Oculus Touch Hits FCC Ahead of Launch

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Oct 1, 2016

Touch, Oculus’ forthcoming VR motion controller, has made the rounds at the FCC, the U.S. regulatory body that certifies devices for electromagnetic spectrum compatibility for consumer usage. The appearance suggests the pre-order date for Touch is very near.

Before any company can sell a consumer product in the U.S. which utilizes any part of the electromagnetic spectrum (wifi, radio, BT, etc), it has to be certified by the FCC. Certification marks one step closer to the launch of a product.

In the case of the Oculus Rift launch, the headset was seen in the FCC the same day the company made it available for pre-order; for Oculus Touch we’re seeing the controllers before the general pre-order date is known. With the Oculus Connect developer conference rapidly approaching next week, the appearance of Touch at the FCC suggests pre-orders are very near. The actual release date and price of Touch are still not know (except for one third-party price confirmation), though Oculus has said the controller will launch by the end of 2016.

oculus-touch-fcc-2 — Photos from the Oculus Touch FCC test report show the controller being held along each axis to test electromagnetic emissions.

Documentation associated with the Oculus Touch FCC application suggests it was submitted on or before September 21st. As of September 30th, the application appears to have been granted.

Oculus Explains Why They Didn't Launch Touch with the Rift (Even Though They "Could Have")

Aside from the publicly available documentation in the application, Oculus, like many companies, has submitted a Confidentiality Request to keep the following documents out of the public eye:

Schematics
Bill of Materials
Theory of Operation
Tune-up procedure

And furthermore have asked for a period of ‘short-term confidential treatment’ extending 180 days for the following documents:

Internal Photos
External Photos
User Manual
Test Set-up Photographs

Available documentation reveals compatibility test reports for the Left and Right Touch controllers. One photo shows that Touch has a compartment in the handle which hides what appears to be a standard AA battery, raising questions about whether the device will be rechargeable.

Road to VR will be on the ground at Oculus Connect next week in San Jose to bring you the latest on the touch launch and everything else to come from the conference.

TheVillasurfer

By ‘the application has been granted’, does that mean they’ve been given the go-ahead from the fcc? That isn’t clear to me. Cheers.
- Get Schwifty!
  
  Pretty sure it means that the application for approval has been granted…. they don’t have to grant you one apparently. it’s still pending approval, but no question it will get it.
Firestorm185

Rechargeable… as in rechargeable AA’s! XD
- Firestorm185
  
  Although in all honesty for anyone who is willing to spend the money to purchase everything to run this kind of VR anyway, they probably also have the money to buy two pairs of rechargeable AA’s and a charger. Compared to 1500+ dollars for the setup and headset cost, 15$ for some batteries shouldn’t be to harsh.
  - Get Schwifty!
    
    Really not a question about how they are rechargeable- it’s been known forever it would use batteries of one kind or another… in fact, I kind of like the idea of being able to pick my own brand and quality of rechargeable batteries.
    - Shawn Meeks
      
      And being able to replace them whenever you need to.
      - Firestorm185
        
        So true. Being able to switch in and out whatever brand of rechargeable’s ya want will be very nice.
      - Torben Bojer Christensen
        
        I suppose there still will be a charger cable, so you don’t need to take them in and out everytime they need to recharge?
  - Klasodeth
    
    I’m kind of torn on that. One the one hand, I like that the battery can be easily replaced if needed. On the other, I don’t like having to swap batteries all the time, and I’m not impressed with the runtime of AA batteries. The battery cover had better be designed so that repeated removal doesn’t cause it to fatigue or break.
    - Ned Hoon
      
      Just like the Xbox One controller a peripheral will probably be released for recharging without removing the battery by some third party company.I get up to 40 hours from my Xbox controller before it even needs to sit in the charger.
      - Firestorm185
        
        Yeah, like some interchangeable side-plate with rechargeables attached and a port out the side so you just sit them in a dock or something.
- Jacob Roberts
  
  I wouldn’t be too worried about it. It’s pretty common for wireless mice, even really nice ones, to use AAs. I’d imagine power consumption would be in line with them and I have to replace them about once a year, even the one I never turn off and use 50 hours a week for work.
  - Firestorm185
    
    Oh yeah, totally. I was joking. I love AA’s. :)
Torben Bojer Christensen

Great! …Get these things to market ASAP (!!!), so we ALL can get more motion controlled titles on the market instead of the immersion breaking gamepad control of a players own movement and control in VR. …As such this is great news for Vive owners as well, to be able to soon welcome Rift owners to a more immersive VR experience, and thus even more VR-fans demanding motion controlled titles :-)
- mitcHELLspawn
  
  Heck yeah!! I really hope they release by November. Ive been waiting (not so patiently) for what feels like forever now lol.. i am not a fan of playing my rift games with an xbox controller. I cant wait for some really good touch games release. Ive been super jealous of vive owners playing the Brookhaven experiment for a while now and im so psyched to play a game like that. Killing floor vr should be pretty wild too
  - Firestorm185
    
    And Budget Cuts. Cannot wait to play Budget Cuts.
  - care package
    
    I am a fan of playing the rift with a controller, because games that use the controller only make sense with a controller, just like games that use motion controls make sense with motion controls. Even if I enjoy motion controlled games more, I am not going to pass up games like Chronos, or the rumored CV1 VR Alien Isolation compatibility.
    - mitcHELLspawn
      
      Yeah i dont know, maybe there just hasn’t been a game good enough for me to use with a controller. I own chronos as well and i just couldn’t get into it. It just felt so low budget and it was such simple combat, it didnt keep me entertained. I even picked up the game edge of nowhere. That game actually seemed like it might be pretty cool and creepy, but the way the camera moves so fast behind your character and the way you don’t have control over the camera at all gave me really bad queasy feeling and made me have crazy hot flashes.
      
