HTC unveils standalone, wireless Vive Focus with 'world-scale' tracking

HTC announced a completely wireless Vive VR head unit this evening in China, called the Vive Focus. While details are still unclear of how it'll work, the unit contains a Snapdragon 835 VR CPU as well as a high-resolution AMOLED screen.

YouTube

Watch On

HTC did not spill the beans on the unit's resolution, but we reckon it'll be in line with Oculus's Santa Cruz wireless Rift—that is, 1080x1200 per eye, which you get now.

Other details include complete inside-out tracking with 6-degrees of freedom. Vive is calling this "world-scale" tracking, essentially giving the Vive Focus the ability to roam around without a fixed boundary.

HTC has completely changed the head mount from the original Vive, which previously put the bulk of the headset's weight on the front of the user's face. The new Vive Focus adds counter balance to eliminate strain.

The Vive Focus will run games and programs loaded directly to the headset, similar to what you would do on a Samsung Gear VR, powered by a phone. In the Vive Focus's case however, the computing component is built into the headset. However, the Vive Focus will eliminate the PC completely, which isn't really what PC gamers are looking for. The ultimate goal is to get PC games running on a VR headset wirelessly, but as I mentioned previously, getting content and a headset to the masses is of critical importance.

Tuan is the Editor-in-Chief of Maximum PC, and loves all things tech. He's been building PCs and ruffling feathers in the industry for 20 years, and isn't afraid to call out bad products and services. In fact, it's very common to hear the words "this is shit" escape his lips. If you want to know if something is "Kick-Ass" or not, email or tweet him.