I don’t think it’ll ever become even as mainstream as, say, 3D movies; however, I’ll be happy enough if it just doesn’t “disappear” as quickly as it did the last time around. I think we might, at best, get to the point within a few years where almost everybody knows *somebody* who owns some variety of VR gear, even if it’s not something that they themselves would be interested in.

A bigger-lensed Cardboard of plastic construction is a big step up on a basic models. That said, they’re not a scratch on “proper” hardware like a Rift, in my experience, and I’d have difficulty using a Cardboard for more than about a quarter of an hour at a time. I’ve attached straps to my (plastic) Cardboard and it’s nice to have my hands free, but I still wouldn’t use it for an extended gaming experience for example.