The wait for Daydream on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus is finally over. Months after Samsung promised to support Google’s mobile virtual reality platform would come to its flagship, it’s made good: Over the next few weeks, Galaxy S8 units across all carriers will be updated to work with Daydream View headsets and Google’s motion-sensing Daydream Controller.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up Daydream on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. If you’re looking for more Daydream-related content, check out our roundup of Daydream headsets, smartphones, controllers, and software.
Getting Daydream VR up and running on the Galaxy S8 isn’t too challenging. But you’ll need to install the Daydream app.
That’s it! You’re ready to start using Daydream on the Galaxy S8. Pop your phone into a Daydream-compatible headset, make sure the controller is fully charged, and slap the Galaxy S8 into your Daydream headset — Google’s Daydream tutorial will start automatically.
Once you’ve completed the tutorial once, you don’t have to do it again. Launching Daydream is as easy as opening the Daydream app, tapping the circle-shaped headset button in the bottom right-hand corner of the app, and slotting the Galaxy S8 into the headset.
So just how well does Daydream work on the Galaxy S8? Just as well as any other phone, really. We noticed a few framerate issues during the first few tutorial scenes, but restarting the Daydream app seemed to get rid of them.
It was smooth sailing once we reached Daydream Home, Daydream’s app screen. The onscreen pointer responded pretty much instantly to the tilts and turns of the Daydream controller, and the apps we tested worked without issue. We were especially impressed by 360-degree videos in the YouTube app, which looked colorful and vibrant on the Galaxy S8 Plus’s big screen.
VR experiences aren’t exactly new to the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus. Both phones support Samsung and Oculus’ $130 Gear VR, which boasts a much larger content library compared to Daydream. Now that one of the world’s most popular high-end phones supports Google’s VR platform, developers have more incentive than ever to start targeting it.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.