A busy week at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco just got a little bit busier for HTC.
Earlier this week, the team sprung a two pronged announcement on the industry by revealing both the pricing and the shipping details for the HTC Vive Pro – the firm’s update/upgrade to the original HTC Vive head mounted display (HMD). The announcement confirmed where and when people could pre-order the new headset for both the American and European regions. Whilst the details were long sought after, community sentiment over the price – in particular the comparison between the UK and US prices – could be described as mixed at best. The lack of controllers for a package that costs $799 (USD) was also a topic of much discussion.
Today’s announcement does not involve the wired HTC Vive Pro but rather HTC’s first standalone HMD, the Vive Focus.
The Vive Focus was officially revealed on November 14th last year at the HTC Vive conference. This followed a couple of months of speculation following a number of trademark applications that at one time indicated it would be called the ‘Vive Eclipse‘. The headset premiered in the Chinese Market this January but is now also confirmed to make an appearance in the West for those who have not already imported the HMD.
“Built upon Vive Wave, our open VR platform and toolset that is unifying the development experience for standalone and mobile VR devices, along with Viveport as its content platform, Vive Focus is designed to appeal to a wider range of mass market audiences as well as commercial/enterprise users who want broad deployment and stunning VR experiences in a convenient and portable form factor.” Say Vive on their official blog.
Sadly, no details regarding the price in the US or Europe were revealed, neither was there any indication of dates for release or pre-order, only that the headset would be available this year. Those developers who would be interested in acquiring developer kits for the Vive Focus, however, are now able to do so through the company’s developer portal from today. With them being available to “most” countries.
You can find a refresher on the Vive Focus statistics below.
Vive Focus Headset Statistics:
| Tracking technology&sensors: | World-Scale tracking(inside-out 6-degree-of-freedom),9-axis sensors, proximity sensor |
|---|---|
| Display: | 3K AMOLED, resolution 2880 x 1600 |
| Refresh rate: | 75 Hz |
| FOV: | 110 degrees |
| Adjustable IPD: | Supported |
| Processor: | Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 835 |
| Storage: | MicroSD™ slot,up to 2TB MicroSD™ external memory |
| For data and device charging: | USB Type-C |
| Audio input/output: | Built-in microphones, built-in speakers, 3.5mm stereo audio jack |
| Wireless: | Wi-Fi® 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, support to transmit contents to Miracast™ compatible devices |
| Power and battery: | Built-in rechargeable battery, QC3.0 fast charging, up to 3 hours* of active use time, over one week* standby time |
Vive Focus controller
| Sensors: | 9-axis sensors |
|---|---|
| Buttons: | Touch pad, app button, home button, volume +/- button, trigger |
| Power and battery: | Two AAA batteries, up to 30 hours* of active use time |
*Battery life claims depend on many factors and actual result will vary. It’s subject to content and device usage.
Vive Focus Includes
| VIVE Focus headset x 1 |
| Controller x 1 |
| Wrist strap x 1 |
| AAA battery x 2 |
| HTC rapid charger 3.0 x 1 |
| USB Type-C cable x 1 |
| Quick start guide x 1 |
| Safety guide x 1 |
| Warranty card x 1 |
VRFocus will, of course, bring you more details on everything related to the Vive Focus as we get them.
via Mint VR