This is LYNX, a startup building the world’s most open and versatile device capable of
both VR and AR: the LYNX R1.
It can be used tethered to play PC VR games, standalone to go into VR anywhere you want,
and even has this AR mode with advanced hand tracking at a small and lightweight form factor.
There is currently no headset out there with all these specs combined and all this, just
for 500 US dollars?
Yes this may be more than the Quest 2 but this is still a low for a standalone XR headset.
Since they are a startup and have never released a product before, it isn’t strange to be
cautious about it. They’re ambitious too, so the question is: Does it work? Should you
buy one?
We’ve been curious about Lynx even before this came out, so I’ve been poking them
for at least a year, and last week, they finally had time for us to come over! So today, I’ll
share exclusive hands-on impressions. Full disclosure, Lynx sponsored this trip, but
I wasn’t obligated to post a video. Plus, you know, honest opinions always cus our love
for you is stronger 😉 Leave me a like to support us, and now, join me beyond reality.
Paris, the city of love, and funny enough, when we got into the office, we could almost
feel the love for XR. Stan Larroque, the founder & CEO of Lynx, showed us around. It was a
small and a bit of a messy office. I guess exactly like a real startup, which, as a developer
by heart, is something I think is super cool.
Plus, the atmosphere felt good. A passionate engineering team of about 15 people is working
hard to push the boundaries and bring the standard of standalone XR headsets to a higher
level. And not in two years, but soon. In April 2022, to be exact. Wow!
So we got a look at where the pre-production units are assembled By hand. There’s a box
where the headset’s camera colors are tuned, a robot hand that can calibrate the displays,
and the machines where the magic happens of actually making it all work together.
During our demos tho, I’ve only tried pre-production units which Stan told me demonstrates basic
engineering validations but not yet the experience you would expect when you buy the headset.
The production units will use the same components but will get better materials and be more
fine-tuned later. So yes, I can tell you it works, but we did bump into a few things.
But before we dive into that, let’s talk specs.
So I got a look at the headset’s exterior first. It’s a surprisingly small form factor
with a strap; you may know by now as the Halo strap. So the front weight is supported by
this forehead holder. A cushion, attached magnetically, keeps it soft and there’s
a back dial to tighten it all. There is no top strap but you can put one in there as
there are holes made ready for it. The backside has a battery for counterweight and should
last about 2 to 3 hours on standalone mode. I couldn’t test this, though, as the demos
were on multiple headsets. But I can tell you it is a comfortable headset as it’s
lightweight and well-balanced. Tiny headsets and comfort is where we’re going and I love
it.
The front can be flipped up for easy peeks or hydration. There is an immersive cover
available too, also attached magnetically, so you can go into VR mode or AR mode.
I got a peek at the inside of the headset too with this beautiful limited edition transparent
cover, and the specs are great. It contains a Qualcomm XR2 chip with 6GB of RAM and 128GB
internal storage extensible to 1TB with an SD card.
There are dual LCDs in there with 1600 times 1600 pixels per eye at a 90Hz refresh rate.
Now, this is unique about the headset. There are two 4-fold catadioptric freeform prism
lenses. *A hem* It’s a new design never seen before in other headsets and it’s these
lenses that make it possible to pack all the components in such a small form factor. But
more about what it looks like in the headset in a bit.
Continuing the specs. Stereo speakers on the sides, a four microphone array, and a 3.5mm
audio jack. Active cooling.
And the plan is to unlock all the features of the XR2 chip, so yes, it includes WiFi
6, Bluetooth 5, PC VR streaming via WiFi and, while the chip can handle 7 cameras, this
headset houses 6 cameras in total. That is more than the Quest. Two RGB cameras for the
low-latency color AR passthrough, two infrared cameras for the hand tracking using UltraLeap,
and two Black & White cameras for positional tracking. It’s pretty incredible how much
they could fit inside this little front.
So the headset is designed to work without controllers and focused on hand tracking.
There will be controllers available, but they are not ready yet.
We’re going in the headset for the first time. Ever!
So the first thing I demoed was AR passthrough with hand tracking, and indeed, this had low
latency. You’ll see a bit of latency of about 15ms but it was low enough for me to
comfortably walk around wearing the headset without tripping over and falling. It was
actually nice being able to see real-life too at the sides as it gave a good sense of
the latency. The colors weren’t fine-tuned yet, so you can see that sometimes it turns
a bit yellow or blue-ish, but this should be fixed in the final unit.
