virtual screen, where you use your hand controller as touch control.  Thanks to Auld for discovering this!

[HHH]

We've heard a number of requests for Explorer running on your phone or tablet, for when your VR headset isn't handy.  

Our focus is VR exercise, but agreed that could be a cool benefit to Premium members.  We have made a build that works now on Android OS 7 or greater devices, and would appreciate if Android owners would try it and give us feedback. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=117sUnc...Y9XC6XVY2k

1. Click the link above to install, and allow "unknown sources" since this isn't on the Play store yet.  
   
2. Make sure you have bluetooth and location services enabled to connect with VZ Sensor.
   
3. Do not pair your VZ Button!  Touch the screen to select things like a normal app.  You can also drag the screen to look different directions, and tap it to recenter.
   
4. Everything should work as expected, except steering is automatic so you cannot make open-ended rides.
   

If people like it then we'll announce as an official benefit, get it on the Play store and also make an iOS version.

I just tried out this app and wanted to say that it is awesome.  I used this on a Moto G7 with a Magene cadence sensor and had no issues.  I used the create a ride function to create a 20 minute ride from Riverside, CT to Greenwich CT and it worked fine.  I tried it in city, country and comfort mode and liked the comfort mode the best.  The country mode was not bad but the stretching on the phone was a bit strange.  The city mode was ok, but I find that I like looking at the pavement to gauge my speed.  Riding through the cars in traffic did not bother me, and in fact it was kind of interesting to look at them.

I tried the Yosemite ride as well, but for some reason it didn't work for me.  I could see the scene and could see the rpm go up and down in sync with the cadence meter, but for some reason my avatar was stationary.  

I just discovered that I can create a route in google mymaps and then upload it to my account so will be trying that out as well.

As someone that just want to ride around and not really interesting in racing or training, the ideal app for me would be one that let me start somewhere and just ride around until I get tired.  Then the next day I could start up again from where I left off.  If I see something interesting then I can turn around and take a closer look.  The app would track my ride and show me a map of where I'd been.  I could see myself just using this app and ride across the country taking my time. 

In any case, thank you for taking the time to put this app together.  I think it would be worthwhile to consider finishing this and releasing it as a standalone app.  It would address a much bigger market since there are many more people who have a phone or tablet that they could use (versus having a VR goggle.)  It could also act as a lower priced gateway app to your more expensive VR offerings, and thereby allow you to better segment the market.

[Stain2319]

We've heard a number of requests for Explorer running on your phone or tablet, for when your VR headset isn't handy.  

Our focus is VR exercise, but agreed that could be a cool benefit to Premium members.  We have made a build that works now on Android OS 7 or greater devices, and would appreciate if Android owners would try it and give us feedback. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=117sUnc...Y9XC6XVY2k

1. Click the link above to install, and allow "unknown sources" since this isn't on the Play store yet.  
   
2. Make sure you have bluetooth and location services enabled to connect with VZ Sensor.
   
3. Do not pair your VZ Button!  Touch the screen to select things like a normal app.  You can also drag the screen to look different directions, and tap it to recenter.
   
4. Everything should work as expected, except steering is automatic so you cannot make open-ended rides.
   

If people like it then we'll announce as an official benefit, get it on the Play store and also make an iOS version.

As someone that just want to ride around and not really interesting in racing or training, the ideal app for me would be one that let me start somewhere and just ride around until I get tired.  Then the next day I could start up again from where I left off.  If I see something interesting then I can turn around and take a closer look.  The app would track my ride and show me a map of where I'd been.  I could see myself just using this app and ride across the country taking my time. 

In explorer you can do this by creating a new ride and enter only a start point, leave the end point empty. Then next time you ride, create a new ride and leave the whole thing empty and you'll start where you left off last time.

[emalafeew]

As someone that just want to ride around and not really interesting in racing or training, the ideal app for me would be one that let me start somewhere and just ride around until I get tired.  Then the next day I could start up again from where I left off.  If I see something interesting then I can turn around and take a closer look.  The app would track my ride and show me a map of where I'd been.  I could see myself just using this app and ride across the country taking my time. 

In explorer you can do this by creating a new ride and enter only a start point, leave the end point empty. Then next time you ride,  create a new ride and leave the whole thing empty and you'll start where you left off last time.

You don't even need to create a new ride the next time you ride. Explorer automatically resumes wherever you left off, just hit the "back button" on startup menu.

Note Explorer records the path you take with such "open rides", which you'll see in your Created Rides list when you hit "end ride" from the menu. That way you can replay or share it.

[AfxTwn]

I also love using this app on my Galaxy S7. Is there a possibility for this app to work with the Samsung Gear VR headset? This would provide a very low-cost way to get into VR and would be a good steeping stone for people wanting to get their toes wet in VR without the initial huge cost.

Also, it would be good if there was a search function for Explorer where you could search for rides anywhere in the world rather than having to scroll through all the tabs and lists of rides, or maybe even the ability to filter rides based on your current location using your phone's GPS or internet IP address.