Mēs nekad neesam redzējuši neko līdzīgu HTC atsevišķajām VR austiņām

Virtuālā realitāte kļūst arvien labāka, taču tā kļūst arī labāka Dārgāks. Par HTC jaunākajām augstākās klases austiņām tika paziņots CESTomēr Vive XR Elite ievēro līdzīgu rokasgrāmatu kā nesenajam Meta Quest Proun varbūt Apple paredzamā ierīce arī. Tas rada jautājumu: vai mēs patiešām esam gatavi virtuālās realitātes aparatūras pieaugumam par USD 1000? Atsevišķais Vive XR Elite ir gluds un izskatās kompaktāks nekā Quest Pro, un tas mēģina pārbaudīt augstākās klases ūdeņus.

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Super Small Vive XR Elite Doesn’t Quite Work For My Eyes

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The $1,099 headset, available for preorder Thursday, is arriving by the end of February — remarkably soon for a CES product. That means it’ll be available alongside Sony’s PlayStation 5-connected PSVR 2. While less expensive than the Quest Pro, the XR Elite’s price costs about as much as buying a PS5 and a PSVR 2 together. It’s far from an impulse purchase. But the hardware, which shrinks down the VR form to a pair of nearly glasses-like goggles and includes mixed-reality capabilities that could allow for AR apps, looks to solve how we’ll be using the metaverse for more in our lives than just games, simulation and fitness.

Read more: The Wonders of CES 2023: 3D Laptops, Wireless TV and Shape-Shifting Screens

No other company has really cracked this challenge either. But this Vive headset looks, more than ever, like it’s a stepping stone to future AR glasses.

“We see where mixed reality is going to create a whole new suite of use cases. We know the virtual reality use cases are great. I think the AR side is amazing, too,” Dan O’Brien, HTC’s general manager of Vive, told me in a conversation at CES in Las Vegas. He acknowledged that HTC tried to make an AR device in 2015 but stopped because of the complications. O’Brien sees 5G and cloud computing as a key next step. “You need a 5G network, a really robust one to make AR go to scale — you need a cloud infrastructure to deliver to those types of wearables.”

The XR Elite is primarily a standalone VR headset, and it looks like an impressive piece of tech: It has a familiar Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chip much like the Meta Quest 2, Quest Pro and Vive’s existing business-focused Focus 3. But it adds a higher-resolution 110-degree field of view, LCD displays with 2K resolution per eye that can run at 90Hz. There’s also a boosted 12GB of RAM along with 128GB of storage. It can connect to PCs to run SteamVR or HTC’s VivePort software, or connect with Android phones. But its potential as a bridge to AR experiences seems like the most impressive feature.

Those are just specs, though. The XR Elite is a VR headset with a similar proposition to previous models, but with expanded capabilities. Its compact size is the most surprising part: At 340 grams, it’s less than half the weight of the Quest Pro. The rear hot-swappable battery gives about two hours of life. It gets even smaller by unclipping the back battery strap and adding glasses arms that can turn the headset into a modified pair of VR glasses, which could just plug into an external USB-C charger or battery for power. It’s small enough to fit in a compact carrying case tube.

But that compact size comes with a twist: Instead of fitting on top of glasses, the XR Elite uses adjusting dials, or diopters, which can change the lens prescription on the fly without you needing to wear glasses at all — for some people, at least. The diopters only accommodate up to a -6 prescription, but my own vision is over -8 for nearsightedness. It’s a challenge HTC faced with its even smaller Vive Flow phone-connected VR goggles, which also went for the glasses-free approach.

The XR Elite has a dedicated depth sensor on the front, along with color passthrough cameras that can eventually show mixed reality-experiences, similar to the Quest Pro. The Quest Pro doesn’t have the Elite’s added depth sensor, but it accommodates for that with its onboard cameras.

The XR Elite could also adapt further. While the hardware doesn’t have its own eye-tracking tools onboard, eye- and face-tracking add-ons are coming later in the year. The headset’s controllers are the same standard ones that HTC has for the Vive Focus 3, which follow the same game controller-like playbook as the Meta Quest 2 and others. But HTC already has its own line of wearable VR body trackers and wristbands, and more accessories could follow.

O’Brien acknowledges that the sticky, mass-market appeal of VR and AR aren’t here yet. “I think developers will be using cloud computing, being able to actually get their content into the metaverse much faster, and much more efficiently,” he said. “If you think about the streaming business, these streamers, these TikTokkers, all these kids that create the really compelling, fun experiences that just keep drawing you back in? That’s not in the metaverse today, We need to create more opportunities for less sophisticated immersive content creators to get involved, and then create more [of an] Ekonomika.”

O’Braiens uzskata, ka mākoņdatošana, ko veicina acu izsekošanas spēja saspiest grafikas datus, izmantojot tehnoloģiju, ko sauc par elastīgo renderēšanu, ir veids, kā galu galā samazināt nākotnes austiņu procesorus, padarīt tās mazākas un piemērotas lielākam skaitam cilvēku.

Manas bažas rada šobrīd ierobežotās recepšu iespējas. “Tā kā mēs iegūstam vieglākas brilles, iespējams, ka nākotnē arvien vairāk cilvēku viņiem dos savas receptes,” saka O’Braiens. “Šobrīd mēs varam mēģināt pēc iespējas labāk uzrunāt lielāko daļu tirgus, veicot šādas iestatījumu izmaiņas, jo mums ir jāpadara austiņas vieglākas. Mums tās ir jāpadara ērtākas. Un, ja jūs šajās austiņās tiks nodrošinātas lielas acu komforta zonas, un tās joprojām būs ļoti lielas.

O’Braiens uzskata, ka iekļautie VR kontrolieri kādreiz var kļūt pēc izvēles, iespējams, tie tiks atstāti no kastes un iegādāti atsevišķi, bet vēl ne. Rokas izsekošana nav pietiekami uzticama. “Nākamo divu vai trīs gadu laikā roku izsekošanas veikšanai ir jāpanāk milzīgs progress, lai tā patiešām kļūtu par vairāk nekā tikai dabisku ievades rīku.” Bet O’Braiens ierosina, ka tas ir veids, kā iegūt pieejamas nākotnes austiņas. Ja lietotājs var valkāt brilles un mijiedarboties ar saturu [with their hands]Tas būs daudz lētāks produkts.

Šis produkts tika nosaukts par vienu no labākajiem CES 2023 produktiem. Apskatiet otru Labākie no CES 2023 balvas ieguvējiem.