Since there’s little to no regulation on the viewer designs sold, there are a ton of different viewers out there. While the “default” model is in fact made of cardboard, there are variants that come in plastic, foam, and other materials.
As for how Cardboard works? Basically an app splits an image on your phone’s screen into two. You then insert your phone into a reader, and using two special lenses, you are given a 3D VR type affect might pale in comparison to high-end VR experiences like you’d find with an Oculus Rift, but is actually pretty impressive considering the low-key investment here.
Controlling the games is done a few different ways, but most commonly you interact by looking at things long enough to select them. You can also look around the VR world just as you would in the real world, by moving your head. Some viewers and apps do support extra input methods like triggers on the viewer, Bluetooth controllers, etc, but these methods of control are less common at this stage.
Source@AndroidAuthority
