At a special CES event today, HTC unveiled their latest PC VR headset, Vive Cosmos.

Unlike Vive Focus, the company’s 6DOF standalone headset that launched first in China with a single 3DOF controller, Vive Cosmos is being advertised as a 6DOF PC VR headset, replete with all the room-tracking & controller-tracking tech packed onto the headset itself.

Vive Comos is said to launch sometime in 2019, although HTC isn’t talking about a more exact launch window just yet. HTC will first offer developer kits of Vive Cosmos in early 2019, with more details on availability and price will be announced later in the year.

Image captured by Road to VR

Cosmos is said to have the capability to be powered by “more than a traditional gaming PC,” with the possibility teased in the trailer (linked below) that it might also be driven by a smartphone in the future. It’s uncertain what wireless capability it has. The headset on display didn’t feature any wires, although HTC hasn’t announced either at the press event or in press literature that the headset is wireless.

The company is staying tight-lipped on specs for now as well, although from looking at the headset it’s clear Cosmos features Fresnel lenses (very similar, if not the same lenses as in the Vive, Vive Pro and Vive Focus), IPD adjustment knob on right side, a flip-up design, and possibly also internal active cooling as evidenced by a vent located prominently on the front of the headset.

Image captured by Road to VR

The headset features integrated audio that appears to flip up as well, similar to the Vive Pro’s audio solution. Cosmos’ headphones also appear to be removable. Images provided by HTC show both the headphones attached and detached.

Image courtesy HTC

Cosmos sports four on-board camera sensors, giving the headset a presumably large-enough capture area to track the Cosmos’ optically-tracked controllers, which features LEDs in an always-on tribal-esque pattern.

Image captured by Road to VR

Above all, it seems HTC is billing Vive Cosmos as an easily-deployable headset that doesn’t require a lengthy setup such as the original HTC Vive, which requires placing (and plugging in) SteamVR tracking stations in optimal areas in the playspace.

“We found that over 85% of VR intenders believe that ease of use and set up is the most important factor to consider while purchasing a headset,” said Daniel O’Brien, GM, Americas, HTC Vive. “We believe Cosmos will make VR more easily accessible to those who may not have invested in VR before and also be a superior experience for VR enthusiasts.”

Again, we don’t have much further info at this time, as there aren’t any hands-on demos going on here at CES. However if we learn more in the coming hours at the event, we’ll update here.

Update (9:45 PM PST): It was previously stated that Vive Cosmos features six on-board cameras when in reality the headset only has four.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Lucidfeuer

    “We found that over 85% of VR intenders believe that ease of use and set up is the most important factor to consider while purchasing a headset” why does a “leading” company realises obvious things 3 years after the facts? OF COURSE a head tethered device needs to be ergonomically practical, OF COURSE it needs to have that headband design with a liftable mechanism, OF COURSE it needs inside out tracking instead of bulky external trackers…FFS.

    Also it seems as though the build points to a pricing that is not so great, but if it’s as I believe, they finally made an hybrid standalone/PC (and smartphone?) headset, although the wireless components, if present, will determine if it’s indeed the -basic- headset in terms of tethering that should’ve come-up since 1st consumer gen…

    • MosBen

      Despite being pretty obvious, a ton of hardcore people that spend time in these parts always undervalue ergonomics and ease of use when talking about what the next generation of units needs.

      • Lucidfeuer

        Then are they that hardcore, besides effectively engineers whose it’s not the focus, if they miss one of the main point of the device’s usability and essence?

      • Proof XR Lab

        I’d be interested to see what they have learned of ergonomics considering how poor the ergonomics were on the Vive Focus. Easily the most uncomfortable headset I’ve worn, worse than the Mirage Solo, and that’s is saying something!

    • Alan Dail

      I have doubts inside out tracking will work as well as the Vive/Vive Pro tracking. When I play Space pirate trainer, I often keep one hand holding a shield behind my head and depend on tracking to keep it there as I move around and shoot what’s in front of me.

