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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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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

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

Seems like this would do really well for anyone liking the Steampunk look.

 

Definitely a great addition to the AR/VR market. 


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.

pyroth309
Visionary

Yea, pretty neat but like the GO, not really something I would personally use on a consistent basis so I'll pass but it's good to see more portable/less clunky solutions coming out.


@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).

 

 

The portability is interesting, but $499 for something weaker than a Quest 2?

I wonder how comfortable it is? Without a top strap or tightened halo, it looks like it might be front heavy. All I can think of is my Vuzix headset, it had sunglasses style design and sat all of the headset weight on my nose, which felt horrible.

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

@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).

 

 

The portability is interesting, but $499 for something weaker than a Quest 2?

I wonder how comfortable it is? Without a top strap or tightened halo, it looks like it might be front heavy. All I can think of is my Vuzix headset, it had sunglasses style design and sat all of the headset weight on my nose, which felt horrible.


I imagine without the Face Book requirement Quest 2 would be in that price range as well. 

But for me also I would not have a fit for this device for my use.

It looks like it's designed to be very comfortable and light, concentrating on media viewing?

 

I think companies see a gap in the market left by the Go but taking the comfort/small form factor to new levels. You don't need big FOVs to do that stuff, so you can make it smaller, and provided you have good quality optics, the cost may be deemed to be just about worth it.

 

Didn't Panasonic tease something that looked like a high quality media viewing headset a little while back? what happened to that?

 

I think these headsets need an internet browser too to make them truly useful, so you can stream media from all the usual providers and for general browsing on a big screen. Then ideally, add hand tracking to the mix, as a better method of control than phone pointing for a virtual keyboard input.

kevinw729
Honored Visionary

It looks like a gap in the market is being targeted by a group of Asian based companies that see an opportunity for a immersive media platform in the market. This builds of the discontinuance of the GearVR and GO that seemed to show there was room for such a platform, but failed to capitalize on their entrance. 

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Interesting to see how active HTC has been recently, especially from the business interest in the Focus3 and the renewed sales of HTC VIVE PRo2. For all those that attacked HTC they still seem to be active.

 

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

For once, please try not to reference other posters @kevinw729 ('for all those that attacked' etc) and just talk about the topic.

 

In this case I'd question a perception of a failure to capitalize, in that companies capitalize in different ways. in the case of Oculus, the capitalisation was to evolve stand-alone from the Go to the Quest which seems not to be a failure.

 

It has left a gap though, as I said in my post, but it could be argued that the stand-alone market is now a very tough one to crack because of the Quest, so specialist use cases such as media viewing could be one of the few potentially successful business cases left open.

 

Having said that, Panasonic's headset was unveiled at the beginning of 2020 and I can't find any date for release. We'll have to wait and see if people want something that isn't a full blown VR gaming headset or not.

Okay @DaftnDirect - understand your request. Though it makes it difficult to comment on your post without making reference to it - now and in the future. But understand what you are trying to do and will focus on the points you raised as reference to my comments.

>"the capitalisation was to evolve stand-alone from the Go to the Quest which seems not to be a failure."

I see you stating the Go as leading to the Quest - and agree that this is a evolution of performance and development. But the GearVR and Go were more immersive media players than full VR rigs like Rift and Quest IMHO. Many overlook what the GearVR achieved, and it seems this latest generation is building on the opportunity - while Go was discontinued for another direction - even stated as being a popular seller (other than in China). 

>"Panasonic's headset was unveiled a year ago and I can't find any date for release."
You will not be aware of this, but with the build up for CES 2022 the media information has been circulated and the Panasonic GlassView headset will be presented and a embargoed date has been set. Without giving too much away, it is inline with the HTC and proposed Samsung entrants. 

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

@kojack's post is a perfect example of referencing a post and disagreeing with what was said or offering an alternative viewpoint without making a 'those that attacked' or 'the usual suspects' type comments. It's not difficult.

 

I'm not usually sensitive to comments of this sort but given the history of arguments in the past between particular members, I'm definitely going to proactive here and head them off. I don't want anyone to be shown the door. 

 

It's great if Panasonic issue a release date and I was fully expecting them to at some point but as yet it isn't here. Prices I expect to be premium, at least as much as the figure touted for the Vive Flow, probably more if they see it as a competitor to their own large-screen TVs, without risking damaging that market.