Most XR and VR headsets nowadays wish to be about the whole lot besides gaming, regardless of it being the most important demographic for headset patrons. Effectively, not. HTC Vive simply launched a brand new VR headset referred to as the Focus Imaginative and prescient, and it’s being explicitly focused at PC avid gamers.
Whereas it shares a reputation with Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional, HTC is focusing on completely different markets reminiscent of PC VR avid gamers, along with location-based VR venues and enterprise customers.
The Focus line of Vive headets have been extra oriented towards these latter use circumstances, which makes the Focus Imaginative and prescient a slight departure, although HTC clearly nonetheless has location-based venues in thoughts. The Vive Focus Imaginative and prescient is designed to rapidly regulate for a number of customers with quick-swap battery packs, automated IPD adjustment, and simply replaceable face and head pads.
As a Vive Focus mannequin, it’s not as svelte because the Vive XR Elite, which earned a spot on our information to one of the best VR headsets on your PC. HTC Vive designed the Focus Imaginative and prescient to be an adaptable and sturdy headset with room for superior options like eye-tracking and visually lossless DisplayPort high quality.
The Focus Imaginative and prescient comes with two controllers, however eye-, hand-, and environment-tracking means you may navigate settings and a few apps with solely your arms. Improved passthrough 16MP cameras help high-quality stereoscopic mixed-reality experiences.
The headset includes a sharp 2448 x 2448 decision, large 120-degree subject of view, and 90Hz refresh fee. That is an enchancment over the specs of the Vive XR Elite, notably with its greater decision and barely wider subject of view. In reality, the specs match up with the extra Enterprise-targeted Vive Focus 3, though that headset costed a couple of hundred {dollars} extra.
There’s even an choice for 120Hz refresh charges through DisplayPort that ought to arrive earlier than the top of 2024.
The HTC Vive Focus Imaginative and prescient has a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR Gen 1 chip so it may well work as a standalone VR headset and run Viveport video games and apps. It’s loaded with 16GB of reminiscence, 128GB of storage, and has a microSD card slot to develop storage as much as 2TB.
For shoppers, the HTC Vive Focus Imaginative and prescient sells for $999 and is now accessible for preorder on the Vive web site. Clients that buy earlier than October 17, 2024, will obtain a free Vive Wired Streaming Package, which usually prices $149. The Enterprise Version prices $1,299.
In some ways, that is old-school premium PC VR, which has fallen out of favor in comparison with the favored and extra mainstream Quest 3. That headset will seemingly stay a well-liked choice due to its inexpensive worth, however the Vive Focus Imaginative and prescient is focusing on a distinct demographic. It’s price noting that Meta Join is simply subsequent week, the place the corporate is predicted to launch its subsequent VR headset, reportedly referred to as the Quest 3S.
