The Vive XR Elite, a competitor to the recently launched Meta Quest Pro, will be launched next month and will retail at $1100.

HTC has been teasing a “small” new headset for the past two or three months. One of the teasers had the caption “go small or go home.” It also hinted that this will be a consumer-focused VR headset.

The design of the Vive XR Elite is compact thanks to the use of pancake lenses. The design looks almost similar to that of the HC Vive Flow that the company released in late 2021. The Vive XR Elite is powered by the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 processor, the same system-on-chip (SoC) used in many other standalone virtual reality headsets.

The Vive XR Elite also offers mixed reality functionality through color passthrough, just like the Meta Quest Pro headset. HTC says the color passthrough in the XR Elite is superior to that of its competitors thanks to its higher resolution and dynamic range. Early reviews state that the XR Elite’s mixed reality is clearer than that of the Meta Quest Pro.

HTC says the color passthrough in the Vive XR Elite has a good enough quality to enable one to read their laptop or phone screens without unstrapping the headset. It will soon be apparent whether this is usable practically.

The XR Elite headset also has a depth sensor. Meta dropped this in the Quest Pro headset in the run-up to the headset’s launch. The depth sensor enables users to automatically mesh their physical environment into the mixed reality experience to allow virtual objects to collide with the real physical objects in the room.

Vive XR Elite preorders ship from late February
Vive XR Elite preorders ship from late February

The XR Elite features Quest 2-style tracked controllers. It also provides support for controller-free hand tracking.

It features dual LCD displays with a resolution of 1920 x 1920 each. This a slightly more than that of the Meta Quest Pro. The XR Elite has a refresh rate of 90Hz.

HTC claims that the headset has a field of view of “up to 110 degrees” although it didn’t state whether this is a horizontal or diagonal field of view. The Vive Flow has a much narrower field of view.

The Vive XR Elite has an adjustable lens separation. The adjustment is done using a slider positioned on the exterior of the headset and which works for IPDs that range from 54mm to 73mm. However, the headset does not have built-in eye tracking so the wearer’s IPD isn’t measured.

The XR Elite’s lenses feature a diopter adjustment built for people with vision impairment. If you wear prescription glasses, you won’t have to use them for a clearer image.

The headset has an included battery that is strapped to the rear of the strap. However, this battery is detachable to enable you to use an alternative USB power source like a battery pack, airliner/train seat, or via a wall adapter. You can, therefore, use this headset will leaning back on a seat or a sofa which is not possible with the Quest Pro or Pico 4 headsets.

The XR Elite’s operating system enables you to stream the screens of compatible Android phones into virtual reality which will allow you to play mobile games or stream apps such as Disney+ on a personal cinema screen.

A number of Quest ports have been listed on Viveport Store as arriving in the “launch window”. These include Unplugged, Demeo, Figmin, Green Hell VR, Ultrawings 2, Ancient Dungeon, Immersed, Gravity Sketch, Les Mills Bodycombat, Warplanes WW1 Fighters Crisis Brigade 2, Chronos, Puzzling Places, RuinsMagus, Tokyo Chronos, TRIPP, and Virtual Desktop.

The XR Elite is the first consumer-focused fully standalone VR headset from HTC. Its impressive specifications are promising a better-quality mixed reality experience than that of Meta’s Quest Pro inside a more compact form factor and at price that’s $400 less than that of the Quest Pro. However, the Quest Pro has the advantage of a larger library of games and apps. It remains to be seen whether HTC’s XR Elite will edge out the Quest Pro in the market, particularly among developers.

You can pre-order the XR Elite from the HTC Vive website. Shipping begins in late February, according to the company.

https://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/HTC-Vive-XR-Elite-600x401.pnghttps://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/HTC-Vive-XR-Elite-150x90.pngRob GrantBusinessHTC-ValveThe Vive XR Elite, a competitor to the recently launched Meta Quest Pro, will be launched next month and will retail at $1100. HTC has been teasing a “small” new headset for the past two or three months. One of the teasers had the caption “go small or go home.”...VR, Oculus Rift, and Metaverse News - Cryptocurrency, Adult, Sex, Porn, XXX