      • Lucidfeuer

        Well inside-out tracking is not going to be as proficient and accurate as external trackers at first, but the point is to start somewhere to get to that point since it’s unavoidable.

      • Have you tried a Windows XR system? Or the new Oculus Quest? Even though I agree with you the Valve created lighthouse system works very well, there is an additional cost to fabricating a shell to house the receptors in the HMD as well as wireless communication and coherent light limitations. There is also the issue of the number of headsets that can be used simultaneously, or setups; which is huge problem at shows where you have several Vive demos. Many of these problems are solved with inside/out tracking, but introduce other problems.

        Windows XR has shown its limitations, and it seems with additional cameras, and integrated fusion in the headset, most of the problems have been solved to at least 220-240 degrees of range. Of course games that depend upon reaching behind your head or behind your back for indefinite periods of time would suffer*. But like many things, we adapt just like we did when it came to using a keyboard and a mouse to move a character and interact with objects or weapons. Ultimately, I think we will see our controllers have similar active tracking systems that make them independent of the HMD providing fused data to host machine just like the HMD.

        *In analysing the Cosmos, it seems the four cameras appear physically similar, which means they all have fairly wide fov. The fact the two side cameras are perpendicular to front cameras, would effectively allow another 120-160 degrees of coverage. Unlikely, since they would overlap to allow common identifiers to be seen by both cameras so effective SLAM fusion can take place. But even so, this could possibly allow for 280+ degrees of positional tracking of the controllers. With that being said, one advantage the lighthouses have over other forms of tracking is short detection and processing time allowing 100+ samples per second with minimal latency. A problem with inside/out tracking is the cameras which need to be global shutter based, and at least 60 fps, high noise rejection and when the streams are processed and fused with IMU data, latency needs to be extremely low for obvious reasons. This is why I speculate the entire fusion process takes place in the headset.

        • Alan Dail

          Windows XR? I assume you mean the WMR systems? I have the Samsung headset, tracking issues make some games completely unplayable, are distracting in others, but are fine in others. I have hopes for Quest and Cosmos to improve that quite a bit, but won’t get to try it until it’s released. I’m really looking forward to it, though. I’d love to have a portable system to take on trips where I can still play my exercise games like BoxVR, BeatSaber. VR is the best exercise equipment I’ve ever owned.

          And I’m glad to see Quest has those two extra cameras to improve the tracking field.

          • You are correct ‘WMR’. Sadly I am juggling too many systems right now to keep everything straight.

            I have problems with the Odyssey too, but it is more with its ergonomics and narrow lens sweet spot. But yes, controller lag and disappearance is an issue.

            Quest will be a great compromise as was the Oculus Go. It won’t be a perfect solution for everyone, but it will hit a sweet spot for entertaining much like the Sony Playstation VR.

            Also, as I already speculated. Microsoft doesn’t sit idle and there is more than likely four camera version in development, or even production process in place.

            I have already been sold on the Quest, the Cosmos is a distraction and frankly can’t see it offering anything new for my needs since the wireless Vive option already gives me everything I need in a professional development/presentation system. Yea the lighthouses are pain to set up, but that is why I have the Odyssey as well.

    • Baldrickk

      Ease of setup? no. I can’t agree with that as the most important feature.

      Ergonomics and haptics first – fit and finish – needs to be comfortable and fit my face, my eyes. Wireless is a boon here, not for ease of set-up, but because it reduces the opportunities for getting tangled and falling.

      Second is quality. Both visual, and in the tracking, this is both fidelity and responsiveness.

      ease of use/setup comes last. yes putting up sensors can be a royal pain in the proverbial, but it likely only needs to be done the once. You can then forget about it.

      • Lucidfeuer

        Considering your criterias, I’d personally put ease of use/setup second because it is an integral part of ergonomics before even considering you’ll use it enough to care about quality. Although it’s really stalling in terms of specs.