I got a look at the hand tracking too, which is one of my favorite aspects of the headset
because it works well! I could do hand and finger gestures like this… and this… and
I was impressed how it was still remarkably able to distinguish each hand and fingers.
It’s still not perfect but it is better than Quest 2 and I can just see what you can
do with it and I think it’s super promising.
I tried another native AR app where I could see a solar system embedded into the real
world. This looked awesome; while the cameras of real-life weren’t as sharp as real life,
the solar system looked beautifully sharp.
But then we bumped a thing. We got a few VR demos, a Beat Saber clone using my hands,
and an app where I was Harry Potter throwing around spells. This worked but this was the
first time both Chary, and I noticed we had trouble finding the sweet spot.
You can adjust the lenses separately to match your eyes, which could be great, but it also
made it harder. Especially with the immersive cover on. I found this took too much time
and I just couldn’t get it entirely comfortable. So most of my time in the VR demos, I saw
something that looked like ghosting, and because of the lenses 4-fold design that’s corrected
by software, I saw my visuals become a bit wobbly around the areas where it folds.
Asking Stan, he told me the lens and the display were not precisely calibrated together in
some eye pieces yet, but this should be resolved once they hit production using the tooling
of their manufacturer.
So it was hard for me to judge the display entirely. Do keep in mind I only had a few
hours with the headset and I think I need more time with it, which will come later.
The headset also works with SteamVR, but since the headset doesn’t use the base stations,
I was curious to know how the controllers would be tracked.
For my demo, I could try an NVIDIA CloudXR app that streamed SteamVR to my headset.
They had the FinchShift controllers ready, which uses two armband straps with IMUs for
the tracking. This is NOT the final Lynx controllers, Lynx is going to design and manufacter new
controllers without the armbands. But they will work with FinchShift as they will provide
the tracking technology. Unfortunately, that software wasn’t ready yet, so I could only
experience the tracking with the IMUs, which worked but had tracking latency. The new controllers
will use the IMUs AND the visible light sensors on the headset to track the controllers more
accurately.
So yes, our demos weren’t issue-free and I think there are two main causes for this.
First, we are the first to demo the Lynx R1 ever, so there was a bit of improvising going
on, which led to not everything working well. The positive side of this is that we could
tell that Lynx has nothing to hide, is open and transparent about anything they do and
that gave us a lot of trust.
Then the software is still in its early stages. All demos were shown to me by launching it
via the command line. There is no in-VR operating system yet, no launcher, or a store and content
distribution place. Lynx says that software is what they are working on between now until
release, and it will take a few more months and that a lot should be fixed once the software
matures.
We already know that Lynx is an Android 10 device, OpenXR is in the pipeline, and it
will support Unity3D with an SDK made in collaboration with Qualcomm and UltraLeap.
Lynx also told me the SDK will be open-sourced and that the ecosystem will be as open as
they can provide. This should make it easy for developers to make games or port their
Quest 2 games on it. The software will be distributed online as soon as they can send
the first units to developers at the start of 2022. When this happens, I’m guessing
we’ll see the software mature a lot faster.
So unfortunately, no impressions on software yet but hopefully soon. Now it’s a bit hard
for me to say whether Lynx is on track and a bit too early for me to say if you should
buy it. Honestly, I just don’t know enough about what it takes to bring a headset out
in the market to say this right now. But I will keep learning about it and reporting.
By going there, I learned a lot about the team, and I could see they are working passionately
to make it as good as possible and it brings me comfort knowing how much knowledge their
team has, the partnerships they made & their full transparency is just great. Plus, they
showed me enough to see that their hardware works, now it just need to all come together
and finalize.
If they pull it off, this means it will also be a major leap towards an open metaverse.
Something we can stand behind.
If you’re interested in supporting them, then you can check out their Kickstarter.
They reached their goal already in like 15 hours after launch but you can still buy the
headset from there. The link is below.
What do you think about the Lynx R1 headset and all that I’ve told you in this video?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave me a like if you want me to keep reporting more
on this headset. I hope to see you in the next, I got an awesome giveaway coming tomorrow
and a special thanks go to all our Champions, especially these Patrons right here. And as
always, VR on!