Finch’s clever VR controller for Gear VR and Daydream

One of the economical ways to enjoy VR is through head mounted displays or HMDs like the Samsung Gear VR. These are cheaper compared to both PC and console VR which can set you back 4 figures. However, the Samsung Gear VR would use a bluetooth gamepad or some touch pads making your VR experience less immersive. On the other end of the spectrum, the HTC Vive have motion controllers which allows the players to interact realistically with VR worlds. Finch is bound to make mobile VR, just that immersive.

So the company had some trailer which shows us a Finch controller. This is basically a device that wraps around the back of your hands with 3 cable wires that attaches to the thumb, index finger and middle finger. The index finger connection features a small touch pad for additional input benefits. It also have sensors that goes around the top of the arms for more tracking information to the sensors. It all connects to the headset via Bluetooth with 10 hours of battery and operational life.

What’s great about the Finch is that it allows VR visualization of the hands without using some external cameras. So you are free to move around a certain play area without limits. What mobile headsets does it support? A wide variety: the Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard and Google’s latest Daydream View headset. It will also work with more powerful PC VR like the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive.

Pre-orders are already open for the Finch Development Kit 1 (DK1) controller through finch-vr.com, retailing for $238 USD plus shipping.

For that price customers get:

• two Finch controllers for each arm
• Bluetooth adapters for PC connection
• Charging cables
• SDK/API
• three videogame demos
• Gesture Creation Tool (for developers)
• converter for adaptation of existing apps for DayDream, LeapMotion and SteamVR platforms (for developers)

Shipments will begin this December.