HTC VIVE has just announced their latest VR headset, and it's actually aimed at a wide
group of consumers this time.
It's not like their previous release, the VIVE Flow, which you could NOT use for much
except casual entertainment.
No, this is the VIVE XR Elite.
A fully self-contained standalone VR headset that supports 6DoF tracking controllers.
It's HTC's first consumer standalone that you could see as a competitor of the Quest
2, Quest Pro, and Pico 4.
Specs-wise.
If you didn't care about price.
I've had a chat with HTC ahead of the announcement, so I've got all the details for you today.
Let's talk about it.
I'm Cas, and first of all, happy new years!
I hope you enjoyed it and are excited about this year.
I know I am cus, you know, big stuff is happening, finally, after a year of what I called a VR
drought.
Soooo please subscribe if you haven't yet to keep up to date about VR and join me beyond
reality.
HTC VIVE has had a long and interesting history as a VR headset manufacturer.
The company's first VR headset, the HTC VIVE, launched in 2016 in collaboration with Valve.
It was praised because it had cutting-edge technology and was a better experience than
everything else back then.
Since then, HTC VIVE has released several updated versions of its headset, every new
release had nice advancements, but they've been having a harder time as other headsets
got better and cheaper.
HTC VIVE just hasn't hit the mark.
Will they be able to this time?
I'm trying to figure this out.
The VIVE XR Elite looks just like the VIVE Flow, but thankfully, it has some major improvements
as they combined features from both VIVE Flow and VIVE Focus 3 into this one.
The VIVE Flow didn't have a lot of use cases, but it was so tiny and comfortable.
The Focus 3 was only for enterprise, but it was the best standalone I tried at that time.
So color me intrigued.
The XR Elite has a 4K resolution display (1920 x 1920 pixels per eye) and a 90Hz refresh
rate.
The field of view is claimed at 110 degrees and will have custom-designed LCD panels and
pancake lenses.
It has an adjustable IPD slider, and like the Vive Flow, it includes an adjustable diopter
in the lenses, useful for people who wear glasses.
It's a full standalone headset that will run on a Snapdragon XR2 chip, not XR2 Plus, but
HTC has assured me they can achieve the same performance as the difference on the Plus
chip is only separated components for better heat dissipation.
The price isn't low as you probably have guessed.
You can get the full kit for $1099.
It's expensive, but HTC's argument is that their business is not built on harvesting
users' data, so this is probably the best option from a privacy standpoint.
I think it could be interesting as the price is lower than the Quest Pro, which is my main
headset right now, and on paper, the XR Elite has THESE interesting improvements over the
Quest Pro.
The VIVE XR Elite has 4 cameras that support 6DoF inside-out tracking.
You can control everything without controllers using hand tracking, and it supports the Vive
Focus 3 controllers.
This means the new headset will suit most use cases, not only casual entertainment like
the Vive Flow but everything like with other standalones like gaming and productivity.
It's a step in the right direction, but I have some thoughts on their content strategy,
which we'll talk about in a bit.
Let's talk about some of the things I like first.
During my Focus 3 review, I was impressed by its controllers.
They could be a little bit more sturdy, but other than that, they have done a great job
with the tracking, and I'm guessing this will be the same on the XR Elite.
The XR in the name also gives it away as the headset will have mixed reality capabilities.
Like the Quest Pro and the Pico 4, the headset has full-color passthrough, but the XR Elite
is the only one that includes a depth sensor.
Now, I haven't tested it yet, which I will during CES (which is happening this week)
but that probably means it's depth-correct and should look much more like real life than
other headsets.
HTC claims it's the best-looking passthrough.
I'm interested because while we don't have many apps yet that make use of color passthrough,
I do really enjoy all the apps that support it.
Something else I like is that the VIVE headsets have also always been designed to be modular.
For example, the headset will support some accessories already out, like the Vive Wrist
Tracker.
In the future, people can buy an accessory that includes eye and face tracking.
This can be used for things like eye-tracked dynamic foveated rendering.
While your wallet might not like it, it is nice to be able to pick and choose what you
need and don't need.
Aside from that, the design is more like the Flow.
Much thinner at the front, lighter, more compact, and highly portable.
But instead of only glasses-like temples, it has a Halo-like strap.
It no longer has a top strap, which reminds me of the Quest Pro, and that one gets uncomfortable.
But according to HTC, the XR Elite is more back-heavy than front-heavy because of the
battery at the back.
The entire weight is around 620 grams, including the battery, and HTC claims it to be the lightest
and most comfortable headset they've ever used.
They said some developers can use it for 18 hours a day.
Honestly, that'd be fantastic if true, but comfort is so personal, so we'll have to test
this.
But I was happy to hear that the back strap is removable, and you can replace it with
temple pads to make it more Vive Flow-like.
It also makes it tiny, so it fits a little case like this one.
The battery is hot-swappable and removable.
HTC claims a battery life of 2 hours on a full charge and supports 30-watt fast charging
with USB power delivery.
There are speakers integrated into the strap for out-of-the-box directional audio too.
If you put on the headset, you'll be transported into the VIVERSE, the headset's home environment.
The VIVERSE is also HTC's open metaverse.
This means anyone can make something in their metaverse on any device, and they say it's
up to you to do what you want.
The VIVERSE also supports avatars and VRM standards, so you could import your VRChat
avatar if you wanted, which is an interesting approach.
As for games and apps, you can play PC VR games if you have a gaming PC, and you can
do that via WiFi or wired.
HTC also already has a standalone library; their store is called VIVEPORT, and there
is already some good standalone content in there as they've built it up a bit with their
previous headsets, but there are NOT a lot of deep games that you can spend hours and
hours in.
So I feel like a grandma complaining about the same thing over and over again.
It's probably great hardware, but if it doesn't have any games that make you keep coming back,
it's really hard to recommend this headset at this price over the Meta Quest.
Because they just have a lot more games and exclusives you won't be able to play on HTC's
standalone headset unless developers decide to port it.
I asked HTC whether they have a content strategy, like Pico is investing a lot of money to get
games to their platform, but HTC says they don't have these plans as they trust on their
good relationships with devs.
This does make me wonder if developers are willing to spend their own time and money.
I will guess that only happens if many people adopt this new headset, which I don't see
happening if there's not enough content.
It's like a vicious circle, but I hope I'm wrong here, as it's nice to have more options.
I would love to hear what you think about this!
Would you buy this headset even if it doesn't have all the standalone content Quest has?
Let me know in the comments below.
So the preorders start today, January 5th, but the shipping date is still unknown at
the time of making this video.
Also, when I post this, I'm actually at CES 2023, and I have an appointment to demo this
new headset.
I will be sharing some initial thoughts on my socials, so follow me there.
And when I'm back, I'll probably post my first impressions video or maybe a review.
So let me know if you have any questions about it, and I'll try to find out for you.
Again, happy new years, thanks so much for being here!
Special thanks to our Champs, but I love you all.
Qai qian & VR on.