  • Alan Dail

    I watched the stream of the announcement, that has to be the worst product announcement I’ve ever seen. They didn’t really say anything about the device beyond what you could guess looking at the one they had in their hand. Actually, they didn’t even tell you most of the things that you could guess looking at the one in their hand.

    • Bob

      Possibly because the specifications that would be revealed to you at a later date will most likely be disappointing.

      • johngrimoldy

        I’m quite certain they will be. Standalone VR simply can’t compare to tethered. I don’t expect my willingness to be tethered will wane any time soon considering the profound advantages across the board (storage, playtime, resolution, framerate, CPU power).

        • Bob

          It doesn’t seem to be standalone but, again, HTC are not clear enough on the matter at this very moment.

          • johngrimoldy

            I stand corrected. I see in the 2nd paragraph that it’s being pitched as a 6DOF PC VR Headset. So it will require a PC. That’s a step in the right direction. Still, the absence of any specs at this point reminds me of movies that get released without having allowed critics to review first. There’s usually a reason.

          • Alan Dail

            They didn’t make it sound like PC VR, they talked about how easy it was to take places. It’s also unclear why they show a cell phone in the video. They were very vague about everything.

          • Will Cho

            Apparently it’s a modular design and it’s not standalone. It’s a inside out tracking PC VR 6DOF headset but HTC is hinting that lower poly games maybe powered by a smartphone. So PC/Smartphone VR headset(like Oculus Quest standalone is powered by snapdragon and so are smartphones). Also easy of taking it to other places is referring to inside out tracking and doesn’t require an external sensor like OG HTC Vive, Vive pro and Oculus Rift and basically like the windows Mixed Reality headsets.

          • Alan Dail

            if it works with phones, that’s as good as standalone. Especially if it has apps like Beat Saber and supports both IOS and Android. It would be nice to know how the video gets from the phone/tablet (I assume tablet is supported if phones are)/computer to the headset since it seems to be wireless. Also, once you launch the app on the device, it really needs to be as easy as the Oculus Go. There should never, ever, be a time you have to take the headset off to fix something or change a setting. I hate when I have to do that on PC VR.

          • Actually this is smart move unless it is only paired with HTC phones, like what LG tried to do with their early (and unsuccessful) attempt at mobile VR.

            Also, as a hardware developer and working with another company who creates iOS connected devices, Apple would have to approve this. However, with the new iPad Pros having a USB-C connection, this would be very interesting especially if they could push a custom video resolution and framerate.

    • Yea, pretty sad and the fact I was not able to find an livestream for it in this day & age shows they intentionally were being elusive with the product, price and availability. I personally see this as way to draw attention away from Oculus Quest, which in my eyes is a real progress in consumer VR and I think will be popular with the casual market, as well as small venues like pubs and mall outlets.

      • Alan Dail

        They didn’t tell us anything to draw attention away from the quest, and the one feature that you could tell from looking at it isn’t nearly as good as the Quest.

        The inside out tracking only has 2 forward facing cameras, the quest has multiple cameras that aren’t forward facing, so can track the sensors over a much wider area. It is very distracting when the VR system loses the location of the controllers, so if there aren’t base stations, the more cameras for inside out tracking, the better.

        • Marco Grubert

          Looking at HTC’s website it seems to have 4 additional cameras around the perimeter..

        • Smokey_the_Bear

          what are you going on about? Quest has 4 cameras…this has 6. You couldn’t be bothered to watch a 30 second video that would have showed you as much. my god, people these days.

          • Alan Dail

            I watched the press conference, the absolute worst new product presentation I’ve ever seen and the web site wasn’t updated when I looked after it was over.

            And even now that it is updated, I do see 4 cameras, the two in the front, the one on either side. The little video makes it look like there are two more, they aren’t visible in the images.

            You’d think they’d at least talk about it in the presentation.

