HTC and Seagate have partnered to produce an external power & data storage accessory for Vive Focus, ideal for people using the headset for local media consumption.
Dubbed the Seagate ‘VR Power Drive’, the external battery+storage device is said to be “optimized to plug and play with the Vive Focus,” and will bring users “thousands of hours of video or music, while nearly doubling the battery life of the Vive Focus,”HTC said in a press release.
While HTC hasn’t mentioned any definite specs on Seagates’s VR Power Drive, an image taken during the Vive Ecosystem Conference 2018, where the VR Power Drive was announced, suggests the device will contain 1TB of storage with a 5,000 mAh battery.
HTC claims Vive Focus’ internal battery allows up to 3 hours of active use time. Vive Focus already features on-board storage of 64GB, with the ability to expand up to 2TB via the MicroSD slot.
Seagate’s VR Power Drive is also said to be compatible with HTC’s latest flagship smartphone U12+, and comes with “easy to use backup software, so users won’t have to worry about losing their data again.”
Assuming the VR Power Drive has a standard USB out port (connecting to U12+/Vive Focus’ USB-C port), it’s possible the device will work with other headsets as well, providing they support external mass storage.
HTC says the device is slated for release sometime in Q3 2018. Vive Focus dev kits have already begun shipping westward, although there isn’t an official international launch date yet.