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| HTC Vive Flow VR | Virtual Reality Glasses Face-On |
So htc's main business these days is pumping out clever
industry-leading VR headsets but its latest effort the HTC vive flow is a very
different beast indeed these are portable VR glasses as opposed to a full-on
headset which can stream delicious content from your android phone straight to
your face in a proper immersive fashion
Now the pre-orders
open today and these VR glasses will be shipping from early November for 499
quid or 499 us dollars and I’ve been lucky enough to already have my face
inside of the HTC vive floor so here's all you need to know and my early
impressions and for more on the latest and greatest set please do poke subscribe.
Now the vive floor is
designed to be worn on the go so for instance on those transatlantic flights that
you may possibly one day take again or maybe just the 1042 l and er to Doncaster
basically anywhere that's just not your house
The glasses weigh
just 189 grams so about the same as many smartphones and they sport a dual
hinge system so the vive flow can fit any size of bonds even proper big old
melon heads a snap on fabric face cushion helps to provide some extra comfort
while also blocking out light and the outside world in general so you can't see
fellow commuters silently judging you and your fancy weird eyewear at first
wearing the vive floor did feel a bit weird because unlike normal glasses they
don't rest on your ears they just kind of grip your head in a kind of loving
hug but after a while kind of adjusted to it got used to it and certainly no
part of my facial region was aching after around an hour and a half of use of
course the true test will be really testing them out cross country on some sort
of long journey to see if you can literally wear them all afternoon long
without any discomfort and of course because this expensive bit of tech is
designed to be taken out and about you'll probably want to get some sort of
protective case then the good news is the HTC will actually bundle one with the
vive floor if you pre-order it
The lcd screen offers 1.6 key resolution per ice or 3.2 k
res overall with a 100 degree field of view it's not quite as wide as the likes
of the vive pro 2 but it's not far off display quality seems to be well up to any
VR task out there visuals were definitely sharp and bright enough when i was
playing around in virtual experiences while movies also look pretty damn good
too plus the HTC vive floor actually features adjustable lenses which can be
focused to suit your vision so if you're short or long-sighted that can be
usefully counted my left eye in particular is proper bulked and the vibe
floor's focusing absolutely dealt with that no problem whatsoever so you can
wear these things and use them comfortably without them to rock glasses or
contact lenses at the same time
Now with htc's more premium
VR sets you get some immersive spatial audio pumped out from the stereo speakers
which are actually built into the vive floor's arms while twin mics housed on
the front of the vive floor helped to provide a level of noise and echo
cancellation I did find that those speakers were certainly up to snuff when it
came to the various VR experiences that I tested out and there wasn't much bleed
to people who sat nearby either which is always a good thing if you're going to
be rocking them on trains planes etc. and then that said I did find that
actually smashy movies from like marvel did sound a little bit flat through
those speakers and of course you can hear everything that's going on around you
at all times as well so good for awareness but if you do want true immersion
you're going to want to hook up some headphones there's no headphone jack
unfortunately on the vive floor it's going to use a bit of Bluetooth instead
Of course without any
actual content these glasses would just be a slightly bizarre fashion statement
to get them to actually do stuff you will want to pair them to your phone via Bluetooth
and then use a bit of mirror cast magic to stream your apps you actually use
your smartphone as a controller pointer type thing to get your way through the
various VR menus and also control your VR apps and experiences as well and it
works really well obviously your control is quite limited to basically just
pointing and tapping on the screen and occasionally swiping if needed as well
but that's about it and to be fair the VR experiences i tested out that worked absolutely
flawlessly at the face on experience with the vive floor i got to play a game
where you murder scurvy pirates with cannonballs one of those very simple but
infuriating the addictive affairs i also got the chance to kick back with some Disney
plus action as well you can basically stream all of usual video content from
your phone straight to your face in the cinema mode which ably recreates that big
screen experience except obviously without teenagers sitting next to you on tick
tock the entire time talking at each other using words you don't understand
because you're hideously old
Now and allice
through the looking glass experience was next which would most likely be best
enjoyed with the kind of pills that your granddad probably doesn't take or at
least not anymore and I also found some time to get all Zen with a meditation
app which did actually help to ease the
stress from rush hour london commuting until i had to take off the goggles and
do that all over again if you want to be able to experience a range of
different apps and experiences on your freshly vibe floors well HTC is offering
a new vive port infinity vista service and this will include all kinds of
different games and VR experiences and other shenanigans as well which you can
freely download from I say freely not freely because it has a monthly subscription
cost of 5.99 or 5 pounds 99 a month you will be able to get a little discount
as well if you appear up front annually and
Now for the deeper specs while HTC didn't want to
reveal which chipset was actually stuffed inside of the vive floor but i didn't
notice any slowdown at all while gunning my way through various VR experiences
the vive floor even has its own built-in coolant system as well which helps to
cycle all of that hot air away from your face keeping the glasses and your mug
nice and cool the vive floor is powered via usb though and it does need to be plugged
into a power source at all time to function there is a tiny built-in battery so
the glasses won't immediately switch off if that cable comes loose or whatever
but that will only last you a very short time enough time to basically flash up
a warning so you can get plugged in again something plugged into a laptop usb
port that would work just fine a battery pack or even your phone itself
although uh HTC does reckon that a 10 000 milliamp battery pack will be fully
drained in about five hours so if you do hook up to your phone it's probably
gonna sap that juice pretty damn fast sorry there's my early face on review of
the HTC vive floor as I say coming early November for 499 us dollars 499 great British
pounds yeah quite pricey for sure but if you do want a portable VR machine to
take wherever you roam then certainly it's definitely one of the lightest most
compact options out there and hopefully be well supported uh via the vive port
vista whatever the it was so that's what i think what do you find folk at home
wrecking if they'd be great to hear you down in the comments below please do
poke subscribe for more on the latest and greatest tech have yourself a
fantastic rest of the week cheers everyone love you
Iphone13 mini review:https://elaboratetech.blogspot.com/2021/10/iphone-13-mini-full-review.html
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