          • Agreed and pretty frustrating, but that like many tech presentation today (remember Magic Leap?) this is intended to fuel speculation and buzz. Sadly, I have been sucked in like so many other developers, and enthusiast, making speculation based upon my own engineering and development experience in this area. Anyway, budget is limited and I have already committed to the Oculus Quest. I think its price point will make it very attractive to developers and professionals who see the potential of open area VR with the HTC/Vive and Windows Mixed Reality systems, but at a lower price point, ease of use and all-in-one design.

          • Actually there are only four cameras. See my post above.

        • I am pretty sure they are only four cameras for positional tracking for the wearer and controllers. Reviewing the video, it is more a graphical representation of sensor radiation adsorption, which could be ambient light or proximity sensor, and these images actually show the upper and lower sections of HMD frame and other than ventilation slots, I don’t see any other cameras, emitters other than they IPD (assumed) adjustment, and a power light or data LED.
          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e0a00af4839f496f3dacf56ee355af240c67909408e0121313db761df74c6382.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ed13546cc47118c278653c704398806031f4deee552703000d1d6cfc864dcff6.jpg

          • I now think the video is showing heat radiation because if you zoom in on the image from the video you can see what appears to be heatsink inside the slot. With no actual demos of working device and no specification, this is all speculation.

  • Scott, are all these images from their demo display or HTC Vive provided media images? The reason is the white light used by the controllers; which leads me to the onboard cameras are B/W only with 140-160 degree FOV. The latter assumption is the way they designed the housing in the headset for the camera. Something I had to do in my own design of a housing for the 160 degree wide-angle camera in Occipital’s Structure Core. I am also going to speculate that all the stereo based camera parallax and IMU fusion is done onboard. Reducing bandwidth and computational needs of the host device, which is why they are alluding to a smartphone image in the promo video driving the HMD. If so, this is leap past the Windows XR system that required the bandwidth of USB-3 due to need to push streaming B/W video from the dual cameras to the host device for processing. Kudos for MS for at least making the computation efficient on the host end, allowing even an i5 NUC to provide smooth positional tracking. Of course this is only with two B/W cameras unlike Vive Cosmos or Oculus Quest.

    • Alan Dail

      According to CNET, HTC didn’t let reporters try it. So strange to announce a VR headset at the largest electronics show in the world, where no details, much less specs are provided, that isn’t demoed, and that reporters can’t try out.

      • Not strange to me. Clearly a marketing ploy since it seems they may not be ready to have their product compete with the Oculus Quest. I also believe they knew they couldn’t make this into a stand-alone since it would eat into revenues for the Focus. More important from an Enterprise POV, create instability in their product line by introducing a competitor to it.

        I wonder if the one on display was operational?

        • benz145

          Not clear if the display one was operational or not, though it appeared to be more than a simple mockup. I would guess it’s a working prototype.

    • benz145

      Interesting points here! A few of the images in the article were taken of the unit shown at CES, and some are renders from HTC. They haven’t let anyone try it yet; HTC told us this was a ‘first look at the industrial design’, but it sounds like things are still in flux and they aren’t ready to let anyone try it yet.

  • Bob

    Not sure where I stand with this one because it’s a little bit confusing at first; so it features full 6DoF input and is wireless but requires connection to a PC. Does it contain an internal processor to render on it’s own? Or is that PC necessary to run the device? Is this basically HTC Vive but completely redesigned to meet the needs of “wireless” accessibility? Because it sure seems like it..

    • I believe it is more in the league of a Windows XR headset. In fact, other than the two additional cameras, this could be a Samsung Odyssey.

      I am now thinking that HTC Vive may have jumped the gun, and we may see something like this in the new Gen 2 version of the Windows XR headset.

      • Proof XR Lab

        It does look like a second generation of WMR with 4 cameras to address the controller tracking issues that were an issue with first generation WMR? No mention of which software this is running though, SteamVR?

  • impurekind

    If the headset and controllers just looked a bit less fugly . . .

