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Vive Flow Reveal. Pictures Leaked

kojack
MVP
MVP

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.

 

 

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FBimSMFWUAAuBuG.jpg

 

Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2
69 REPLIES 69


@kojack wrote:

@Zenbane wrote:

For me, personally, I just wish it was someone other than HTC. I have never been a fan of their track record with any hardware. But I will certainly keep my eye out for reviews and recommendations on this one.


The one area they do seem to have a good track record, far better than oculus, is spare parts for older headsets. They carried Vive cables for a long time (think they are gone now though).

I can buy an original Vive controller from HTC right now, while Oculus has stopped selling CV1 controllers, RIft-S / Quest 1 controllers and Go controller (and the Quest 2 controller most likely not long after a Quest 3 comes out).

 


 

Yes, Oculus has definitely dropped the ball when it comes to supporting legacy hardware. Especially considering that on any reasonable timeline, Oculus VR hardware is far from "legacy." Oculus seems to have borrowed this strategy from Microsoft, who is notorious for pulling the plug on new hardware after a few short years.

 

 

Granted, HTC certainly NEEDS to have as much hardware replacement inventory at the ready as possible! lol


@kevinw729 wrote:

For all those that attacked HTC they still seem to be active.

 


I will take the obvious bait in a respectful manner.

 

Any criticisms against HTC have been constructive and based on observable truths; which are no different than the constructive criticisms that have been levied year after year against Oculus. 

 

We could say that for all those who have attacked Oculus... they remain a market leader, right? And being a market leader is preferable to merely being active.

 

We should all expect HTC to remain active considering that Google assisted them with a buyout as they faced bankruptcy. Note that this is an observable truth, not an attack. HTC's financial turmoil was public knowledge, as was the Google buyout.

 

I would argue that all the criticisms against HTC have proven to have merit due to the fact that HTC required a buyout to remain active. Whereas the criticisms that Oculus would fail proved invalid, as Oculus has managed to remain the market leader on its own platform as well as SteamVR.

 


@kevinw729 wrote:

I see you stating the Go as leading to the Quest 

 


It's not just one person saying it off-hand though, it is an observable truth. Carmack himself was very open about the fact that GO was the first test of the stand-alone market. Carmack openly stated that GO performed much better than expected. Lastly, Carmack was explicitly vocal about the fact that GO's market performance is the very reason Oculus shifted focus towards Quest and stand-alone.

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

In other news,

 

It looks like Facebook took HTC's bait! 😋

 

Facebook Execs Tease “Next-generation” Headset Prototypes Following Vive Flow Leak

 

Zenbane_0-1634172535152.jpeg

 

Full Article:

https://www.roadtovr.com/facebook-compact-retina-resolution-prototype-tease/

kojack
MVP
MVP

5.5 hours until the reveal.

 

Some people have pointed out that most of the photos of people using it in the leaks are stock images with photoshopped Flows on them. But HTC's official twitter has also posted teaser images (mainly of the cylinder case) which are also photoshopped stock images. So not proof of a fake leak.

 

It will be interesting to see how the $499us Flow intends to compete with the $299 or $399 Quest 2.

Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

Anonymous
Not applicable

Not sure I would view this as a competitor to Quest. 

As an avid and primarily VR gamer, I would have no interest in this headset ( unless something at the reveal changed that) whereas certainly would have interest in a Quest 3 device. 

Although I am sure after this one's release there will be a plethora of PC gamers posting " how can I make this work with my flight sim" lol.

Have to agree.

Many seem to have jumped to the assumption that the Flow will be a Quest competitor - I think they may have not read the translation of the leak, and just gone with the local coverage of what they are seeing. This seems to be the same with the Focus3. Todays media reveal will give a better perspective on what HTC plan.

https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959


@Anonymous wrote:

Not sure I would view this as a competitor to Quest. 


I don't either. Obviously it isn't based on the currently known info.

BUT, it's a $499 headset with hand tracking entering a market where there is a more powerful $299 headset with hand tracking. Why would anyone buy it over a Quest besides the cylinder case and lens diopter adjustment? What features haven't been revealed yet that give it a reason to exist? What does it do for that $200 extra that the Quest doesn't?

Then again, people bought that overpriced Mac Pro cylinder thing. 🙂

 

 

Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

kevinw729
Honored Visionary

Agreed - a good point.

we have seen HTC add a premium to their hardware sales at the best of time. The VIVE, VIVE PRO and VIVE PRO2 are more expensive for what they are, though they do have the license payment to Valve to factor in.

Regarding Flow - the price seems high for a MobileMR system.
That said, there have been posts on other forums speculating of what the real price of the Quest2 would be if you removed the subsidy of the Facebook support.

Another question is HTC going to lock their Flow into the VIVEPort platform?

https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959



@kevinw729 wrote:

Another question is HTC going to lock their Flow into the VIVEPort platform?


 It does say you get 2 months of Infinity Vista. That sounds like a new version of Viveport Infinity. Although the name also sounds like a Horizons style metaverse thing.

But as to whether it's locked to it, that will be interesting to see.

Are the Focus headsets supported by any store other than Viveport at the moment? That's the closest clue we'd have as to how locked down HTC wants their stand alones.

Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

For me, a small form factor media viewer would be a possible buy, just not at this price and only if it included a browser/hand tracking.

 

Long flights or rail journeys where I'd be a bit self-conscious with a VR headset but not so much with something the size of Panasonic's design.

This Flow design is something in between though so not sure... again I can only speak for my own needs but maybe hotel stays or in my case being away from home half of the week and missing a big-screen experience would make it attractive, especially as I have a headset for proper VR.

 

I don't think there are enough people with similar use cases to make this a success though, not at this price, or likely a bigger price for the Panasonic. It's probably good that these markets are being explored, provided it's marketed accurately so that people don't misunderstand what it is.

 

My view of the Steam Deck is that it was never intended for VR but Valve kept saying it could do it whenever they were asked, but I digress. Companies pushing new tech need to resist the temptation to over-promise, even when the segment is super competitive. Maybe not an issue with HTC but things can get muddy with so many varying capabilities inside these things now, not all new buyers are tech savvy.