HTC’s New VR Headset Leaked, and It’s the Weirdest-Looking One Yet

Even when you put apart its decidedly bug-eyed look, the leaked HTC Vive Flow is a baffling headset. By all accounts, it’s presupposed to be a standalone client VR gadget that’s made for actions like meditating and streaming media. It additionally will allegedly include its personal tackle the metaverse. In a considerably distant function, this form of gadget may be the norm. Right now, it sounds an terrible lot prefer it doesn’t know what precisely it’s presupposed to be.

These first particulars about this gadget emerged from a Protocol report earlier this week. Then prolific leaker Evan Blass tweeted a sequence of pictures that exposed what the HTC Vive Flow seems to be like, its $499 price ticket, and that it will ship beginning in November. The Flow, whereas standalone, additionally seems to be in a few of these pictures to be tethered to some form of cylindrical gadget. In others, it seems to rely on your smartphone as a Bluetooth controller and for phone-to-VR streaming. That jives with the Protocol report, which says the headset is not going to ship with any controllers and can sport a chipset that’s much less {powerful} than the one within the Oculus Quest 2.

So, in different phrases, gaming and some other processor-intensive actions aren’t gonna be presumably. OK. Well, supposedly this factor has a metaverse known as Viveport Verse. Protocol claims that this metaverse will embody avatars and cross-device performance whereas additionally exploring a “variety of events.” The Viveport Verse apparently consists of an NFT showroom? Somehow this factor may also help user-generated content material. All on a not-very-powerful sounding chipset, and with content material that’s been repurposed from Mozilla’s Hubs VR project.

This is lots. In truth, it feels like all of the latest buzzwords within the wearables and mixed-reality house acquired smooshed collectively, run by way of a blender, after which dusted with a sprinkling of NFT. On their very own, every of the Flow’s particular person parts may make sense. It’s removed from being the one firm exploring some type of wearable dwelling theater. Facebook has clearly cornered the standalone gaming VR house with Oculus and has wager massive on VR health. (It’s additionally cursed us with the idea of a “metaverse” to start with.) Wearables and well being tech firms have spent this previous 12 months specializing in options that emphasize wellness, mindfulness, and restoration. But collectively, these options and {hardware} don’t appear to suit collectively. What does an NFT showroom must do with, as one leaked picture implies, “well-being and mindful productivity?” What is an individual presupposed to do with simply “7 free VR contents”?

Reading all this, I’m baffled as to who this headset is for. Who is the prosperous, wellness-minded, early adopter who would plunk down $499 for a VR ecosystem that hasn’t confirmed its mettle simply but? Who apart from tech reviewers could be inquisitive about a “casual” VR gadget that prices $200 greater than the well-established competitors? It could be one factor if HTC have been positioning this as an inexpensive, light-weight headset that did a few issues nicely. Maybe if this was maybe, an enterprise-minded gadget that centered solely on the metaverse side. Or an informal gaming system that launched with a good catalog of titles and a meditation app. But because it stands…we’re perplexed.

That’s additionally not bearing in mind how ridiculous this factor seems to be. To be truthful, no VR headset seems to be “cool,” however this headset is downright foolish. Despite the leaked way of life pictures, I’m nearly optimistic I can assure that nobody will put on the HTC Vive Flow to mattress. And that in relation to meditation, the Calm app is $70 a 12 months, has an enormous library of content material, and is offered immediately in your telephone. Most of what’s being introduced right here might be discovered elsewhere for much less cash, better comfort, and considerably much less teasing.

It’s not that blended actuality is doomed. On the opposite—nearly each tech firm out there’s satisfied that is the longer term. Facebook simply dropped its “smart” glasses in partnership with Ray-Ban, Apple is rumored to be engaged on a pair, as is Samsung, and Google and Microsoft have been out right here for years carving their very own area of interest within the blended actuality enterprise house. Somehow, Magic Leap discovered one other $500 million in funding and is barreling forward with one other headset. Razer, Bose, and a bunch of smaller manufacturers are additionally placing out their very own audio sun shades. Like it or not, digital and augmented actuality is going on. Someone sometime goes to crack the successful mixture of {hardware}, software program, and use instances.

But each firm on this house is going through the identical issues: the way to stand out from the group and the way to persuade the typical person who that is higher than the units they have already got. In each instances, the HTC Vive Flow’s in all probability the funniest-looking VR headset we’ve seen in a while. But the Vive Flow goes to wish greater than only a distinctive design to persuade individuals it’s value shopping for with out spectacular options.