10-12-2021 08:00 PM - edited 10-14-2021 02:20 PM
Edited to include the real details.
October 14 was the event for the new Vive Flow.
It's... interesting. It's a VR headset that has folding side arms so it fits in a little cylinder carry case.
Some specs
- XR1 SOC with 4GB ram (Quest 2 uses the XR2 with 6GB)
- Estimated 1600x1600 per eye with 100 degree FOV and 75Hz (they only say 3.2K display, not the exact eye res)
- No controllers, but you can use a phone (Android only) as a Go style 3DOF controller
- 189g (Quest 2 is 532g)
- Hand tracking will be supported, but not at release
- Miracast streaming phone to Flow, to watch content or play Android games
- $499
- Battery life is only a few minutes. It's designed to run on a USB battery pack, which isn't provided. The internal battery is just enough to keep the Flow running while you swap battery packs.
- Preorders open now with a release in November
As I guessed, the cable down the back in the pics is for running the required battery pack.
It appears this is really intended as a portable media player, basically a giant sunglasses version of a Go.
10-14-2021 05:43 AM
Yeah as I mentioned I can see flight simmers down the road posting they got this device now how can I get it to work. Hopefully most will do their due diligence before pulling the trigger on something like this.
10-14-2021 05:56 AM
My advise is for people to join a forum and discuss before buying something that they're interested in.
🙂
10-14-2021 06:14 AM
Thanks for the pointer - will dig.
No the VIVE's are open, though they encourage VIVEPort - you can Steam-it if you want.
Focus and Flow are going to be interesting platforms to see how HTC tries to defend their space - especially as Focus is Enterprise centric.
10-14-2021 06:31 AM - edited 10-16-2021 06:51 AM
The immersive media player genre is a difficult one. Was given great hype with the Deepoon and GearVR presentations, and even GO pushed it as a major selling point before its discontinuance. Mixing MobileMR with a slaved headset is one of those proffered opportunities. If the rumors are true the Apple VR system will follow a slaved phone approach and many may be jumping early to get ahead of the curve. That we see that Facebook/Oculus has toyed with such a system (image) makes me wonder if there is a dedicated movement for MobileMR above pure StandaloneVR.
Agreed the "GabeBoy" was not intended for VR, but is seen by Valve as a system that can be customized to the owners hearts content. VR was inevitable.
The lull in new mobile adoption was to be addressed in 2020 by a raft of new App heavy deployments, that would have had 5G support - obviously that did not happen. Now offering slave headsets and immersive media consumption the hope will rise again. I agree that many peoples needs are different - and there is not a one fits all. That said the 5m claimed "sales" of GearVR opened a door that some are willing to visit again. But also, as with the GearVR, it is about "whos" mobile platform you partner with. Now with Samsung about to reveal their MobileMR at CES we have to wonder if it may be too late for some to try and compete (why they can now tease their prototype)?
10-14-2021 06:37 AM
Which forum for "Simmers" in VR would you recommend?
10-14-2021 09:08 AM - edited 10-14-2021 09:22 AM
10-14-2021 09:33 AM - edited 10-14-2021 09:34 AM
@kevinw729 wrote:Mixing MobileMR with a slaved headset is one of those proffered opportunities. If the rumors are true the Apple VR system will follow a slaved phone approach and many may be jumping early to get ahead of the curve.
Noooo, the slaved phone approach is an already archaic approach to VR. If GearVR taught the world anything, it is that nobody wants to use their phone for VR. Apple may be able to get away with this a bit more due to all the magic they can push out of their iPhone. My guess would be that Apple will target 360 Media primarily, but I don't think we will see the consumer market take a huge step backward by dropping a phone in to an HMD.
Not even the amusement parks have re-visited using a solution like GearVR. We tried it for a short while here across Texas, but it ended fast and was never to return.
These "leaks" are not about HTC nor Facebook "jumping early to get ahead of the curve" because there is no curve to get ahead of when talking about slaving a phone to an HMD. In fact, the exact opposite is true: Quest 2 proved that the stand-alone is a truly viable market, and this latest line of Smart Glasses/Goggles is just another step in that direction.
Lastly, there's simply no way that any of this can be interpreted as jumping early in response to Apple considering how many years Abrash has talked about the fact that Facebook is targeting Smart Glasses. This isn't jumping early at all; it is a long time coming.
From 2019
10-14-2021 09:56 AM - edited 10-14-2021 10:01 AM
@kevinw729 wrote:Have to agree.
Many seem to have jumped to the assumption that the Flow will be a Quest competitor
Seems a fairly reasonable assumption considering everything Flow and Quest have in common:
What makes you think it is NOT a competitor in the Stand-Alone VR HMD market?
10-14-2021 09:59 AM
Great breakdown of what this actually offers:
10-14-2021 10:24 AM
A great hands on report of the actual system in use from our friends at UploadVR: