Nearly a year ago, I wrote about a then-new product called the Samsung Gear VR — a mobile phone-powered headset that promised cheap, mainstream virtual reality, but it delivered something I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. The Gear VR felt innovative but clumsy, powerful but isolating. Mobile VR could do great things, but not in a way that worked for me.

For the last week, I’ve been trying a new product built on much the same premise: Google’s Daydream View, a $79 pair of goggles that work with the new Pixel and Pixel XL phones. The View is the first of what Google says will be several headsets made for Daydream, a VR platform that was introduced in Android 7.1 Nougat.

As Daydream’s herald, the View has to win over two different…

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