  • MosBen

    I think that it would be wise to be skeptical of that 85% figure, but it is a good reminder that the hardcore crowd always undervalues ease of setup and use in what the next generation of HMDs need to have.

  • Marco Grubert

    Looks like the one thing I really hate about Vive – their cheap ringing fresnel lenses are being kept in this model. Too bad; wish they would just copy the PSVR lens system.

    • Proof XR Lab

      The lenses were one of several factors that stopped me buying a Vive Pro.

      Lenses are incredibly important, and the fact they used the same lens from Vive into Vive Pro was a real step backwards. If they are using the same primitive fresnel lens in this new Cosmos device, that’s a real shame.

      Compare the difference in the lenses used in Oculus Rift and Oculus Go, it shows Fresnel lenses can be done well when the R&D money is spent.

      • Totally agree, and see huge potential for aftermarket lenses, but the cost to create a lens along requiring custom inverse projection distortion and inverse chromatic aberrations matrices that might not be exposed in the Vive libraries, would make it unworthy. Also there is the tradeoff of focal area, which with a single lens design, is much smaller in a traditional lens design. Creating a compound lens, like what was in the OSVR HMD, created its own problems with being too sharp and actually need a difusion film layer reduce the screen door effect. Plus the fact the dual lens element design made the headset heavier, and at least for me, made focus much more critical. The alternative is to fabricate custom dublets, but at $100-$200 pers lens and unlikely anyone would pay that much.

        I personally see the advancement in holographic lenses being the answer, since you would literally have a thin film that would be equivalent of multi-element lens. The problem other their cost, is resolution required to create optically superior lens.

      • brandon9271

        Oculus Go lenses might be great but Rift lenses are SHIT. I’ve used Samsung Odyssey, Lenovo Explorer, Rift CV1, Vive, Rift DK1 and HDK2. The HDK2 had the best lenses non-fresnel lenses and the best fresnel lenses were in the Odyssey. They still sufferes from god god rays amd “smudgey” visuals in high contrast scenes but no where as bad as Rift CV1… Those SUCK

        • Proof XR Lab

          I was really impressed with Google’s lens in the later (2017) Daydream View, they spent a lot of R&D money on those lenses – a hybrid fresnel design great for VR with a huge sweet spot and clarity.

          However, the cheaper aspherical lens in the older Daydream View was superior for media consumption as they did not show god rays.

          Rift lens is an old design and I try to avoid “experience” apps in the Rift because of the god rays, I thought “Spheres” was ruined in the Rift by the lenses inherent artifacts. Go was very impressive for media content. Gear VR lenses have impressed for media consumption.

          Where is Valve’s lens? Guess we’ll see it in the new headset, its been a long time since they were reported as being available for OEM.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7bc1f01ede90054341158cc95f2009e8c633373a9883ff0478043b82db5d0f7c.jpg

  • Smokey_the_Bear

    having it flip up is helpful, but so is being able to hit a button, and see things in your world, through the camera’s lenses…which I bet you can do with this, those front to camera’s are right where your eyes are. I remember my Vive could kind of do it with one camera, but it was very buggy.

  • Peter K

    we need elon musk in the VR industry

    • Alan Dail

      Or Apple needs to make a VR system.

      • LJW

        Apple VR would cost $1,500 and not be any better than what we have.

        • Alan Dail

          The rumor is Apple is working on 8k per eye for 2020 with dedicated wireless hardware to drive it.

          • LJW

            $2,500 then

          • Alan Dail

            Apple needs to do it to drive the industry and drive adoption, like they do so often when they enter other markets. You said “not any better than what we have” when they are going for industry best quality.

          • LJW

            cool

          • ummm…

            there was before apple. and there will certainly be after. before jobs’ return the only the that was driving was apple – and it was into the ground.

          • Darshan

            I expect nothing below $5000 … How many are uses those MAC FOR VR btw….?

