Samsung's Gear VR headset and Oculus-powered controller.
Samsung's Gear VR headset and Oculus-powered controller.
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Hands-on with the Samsung Gear VR controller

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

Samsung launched a virtual reality controller today for its Gear VR mobile headset to go with the new Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone also introduced today.

The Gear VR controller sells for $39, or for $130 when bundled with the Gear VR headset. It hits retail stores on April 21. The controller has buttons, a touch pad for your thumb, and a trigger. I tried the controller out on a recent visit to the Oculus building at Facebook’s campus.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.