HTC’s Vive XR Elite is a Quest Pro Competitor Priced at $1,100

HTC formally unveiled its subsequent consumer-focused headset at CES 2023 at present. Referred to as Vive XR Elite, the standalone combined actuality system boasts a function set that positions HTC to go toe-to-toe with Meta’s Quest Professional, however at a notably cheaper value of $1,100.

The moniker ‘Flowcus’, a portmanteau coined by VR analyst and YouTuber Brad Lynch when the headset’s design was initially leaked in November, appears to ring true with Vive XR Elite. The design appears very very like a mashup of Vive Movement, an off-the-cuff VR content material viewer utilizing pancake lenses, and Vive Focus 3, the corporate’s enterprise-focused standalone.

Vive XR Elite is beginning pre-orders at present, with transport slated for someday in late February. There’s no actual launch date on the books, so within the meantime let’s speak about a few of the options HTC introduced at present, some key specs nonetheless in want of clarification, and the headset’s slew of gaming-focused content material.

However first, the trailer:

Options

Not like HTC merchandise in latest reminiscence, Vive XR Elite is particularly focusing on gaming, health, productiveness and on-the-go content material consumption, the latter of which is because of a convertible battery headstrap that may be unplugged in favor of a glasses-like temple items.

It’s an fascinating function that’s a primary for any main VR headset, which might hypothetically help you lean again in a seat with out having a cumbersome back-mounted battery to deal with.

After all, you’ll want another energy supply to run the Vive XR Elite in the event you choose to take away the battery, be it a separate powerbank or a USB cable related to the mains.

What’s extra, Vive XR Elite is a combined actuality system, that means it will possibly swap between normal VR video games and those who use colour passthrough AR, placing it in the identical class as its chief competitor Meta Quest Professional. And like Quest Professional, Vive XR Elite could be related to a PC through USB-C for PC VR content material, in addition to wirelessly over WiFi, with assist as much as WiFi 6E. We’ll discuss a bit extra about content material in a bit.

Beneath, you’ll see the headset has 4 room-tracking digicam sensors, one on both sides and one hidden respectively beneath every faceplate. Within the middle is a single RGB digicam for colour passthrough in addition to a depth sensor, which in concept would improve accuracy of room-scale monitoring and object recognition.

Vive XR Elite additionally boasts Android app streaming, letting you work together with Android apps and video games on a digital cinema display of “300 inches,” the corporate says. Customers may hyperlink Bluetooth gamepads to their telephones for a fuller cell gaming expertise. That’s most likely the one approach you’d catch us taking part in Fortnite on a VR headset like this, since manipulating controls on the telephone’s contact floor most likely wouldn’t be efficient.

Right here’s a top-down have a look at the headset, which provides you an excellent view of how the back-mounted battery attaches, a have a look at the tightening twist knob, a transparent have a look at the battery’s USB-C charging port. It’s additionally impressively slim, owing to the inclusion of pancake lenses.

Along with supporting the identical controllers that include Vive Focus 3, the headset additionally helps Vive Wrist Tracker, a hand-tracking system that may be connected to the consumer’s wrist, or to things like gun controllers, Ping-Pong paddles, or instruments.

Right here’s a view that reveals headset’s diopter settings for its pancake lenses, which ostensibly permits near-sighted customers to go with out glasses, going as much as -6D independently for each eyes. That little slider under the precise lens is a mechanical IPD adjuster going from 54-73mm; nope, no eye-tracking right here, not less than not with out the elective eye-tracking module that’s arriving sooner or later this 12 months.

Audio is served up through two open-ear audio system built-in into the arms of the headset. We’ve poured over all product photos and have but to see house for a 3.5mm audio jack for exterior audio. That gap close to the bridge of the headset seems to be an connect level for the forthcoming facial-tracking module, which can also be slate to reach someday this 12 months. We’re at present at CES, so we’re including that to our checklist of options in want of clarification.