          • dk

            and 390 fov

          • Trent Stager

            FAAAANBOOOOOOOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          • tigerx

            Ok now I know you’re trolling. lol

          • Alan Dail

            Google Apple VR

        • LowRezSkyline

          True it would be expensive but it would actually work all the time unlike the Vive.

          • Michal Fugger

            How wold you present totaly new space or a game in ar?AR and VR have diferent use and both are usefull for its own purpose.

          • ummm…

            i preordered my vive. years later NOTHING has broken, sans getting 1 cable replaced after 2+ years of heavy ROOM SCALE use.

      • Darshan

        Expect over priced, Eco System Locked, Monopolistic piece of hardware in name of ease of use.

      • ale bro

        Apple and gaming have never mixed well before – i just can’t see apple targeting the gaming sector with any confidence

        • Alan Dail

          #1 gaming system in the world is the iPhone

          • Darban

            Yeah and by those same statistics more than 50% of all gamers in the world are women. Which is not true. Quiet simply researchers have always bunched up your grandma playing Farmville a few hours a month with the college kids who play Call of Duty religiously. There is a very fine line between a casual “””””gamer””””” and someone who is actually part of the core audience.

          • Alan Dail

            The core audience for VR has to be the casual gamer playing things like Beat Saber

          • ummm…

            then why is it priced so high lol

          • Trent Stager

            FANBOY!

          • Pizzy

            how is that, Apple just sits on it’s cash they have made anything new in ages imo.

          • care package

            iPhone is not a gaming system. It’s a multi-purpose phone. You can have a ‘gaming’ PC, which is also multi-purpose, but that requires a ‘gaming’ upgrade aka video card.

          • Alan Dail

            still is the #1 gaming system, more people spend more money to play more games on iPhone than any other gaming system in the world.

          • care package

            No actually it’s still NOT a gaming system. I can make calls from my PC, but it’s not really a phone is it.

          • Alan Dail

            if people play games on it, it’s a gaming system. Why should it matter if they can do other things if more people spend more money and spend more time playing more games on iPhone than any other device in the world?

          • care package

            I guess my PC is a phone then, and my phone is a television.

          • Alan Dail

            is a gaming PC a gaming system? If you say iPhone isn’t a dedicated gaming system, then fine, but you can hardly say the #1 most used system for playing games that has graphics performance that tops some dedicated gaming systems isn’t a gaming system.

            And sure, a phone is also a television. Why shouldn’t it be?

          • care package

            Gaming PCs have the required components specific for gaming, otherwise it’s just another PC, that can play games. Wait, did you just claim an iphone has graphic performance that tops some dedicated gaming systems? lmao. Hey I just realized my TV is a book, because I’ve read shit on it.

          • Alan Dail

            iPhone XS max has faster CPU, better graphics performance, larger screen, more dpi, better color. Either can use game controllers. The CPU/GPU is Xbox One S class.

            You can also hook either up to a TV/monitor and play on there.

        • ummm…

          i tried to make my macs into gaming pcs for years. then i surrendered to bootcamp…then i just stopped buy macs.

      • Have you tried Steam VR on MacOS? As LJW wrote, it would be expensive. In my own experience the performance has been poor with far fewer titles than those available on Windows. As developer, even creating prototype demos have performed worse (if at all) on equivalent hardware.

        Also the Apple/NVIDIA issues with drivers for their video card for Mojave tells me you would have a very limited market with features and performance dictated by Apple. As it stands right now, using only AMD cards is a mistake, but not unlike Apple to choose companies that cow to their buying prowess.

        • Psychometrics

          Agreed. It pains me, as a long-time Mac user, to say that Apple has become a boutique watch and phone company. Its computers only need be powerful enough to author iOS apps (end of rant). :-)

          I can understand why Oculus and Vive would not trust Apple enough to support MacOS. I had the Oculus Dev2 running well on a 12 core 5,1 MacPro with a flashed GTX 970 several years ago. It was only a few frames per sec slower than new i7 Windows box with the same GPU. Probably the slower single thread capability of the Mac’s Xeon processors. But Oculus pulled out of MacOS support for a reason and Vive never got started. Apple’s puzzling love affair with AMD likely played into that calculus.

