23 years after the Virtual Boy flopped out of Nintendo the VR headset has returned, and it's returned with a decent punch. In today's report we'll be going over the VR headset market as it is and as it will be later this year for both my more budget conscious readers, and my yacht owning audience as well, but let's dive straight in the pool, and start off with HTC's Vive Focus that was recently launched in China.
Now the big thing about the HTC Vive focus is its portability. For those of you that aren’t super familiar with VR headsets and what it takes to run one, you usually need a large computer tower to run a VR headset at a decent framerate. There were some quite amusing computer backpacks that were made to run a mobilish VR rig, but those were both incredibly expensive and as you might imagine they weren't especially light.
The Vive Focus has its own built in Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, which is a processor made for high end smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S8, or the Google Pixel 2, and speaking of specs, lets do an overview of the specs. First of all we have a 2880 x 1600 AMOLED screen with a 75hz refresh rate. Now lets give Vive their dues by upping the resolution. For those of you that have used a VR headset you know that the pixelation really takes away from the immersion, but the refresh rate is even more important. The standard refresh rate for VR to prevent motion sickness is 90hz which the original Vive had, but the Focus only has 75hz. That could be a deal breaker for a lot of people especially since the field of view hasn’t changed from 110 degrees. For immersion the Focus gains one point against its predecessor, loses another, and ties on the last point, but let’s give the Focus it’s dues: it has a rechargeable battery that lasts 3 hours which isn’t bad for such an intense task. The Focus can also stream games over wifi from your PC to the headset, and to top it off it also has a microSD slot that can hold up to 2 terabytes.
Now you might be saying “ok this is kinda cool, but how much is this going to cost?” That it’s hard to say certainly, because the Focus is only available in China at the moment, but in U.S. dollars the current price for a Focus is $635, which is another win against its predecessor which was priced at $800, and that’s just the cost of the headset and its accessories. That isn’t calculating the cost of the computer, which if you want your games to not cause you to barf from low framerates, you better get a pretty pricey computer. You’re looking at a $1500 price tag minimum for last gen VR, but let’s get that price even lower than $635. How about $200?
That is the price of the Oculus Go, which is Oculus’ brand of mobile self-contained VR. Now you might be saying “$200 for a mobile VR experience without a phone or computer? That sounds too good to be true.” and you would be very right; it is too good to be true. Not only is the Oculus Go using the slower Snapdragon 821, and it’s resolution is lower than the Focus at 2560 x 1440, but the real kicker is its refresh rate at the snail pace of 60hz. Oculus was able to push it to 72hz, but that’s not even the refresh rate of its competitor that many would argue is also inadequate. That’s the intro refresh rate of a basic 1080p monitor. If they could lower the resolution and up the refresh rate then we can talk, but I personally prefer to keep my lunch in my stomach while having a VR experience. That’s just me, but what can I say, I’m a weirdo.
Now let’s say you want to spend $800 on a VR headset, which one should you buy? Well you’re in luck, because the HTC Vive Pro is being released later this year. Let’s do a quick overview of the specs: 2880 x 1600 AMOLED display, 90hz refresh rate, 110 degree field of view, If you’ve followed the VR headset market then I already know what you’re gonna say “Ok that’s a pretty good increase in resolution, but there’s no change in refresh rate or field of view.” and you’re right, the original Vive had a 1080 x 1200 display, but resolution is not everything especially when it comes to VR. The original Vive had a 15 by 15 feet max moving space. The Vive Pro is, wait for it, 33 by 33 feet. That is over double the previous generation’s moving space, but I can hear it already “how many people have that much space to devote to VR?” and you’re right, but think out of the box of your house or apartment.
There’s at least a few businesses in the pacific northwest that I am aware of that allow you to pay by the hour to use a VR headset. I’m betting those places are going to appeal to more customers if their space is larger than a small square. Not only that, but the Vive Pro supports wireless connection to your computer, and let me tell you, VR gaming is a social experience for one reason: if you don’t have a friend moving the cord out of your way as you play, you’re gonna have a bad time, and yes that was a South Park reference.
Now let’s get back to the price. Yes the Vive Pro does cost the same as the original Vive, but it does not include a set of room sensors and controllers, but the Vive Pro does have backwards support with the previous generation of Vive sensors and controllers, but something tells me if you bought the original Vive and you’re going to buy the new Vive, you can probably afford to get the new sensors and controllers. I care about my more cost conscious listeners though, so let’s get back to some affordable options.
What VR headset can I buy without selling my liver first? Well you can always go with your phone and a piece of cardboard, but let’s get ever so slightly more classy with the Google Daydream. The Daydream is a headset similar to the Gear VR that was developed by Samsung, and is used with smartphones.
You know I should really get these voices in my head checked out because I can hear what you’re about to say again: “Didn’t you say 90hz is the minimum refresh rate for VR gaming? If you’re using a smartphone screen as your display you’re not gonna get a 90hz refresh rate, at least not yet.”, but phone VR headsets are not made for gaming, not really. The buzzword that’s hitting the air in the tech industry right now is “VR Experience.”, but when it comes to phone VR it really is just an experience. You’re gonna hop on for 10 maybe 20 minutes if you have a tough stomach, and you’re probably not gonna be playing a game for long. You’re gonna hop from app to app, maybe watch a few videos, and probably never use it again unless your friends come over, and you’re all bored.
That might not be the case if Google can deliver what they’ve promised with the Daydream platform, because the Daydream is more than just a case to hold your phone; it’s a software platform integrated into the Android operating system, and the phones that support it are rather promising.
There is, of course, the Google Pixel with a Snapdragon 821 and a 1080 by 1920 display, but you’re probably gonna want to up the resolution to get the best VR experience you can on a phone. Let’s say you want a minimum of 2560 by 1440 display resolution; you adamantly refuse to go any lower, because you’re a refined, sophisticated individual with high standards. Well you have a few options, you can go with the Moto Z with 4 gigabytes of RAM, and a Snapdragon 820, but you want something a little better so get the Huawei Mate 9 Pro or the Asus ZenFone AR both with AMOLED screens for richer colors and deeper blacks.
Now once again I can hear you say “What if I don’t have a phone that supports Daydream? I’m gonna have to spend a handful of hundreds to get a phone, and buy the headset. Shouldn’t I just go balls to the walls, and buy a real VR headset?” Well I’m gonna have to say no. A phone can be used for a thousand things that a Vive or Rift, obviously, can’t. The headset itself only costs $100, and with the right phone you can get the same resolution and the same refresh rate as the Oculus Go.
Well we’ve gone over the VR headset market, if you found something you like, and it fits your budget go ahead go crazy, but I can’t blame you if you want to wait for prices to lower. The original Vive costs only a paltry sum of $500 after the announcement of the Vive Pro. I've gone over all of today's VR headset market above a cheap piece of plastic or cardboard, so let me know what you think about the VR market in the comments.