With a client goal clearly in its sights, HTC is providing up a slew of gaming-focused content material for Vive XR Elite (full checklist under) that features what the corporate says is “100 new items of MR and VR content material” together with Demeo, Hubris, Yuki, Maestro, Les Mills Physique Fight, FigminXR, Unplugged, Finger Gun, and extra.

Publish-launch content material will embody Everslaught: Invasion, and later within the 12 months full MR video games like Eggscape. As you recognize, a client VR headset is nothing with out video games, so it’s good to see HTC do its due diligence to draw a few of the high video games to the headset. No Beat Saber, however we wouldn’t count on Meta to prioritize porting the favored block-slashing rhythm recreation to such a direct competitor.

The corporate says Vive XR Elite may even be accessible for enterprise customers sooner or later, with extra info coming later this 12 months.

Vive XR Elite additionally has connectors for each face and eye-tracking modules, that are set to launch individually someday in 2023. We’ll be going hands-on at CES 2023, so ensure to test again for our full impressions of HTC’s subsequent massive leap into client VR. We gained’t be capable to say simply how good a proposition Vive XR Elite really is till we get our fingers on it, and see if it actually stacks as much as the competitors. As it’s, it lacks eye-tracking for out of the field social presence and foveated rendering, and we nonetheless don’t know the way it goes mano a mano with Quest Professional within the passthrough division with its single RGB passthrough digicam.

Key Specs

Right here’s an abridged spec breakdown. We’re working to get a extra detailed checklist as soon as we go hands-on right here at CES 2023. We’ve included query marks (?) the place we’ll probe for extra element in-person:

• Inside-out monitoring – vast FOV cameras (4), depth sensor (1)
• Passthrough – 16 MP RGB digicam (1)
• Decision – 1,920 × 1,920 per eye, show kind(?)
• Show Refresh – 90 Hz
• Chipset – Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2
• Storage & Reminiscence – 128 GB / 12 GB
• FOV – as much as 110-degrees
• Optics – Pancake lens
• IPD Adjustment – guide, 54 – 73 mm vary
• Audio – built-in open-ear audio, exterior audio(?)
• Weight – 625g (together with battery), 273g in ‘glasses’ mode
• Enter – 6DOF movement controllers (2), hand-tracking
• Inside Battery – mAh(?)
• Exterior Battery – detachable and hot-swappable, 30W quick cost, 26.6Wh, mAh(?), typical playtime(?)

Value

One of many greatest promoting factors is HTC Vive XR Elite’s value, which though clearly not close to the sub-$500 console value that usually will get us excited, it’s coming in a good bit cheaper than the $1,500 Meta Quest Professional.

Be aware: many areas embody taxes calculated within the ultimate value above (UK, EU, AUS, and many others) however a notable exception is the US. Gross sales tax varies extensively by the US based mostly on every state, so the ultimate value in USD may vary from precisely $1,099 in a minority of states with little to no gross sales tax to round $1,240 in states on the upper finish of the vary. Right here’s the regional value breakdown:

• US $1,099 exc. VAT
• UK £1,299 inc. VAT
• DE/FR €1,399 inc. VAT
• NO 15,499 NOK
• SWE 16,299 SEK
• DK 11,099 DKK
• A$ 2,099 inc. GST
• NZ$ 2,299 inc. GST

Content material

HTC offered a full content material lineup, though the corporate hasn’t made it solely clear which video games are thought-about launch-day titles and which is able to come post-launch. HTC is looking the checklist under “launch window content material,” so we’re checking with them now and can replace as soon as we all know.

In any case, you’ll see a whole lot of overlap between the newest video games on Quest 2 right here. Highlights embody Demeo, Inexperienced Hell VR, Les Mills Bodycombat, Unplugged, Hubris, Historic Dungeon, The Final Clockwinder, and Ultrawings 2 to call just a few.

We now have boots on the bottom at CES 2023, so test again quickly for our impressions of Vive XR Elite and all issues AR/VR for this 12 months’s greatest client electronics present.