HTC announced its VIVE XR Elite headset at CES in Las Vegas, which combines mixed reality and virtual reality capabilities. An advanced standalone device that comes at a great price.
“The next step on the way to the fully immersive Internet,” promises HTC with its new mixed reality headset Vive XR Elite. At the CES 2023 trade fair, which takes place this week in Las Vegas, Tech&Co was able to test the newcomer, which wants to compete with the new Meta Quest Pro.
If its Vive Flow, connected glasses that connect to a smartphone, got more than a mixed reception, that clearly served as a basis for consideration when developing the Vive XR Elite. This presents itself as a mixed reality helmet, i.e. a mixture of virtual and extended and autonomous. Therefore, unlike its predecessors, it does not need to be connected to a PC or other medium in order to function. It is self-sufficient and even allows itself to offer several advantages.
Because this headset is designed for a diverse experience, from gaming to fitness to productivity and leisure. A wide range of content with over 100 XR experiences, apps and games will be available at launch.
A high-end helmet, but not premium
The HTC Vive XR Elite comes with great ambitions and is clearly in the upper class compared to the Vive Flow. There we find 4K LCD screens with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, a fairly wide field of view of 110 ° and a Snapdragon XR2 chip like in the Meta Quest 2 with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. However, not enough to match the Quest Pro to compete, which has 90Hz mini-LED screens and a much more powerful Snapdragon XR2 + processor. The Vive XR Elite seems to be rather closer to the Quest 2, mixed reality as a bonus.
During CES, we were able to test the headset through various experiences. Starting with Yuki, a more playful shooter where you guide a little fairy against enemy attacks from all sides. Hubris is an action-adventure game in which you have to follow another character, sometimes swimming, before shooting at enemies, etc.
Other experiences offered by HTC for testing put us in the shoes of a virtual conductor conducting an orchestra or a kayaker criss-crossing a canyon. This last demo we tried proved visually stunning in its depiction of the environment and feel of the water. We were less impressed by the recognition of paddles and movements by the helmet sensors. Very often our kayak ended up in a rock by misreading the movement of the arm.
A price that cools the enthusiasm
But overall the detection is rather reactive and precise. The Vive XR Elite has its own operating system and the weight is distributed quite well over the headset, which is also pleasant given the small size and low weight (675 g). It relies on multiple sensors on the front that capture the movements of the two joysticks that come with it, as well as your hands. But its front and rear cameras also and above all serve to recreate the environment on the screen without having to remove the helmet. This is one of the strengths of the Vive XR Elite with its mixed reality.
Some tested experiments made us appreciate the augmented reality game, adding enemies to our play area while allowing us to visualize on screens what was around us and paint in the same way. The slight disappointment may come from the image quality. If it has a good color, it doesn’t offer as qualitative rendering as that of the Meta Quest Pro. But it’s still enough to walk, evolve, grab objects… without knocking the Vive XR Elite out of your head.
The standalone headset from the Taiwanese manufacturer uses WiFi 6e, thanks to the power it can connect to a smartphone to access game content or connect to a PC to enjoy more demanding games. The battery is removable and features 30-watt USB-C fast charging. At the moment we do not know the exact autonomy offered.
Whether it’s the Viveport hosting environment that won’t disorient Meta Quest users, the gaming and productivity opportunities, or even the playability of the controllers and ergonomics, the Vive XR Elite more or less offers an experience akin to the standalone headset of Meta is pretty similar. But his technical proclivities or desire to dive headlong into the Metaverse are less pronounced than on the Quest Pro. However, it is announced at 1400 euros, closer to the price of the latter than to the 450 euros of the Quest 2. Are the mixed reality possibilities, still in their infancy, enough to justify such a difference in price? Not necessarily, except to be a mad believer in a technology that’s about to emerge when Apple launches its own device…
The HTC Vive XR Elite headset is available for pre-order with five games on offer. Deliveries are scheduled to begin at the end of February.
By Magaux Vulliet and Melinda Davan-Soulas