HTC’s VR platform has always been one of the most popular choices for gamers and content creators on the go. Now, one of the biggest names in the VR space has announced its next big rig – the Vive Focus all-in-one VR headset.
The device will come with an inside-out 6-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) “world scale” tracking. This means that there are no external stations or sensors that are required to operate the device Users will be able to get accurate positional tracking anywhere, without depending on external accessories and PC power. The standalone headset can be used as-is and the company claims that the device will be a first of its kind innovation when it hits the market.
HTC want to remove the impression of standalone headsets that do not offer the complete breadth of experiences that a fully integrated VR headset can offer. Just like how content can be viewed differently on a Cardboard than on a VR headset.
The Vive Focus headset will run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset and uses a controller, offering three degrees of freedom along with a trackpad. Talking about the design of the device, it brings together PlayStation VR with the original Vive. The headset comes in bright blue colour. The company has not given any other details about the device or its internal capacity just yet. HTC is planning a launch only in China as of now with no official release date available yet. Reliable VR headsets are few and far between and standalone ones, more so. The partnership between Google and the Vive for a standalone headset were supposed to have come to fruition but it seems that both parties have lost interest in the project. Lenovo, however, is still on its way to releasing its own VR standalone headset to the masses soon.
One of the primary areas of concern and application for the HTC Vive Focus will be in the educational segment. Companies such as Microsoft Samsung and other companies have vowed to develop VR content for educational purposes. Over 100 developers are already working on content for the platform. It will run on Vive Wave, which is the content platform already setup by the company. The pricing and the official global release date for the device has not been revealed yet by HTC but the company is hoping to be among the first to bridge the gap between standalone VR experiences and a computer-aided one.
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