HTC’s Standalone Headset is an Evolution For Virtual Reality – CNET

Virtual reality headsets have changed quite a bit over the past decade, mostly getting more powerful and more expensive. HTC’s Vive XR Elite, like Meta’s recent Quest Pro and possibly Apple’s awaited device, asks the question: Are we truly ready for the rise of the $1,000-plus VR rigs? 


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The $1,099 headset, available for preorder Thursday, is arriving by the end of February — remarkably soon for a CES product. That means it’ll be available alongside Sony’s PlayStation 5-connected PSVR 2. While less expensive than the Quest Pro, the XR Elite’s price costs about as much as buying a PS5 and a PSVR 2 together. It’s far from an impulse purchase. But the hardware, which shrinks down the VR form to a pair of nearly glasses-like goggles and includes mixed-reality capabilities that could allow for AR apps, looks to solve how we’ll be using the metaverse for more in our lives than just games, simulation and fitness.

Read moreThe Wonders of CES 2023: 3D Laptops, Wireless TV and Shape-Shifting Screens

No other company has really cracked this challenge either. But this Vive headset looks, more than ever, like it’s a stepping stone to future AR glasses.

The XR Elite’s battery strap detaches, and glasses-like arms can be added on instead to reduce size further.


HTC

“We see where mixed reality is going to create a whole new suite of use cases. We know the virtual reality use cases are great. I think the AR side is amazing, too,” Dan O’Brien, HTC’s general manager of Vive, told me in a conversation at CES in Las Vegas. He acknowledged that HTC tried to make an AR device in 2015 but stopped because of the complications. O’Brien sees 5G and cloud computing as a key next step. “You need a 5G network, a really robust one to make AR go to scale — you need a cloud infrastructure to deliver to those types of wearables.”

The XR Elite is primarily a standalone VR headset, and it looks like an impressive piece of tech: It has a familiar Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chip much like the Meta Quest 2, Quest Pro and Vive’s existing business-focused Focus 3. But it adds a higher-resolution 110-degree field of view, LCD displays with 2K resolution per eye that can run at 90Hz. There’s also a boosted 12GB of RAM along with 128GB of storage. It can connect to PCs to run SteamVR or HTC’s VivePort software, or connect with Android phones. But its potential as a bridge to AR experiences seems like the most impressive feature.

Those are just specs, though. The XR Elite is a VR headset with a similar proposition to previous models, but with expanded capabilities. Its compact size is the most surprising part: At 340 grams, it’s less …….

Source: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNuZXQuY29tL3RlY2gvY29tcHV0aW5nL2h0Y3Mtc3RhbmRhbG9uZS1oZWFkc2V0LWlzLWFuLWV2b2x1dGlvbi1mb3ItdmlydHVhbC1yZWFsaXR5L9IBYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNuZXQuY29tL2dvb2dsZS1hbXAvbmV3cy9odGNzLXN0YW5kYWxvbmUtaGVhZHNldC1pcy1hbi1ldm9sdXRpb24tZm9yLXZpcnR1YWwtcmVhbGl0eS8?oc=5

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