      I just haven’t been able to experience a VR game with a controller good enough to keep me entertained for longer than 20 minutes.
      
      I picked up a pretty good wheel/pedal combo as well for VR project cars, but even that hasnt been a great experience.. the graphics look terrible because performance is in the toilet on ultra settings…. even though im running 2 way SLI gtx 1080s overclocked to 2ghz. I guess its because the game wasn’t created specifically for VR but still it was disappointing. It is fun though dont get me wrong. It just felt like it could have been so so much better.
      - care package
        
        Simple combat? It was clearly inspired by Dark Souls, and in some ways it’s better IMO. The dodging is quite fluid and natural looking compared to Dark Souls.
      - mitcHELLspawn
        
        LOL give me a break. It may have taken inspiration from the souls game, but the combat is nowhere near as complex or deep. Haha for you to even say its better is one of the most ridiculous things ive ever read.
      - care package
        
        One of the most ridiculous things you’ve ever read? LOL give me a break. I didn’t say it was better, I said the dodging aspect of it was, since in souls you are just rolling around for the most part. Of course a Souls game is more complex and deep in every aspect. Souls games are AAA.
    - Get Schwifty!
      
      Your exactly right – this is the reason that Oculus strategy makes sense in the long run – some games DON’T make sense, or play as well with Touch controllers (or wands for that matter) and the pad still has a reason for use. Why people fought this so hard I will never understand, and it’s clear too that Microsoft and Oculus have a partnership, so it makes perfect sense as well for an Xbox controller to be shipped with it. I do believe that is temporary however, and once the touch is predominant the shipping of the Rift+Touch will be the norm and no longer will a pad be included.
Firestorm185

More importantly, did they or did they not bring back the bumpy thumb-pad? The picture as the top looks like the second prototype from here: http://www.roadtovr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/oculus-touch-prototype-dev-kits.jpg

But the rest of the pictures don’t have it! Is it an old pic, what’s going on? So confused.
Walter Sharrow

If those AA batteries last 20 or more hours of VR, I would be happy to avoid rechargeables. It’s a pain always having to worry if my devices will be usable when I want them to be. I have almost a dozen devices on their chargers all of the time, wasting my power. If I don’t, my gadgets are useless, since nothing charges in less then 5 minutes. Add in the fact that Lithium Ion batteries like to burst, sometimes cracking and destroying your older devices, and often rechargables these days are impossible to remove without returning your item to the manufacturer, and you have a VERY good case for AA’s.
- na
  
  Considering the Vive controllers last easily 10 hours on a single charge and contain rechargeable li-ion batteries, there is no excuse for oculus not to do the same. Especially considering it is almost a certainty they will have some micro usb connection for firmware updates already built in.
- Jacob Mueller
  
  I seriously cannot like this enough. There are so many downsides to have an internal rechargeable battery. I couldn’t be happier that oculus has given the consumer the option on how to power the device. +1 billion cool points to Oculus.
- jezbeach
  
  Just use rechargeable AA batteries!
Morality_Mortality

Holy flip-flops Batman ! Why not just delay the Touch controllers indefinitely and lay the tired old adage on us poor helpless consumers: “It’s done when it’s done.” Besides it’s not like there are two other competitive VR headsets in the market that DO ship with hand controllers.

However, psVR barely even qualifies as bonafide Virtual Reality. Perhaps it should be called Virtually Virtual Reality = psVVR
- mitcHELLspawn
  
  Lol i sincerely hope you’re not lumping psVR in the category of hand controllers. Lol the Playstation move controllers are like an 8 year old TERRIBLE technology that is completely horrendous. For VR to be meaningful it needs to trick your mind and body into thinking youre really there. The htc vive controllers come very very close to being 1:1 for movement and are able to make you feel as if your hands are really in the game, the oculus touch controllers go a few steps even FARTHER by giving 1:1 movement but also having finger movements translating in game which is incredible.
  
  …then you have psvr, that use these TERRIBLE icecream cone looking controllers that cant track your movements for the life of it. Tons of latency, tons of shaking, no precision… its just a total joke.
  
  I feel as though psVR is going to ruin peoples idea of virtual reality. Theyre going to see this LOW resolution headset with LOW refresh rates, and atrocious hand tracking, and they will say virtual reality is garbage… when in reality it can be truly incredible. You just need a powerful pc and good VR hardware to make it work.
  - Morality_Mortality
    
    I am editing my statement to reflect my accordance with your reply. I wholeheartedly agree that psVR barely even qualifies as Virtual Reality. Should be called Virtually Virtual Reality = psVVR
  - dannyhefc69
    
    Not fanboying here but the vives controllers track 1/10th of a degree with 360° and a 15ftx15ft playspace, i really doubt touch can even match that never mind take it even further
Yes it’s YOU i am looking at.

FFS they don’t come with a rechargeable battery as standard, thats just BS.
- Get Schwifty!
  
  OMG – stop whining, your mouse typically doesn’t I really fail to see why you can’t buy a brand of rechargeables yourself.
  - Yes it’s YOU i am looking at.
    
    er no if i am paying 200 quid for these i expect them to come with fekin recharge batteries, and my mouse dont fail cause its wired, because i don’t want to get batteries for anything.