%0 Conference Paper %1 merz2025smartphone %A Merz, Christian %A Latoschik, Marc Erich %A Wienrich, Carolin %B CHI 25 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts %D 2025 %K c.wienrich hiava merz myown piis %R 10.1145/3706599.3719814 %T Breaking Immersion Barriers: Smartphone Viability in Asymmetric Virtual Collaboration %U https://downloads.hci.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/2025-chilbw-smartphone-asymmetry.pdf %X As demand grows for cross-device collaboration in virtual environments, users increasingly join shared spaces on varying hardware ranging from head-mounted displays (HMDs) to everyday lower-immersion smartphones. This paper investigates smartphone-based participation compared with fully immersive VR in dyadic asymmetric interaction. One participant joins via an HMD, while the other uses a smartphone. Through a collaborative sorting task, we evaluate self-perception (presence, embodiment), other-perception (co-presence, social presence, avatar plausibility), and task-perception (task load, enjoyment). We compare our results with previous work that examined VR-VR and desktop-VR pairings. The results show that smartphone users report lower self-perception than VR users. However, other-perception remains comparable to immersive setups. Interestingly, smartphone participants experience lower mental demand. It appears that device familiarity and intuitive interfaces can compensate for reduced immersion. Overall, our work highlights the viability of smartphones for asymmetric interaction, offering high accessibility without impairing social interaction.

@inproceedings{merz2025smartphone, abstract = {As demand grows for cross-device collaboration in virtual environments, users increasingly join shared spaces on varying hardware ranging from head-mounted displays (HMDs) to everyday lower-immersion smartphones. This paper investigates smartphone-based participation compared with fully immersive VR in dyadic asymmetric interaction. One participant joins via an HMD, while the other uses a smartphone. Through a collaborative sorting task, we evaluate self-perception (presence, embodiment), other-perception (co-presence, social presence, avatar plausibility), and task-perception (task load, enjoyment). We compare our results with previous work that examined VR-VR and desktop-VR pairings. The results show that smartphone users report lower self-perception than VR users. However, other-perception remains comparable to immersive setups. Interestingly, smartphone participants experience lower mental demand. It appears that device familiarity and intuitive interfaces can compensate for reduced immersion. Overall, our work highlights the viability of smartphones for asymmetric interaction, offering high accessibility without impairing social interaction.}, added-at = {2025-03-14T19:58:49.000+0100}, author = {Merz, Christian and Latoschik, Marc Erich and Wienrich, Carolin}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/21ccb5362e95f2bfdcb39af8527f98732/hci-uwb}, booktitle = {CHI 25 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts}, doi = {10.1145/3706599.3719814}, interhash = {c439a96b9c0c7d27e68cd85fb7b30334}, intrahash = {1ccb5362e95f2bfdcb39af8527f98732}, keywords = {c.wienrich hiava merz myown piis}, timestamp = {2025-05-12T08:38:53.000+0200}, title = {Breaking Immersion Barriers: Smartphone Viability in Asymmetric Virtual Collaboration}, url = {https://downloads.hci.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/2025-chilbw-smartphone-asymmetry.pdf}, year = 2025 }