      • Trent Stager

        FANBOYISM!

    • Darshan

      Exactly my though…some one PM him.

      • dk

        or just a tweet him :P
        …there was an old video of him playing around with a leap motion

    • Jeremiah Tothenations

      Lol, that’s a good one. But I think he’s too busy ruining Tesla and generally being a hack.

  • Scott, are you sure there are six camera elements? I found upper and lower images of the Cosmos (see below) and I only see four. I am now thinking the video is showing thermal energy being released, or just a fancy effect.

    • benz145

      You’re right, only four! Our mistake, fixing now.

      • Pablo C

        6: 2 sides, up, down, 2 front.

        • There are not up/down cameras at least from the images I have seen of the upper and lower surface of the Cosmos. And frankly if these cameras have at least 120 degrees FOV, and fused properly, they would not need additional cameras. Also, adding more cameras, adds additional cost, financially and processing wise. All these cameras would need to have their streams processed & fused with IMU data to create point cloud of the environment. Even adding two additional cameras would increase the bandwidth beyond what could be processed effectively through offboard computation, which is why I think there is a custom fusion processor onboard on both Cosmos and the Oculus Quest; much like the one Qualcomm has available in their latest mobile headset prototype.

          • Pablo C

            You are right, but, if you check the video, and of course I understand it is just a video, it shows rays coming from the top and botom, besides the rays coming from the sides.

          • My theory is heat radiation, which I personally think is a good thing by allowing air to pass over a heat conductor to it wick it away via upper and lower slots. I also applauded Oculus for doing the same thing with the Go with making the outer plate of think aluminum attached directly to the heat pipe.

  • MW

    ‘Untraditional’=mobile=means no AAA content=no development of quality of VR. Where’s the logic? Fast money from mobile games?
    Looks like we stock in this hell for a many years until someone with vision (like Palmer) will arrive.

  • oompah

    An idea , why not make controllers like bangles
    Also HTC should learn from Vuzix:
    https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/283118-you-can-finally-order-the-vuzix-blade-smart-glasses-for-1000
    becuz one day vr boxes on the face may start to vanish

  • Martin355

    The main attraction of the Vive is the reliable tracking, so it’s a bit sad that three years of “innovation” brings us another Vive whose main difference seems to be less reliable tracking.

    • dk

      the tracking will be perfectly great ….it’s their cheaper version and they will still have the expensive version ….it’s basically a RiftS with optional phone mode

      ….as far as tracking methods in a couple of years when the sd835 is dirt cheap controllers will also have inside out tracking and external satellites will be finally dead

      • HomeAudio

        If it will have option to wireless connection – I will buy it.

  • Nelson Tutorials

    I will stay with Oculus Quest, this HTC Cosmos will likely to cost the price of a new PC and it is already late to the party, the development kits havent even shipped yet. Consumer and price friendly Oculus Quest will ship in the next 3/4months.

    I dont even have a great PC for VR so Quest will be suffice for a great VR experience.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      You do know the Quest can’t be tethered to a PC, and is a real standalone headset like the Go.

      • Nelson Tutorials

        Ya, i know, maybe i would consider a rtx 2060 laptop that will improve my 3D workflow and will last a few good years since rtx 2060 is comparable to a gtx 1070ti. I will deliberate.

  • I really hope that the lenses won’t be the same of the Vive… for the rest, very nice device!

  • mfx

    Yeay :)
    low screen door effect,
    real RGB screen and not this horrible pentile crap !

    Sounds like htc puts the real efforts in VR for gamers.

    I hope it features the eye tracking as well..

  • Proof XR Lab

    Apple VR no controller needed – use your hands like Leap motion ;)