Got an Android phone and some cardboard? Now you can take a virtual trip around the world.
The Android version of Google's popular Maps app now has a virtual reality mode that works with Google Cardboard — so you can take a trip to a different city without ever leaving home, the Web giant announced this week.
To check out the new VR maps experience, simply open Street View on your phone, double tap the refresh icon at the bottom right side of the screen, and voila. You'll, of course, need to place your phone into a Google cardboard viewer to experience the virtual reality fun. Once you do so, you'll be able to scope out the Burj Khalifa in Dubai — the tallest building in the world — and other cool destinations (see slideshow below).
You can't order Google Cardboard from Google directly, but you make it yourself with the Web giant's instructions. In addition, a few companies are offering pre-assembled cardboard kits, including Dodocase, I Am Cardboard, Knox Labs, and Unofficial Cardboard.
Launched this summer at Google I/O, Google Cardboard is a bit of a gimmick, but it actually seems to have taken off. There are already dozens of Cardboard-compatible apps on Google Play — ranging from live concerts to games. Volvo last month became the first car maker to embrace the DIY wearable with a new Cardboard-compatible app that lets you experience what it's like to test drive the company's all-new XC90.
Google itself earlier this month released a new "Cardboard SDK," which simplifies some of the issues developers have to contend with when making VR-friendly apps — like "lens distortion correction, head tracking, and side-by-side rendering."
For more, check out Google Cardboard: the Best Wearable You're Not Wearing.
Meanwhile, The Colbert Report aired its last show this week, as host Stephen Colbert prepares to take over for the retiring David Letterman, but fans can tour the studio on Google Street View for a trip down memory lane.