My HTC Vive XR Elite experience at MWC 2023 isn’t off to a good start, as I’m still feeling queasy from the night before after maybe too many tapas and beer. Also, as a VR skeptic, I’m nervous. Am I really going to change? Will yesterday’s seafood platter bite me again? Well no, even after about an hour with the HTC Vive XR Elite, I still had a great time.
Looking at the specifications of the HTC Vive XR Elite, you realize that it has almost everything you could expect from the best VR headset and more. It features a 90Hz refresh rate, RGB pass-through, removable battery, and wired PC connection. XR Elite is as versatile as it gets, capable of playing the best VR games and also offering mixed reality experiences.
This headset solves some major usage problems I’ve had for years. Unlike big, curvy, bulbous models like the PSVR2 with a strap across the top and around your head, the XR looks more like a pair of glasses. This makes it more suitable for a variety of head shapes, hairstyles and the weight of just 625g with the battery connected is good for long gaming sessions.
Putting the helmet on is very easy, there is a wheel on the back to adjust it, and the mesh fabric of the goggles fits my face quite comfortably. Even better, if you wear glasses, the Vive XR Elite has adjustable lenses on the inside for any nearsightedness down to minus six, so you don’t have to worry about blurriness or fitting large frames inside.
This form factor is not only fun, but it provides a sense of freedom that I personally haven’t experienced in VR. Running around the showroom playing Yuki, a fun mixed reality arcade shooter from Brazilian developer Arvore, was exciting, especially since I didn’t have to worry about tripping over wires.
Best of all, though, was how comfortable I felt playing the game See my surroundings in color, unlike Meta Quest 2, by pressing the power button twice.
Yuki uses a transparent camera to show you how your environment fills with dark portals that deflect alien enemies, slowly filling your field of vision until you eliminate them. This meant that I was always aware to some degree of what was going on around me, getting rid of claustrophobia.
That versatility in what the XR can do doesn’t end there: there’s versatility in connectivity, too. With the ability to connect to a computer via USB-C or Wi-Fi, HTC is planning future support for Android devices and end-to-end solutions, which means the XR is a suitable all-purpose machine. That’s if you don’t want to use wired headphones: while you can connect via Bluetooth or use the built-in speakers, you can’t plug in headphones to get rid of latency, which is a shame.
The showroom was incredibly loud and crowded, and my roofless demo room caused two problems: I couldn’t test the speakers properly (they sounded good), and the show lighting interfered with hand tracking. . Due to the periodicity of the strobe lights in the exhibition center, the passing camera flickered slightly and got confused.
However, considering all that, manual tracking worked pretty well. In Maestro, when he enters the stage as a conductor, he can accent the rhythmic waves of his right hand with a wave of his left hand, or cue an orchestra part to get it in tune.
It worked most of the time, even with lighting issues, I could see my hand floating in the game, individual fingers moving, one hand pointing at a section of pipe. Under ideal conditions, I think this function is quite simple.
The HTC Vive XR Elite combines quad wide-angle hand tracking, 6 DOF spatial precision, depth sensing, and capacitive finger sensing on the controllers. It’s packed with features, which means it’s expensive.
This is a $1,099 / £1,299 premium product. Compared to the asking price of the PSVR2, you’ll probably be a bit surprised. So, although it can handle everything, you must first ask yourself: what do I need it for?
I can’t imagine that there are many people who need HTC Vive XR Elite Pro. But for those looking for a versatile VR headset, there’s a lot to like here. The fact that you can use it in a glasses form factor, without a battery, until it’s completely portable is a very impressive proposition.
So the HTC Vive XR Elite didn’t make me gag and helped me overcome some long-standing doubts about VR, all in a form factor that’s really easy to grab and go. However, whether this is right for you probably depends on your bank balance.
Source : PC Gamesn
