Qualcomm has debuted an updated version of their VR Headset Reference Design now with Leap Motion's new 180-degree hand-tracking to bring gesture control to mobile VR headsets. The new headset and Leap Motion tracking module was shown off during last week's GDC 2017. Qualcomm's VR Headset Reference Design has been upgraded to the company's new Snapdragon 835 mobile platform. The purpose of the headset, which the company calls the VRDK (Virtual Reality Development Kit), is to act as a foundation for Qualcomm's device partners to make their own VR headsets based on Qualcomm's mobile computing hardware. [gallery type="rectangular" ids="60514,60515"] The VRDK is an impressive mobile headset itself, featuring a 2560x1440 AMOLED display and inbuilt inside-out positional tracking derived from internal sensors and a pair of 1280x800 front-facing cameras. We tried out the positional tracking earlier this year and found it to be quite performant. And now, Qualcomm's latest VRDK brings hand-tracking into the mix thanks to Leap Motion. Leap Motion has been working on hand-tracking technology since 2010, and in recent years has pivoted their focus toward use as an input technology for VR. And while the company's initial hand tracking device—originally built for use as a desktop peripheral—has seen some use in VR by strapping the device to the front of a headset, the limited field of view meant that users had to told their hands up in front of their face for the device to be able to track their hands in VR. Ultimately VR controllers have thus far become the defacto standard for motion input on tethered VR headsets. But when it comes to mobile VR, where the goal is to have a single, self-contained unit that doesn't rely on external tracking sensors or beacons, Leap Motion may have found a perfect fit; hand-tracking is more immersive than the limited rotation-only controllers that we see with Daydream and others (like the newly announced Gear VR). Having the tracking be totally on-board also means one less piece of equipment to tote around, helping to keep mobile VR portable and easy to use. [irp posts="59833" name="Samsung Announces New Gear VR with Touch Sensing Controller Included"] Leap Motion identified this sweet spot a while back and has been teasing a new mobile solution that would address the field-of-view limitation that came from strapping the company's pre-VR device onto VR headsets. The company formally announced the mobile made-for-VR module in late 2016, and now we're seeing the first glimpses of integration into Qualcomm's newest VRDK, which I got to try out at GDC 2017 last week. Though the new Leap Motion mobile module is technically still an attachment to Qualcomm's VRDK, Leap Motion says that it will be directly integrated into mobile VR headsets built on the VRDK that opt for the hand-tracking tech. The new mobile module as seen at GDC 2017 hugs closely to the Snapdragon 835 VRDK and was clearly made to fit the device specifically. With two wide-angle lenses, Leap Motion says the module provides a 180 degree field of view for hand-tracking. Indeed, I could feel a significnat difference between the new module and the old one. With the headset on and my hands out in front of me, I could grab objects and let them out of my own field of view through the headset, and when I looked down I could see that I was still holding the object. The increased tracking field of view is bolstered by smart tweaks to the hand-tracking software; such that if I was holding an object and then turned my head (causing the object to truly leave the tracking module's field of view) the software would remember that I was holding that object (and in which hand) once it came back into view, and often identify my hand holding the object before it came back into the headset's own field of view, making a big improvement from the compelling-but-frustrating experience of the original desktop module. The mobile module doesn't just have a wider field of view, it's also built for high power efficiency so that it makes sense to add to mobile VR headsets. Leap Motion says that the module runs at 10x the speed of the original device at significantly lower power. It's also very tiny. Continue Reading on Page 2 >> The mobile hand-tracking module is running the 'Orion' branch of Leap Motion's hand-tracking engine, which brought major improvements to the hand-tracking performance when used for VR. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY1IorKSDmM In the Qualcomm VRDK I got to try the familiar 'Blocks' demo (above), which allowed me to use my hands to spawn shapes of varying sizes, which could be stacked, thrown or smacked. This time however, the demo was paired with the inside-out tracking of the Qualcomm VRDK, allowing me to physically walk around the virtual space to grab out-of-reach blocks. I could see my hands tracked well inside the headset, and in addition to being able to spawn shapes, I could also flip my hand palm-up to make a floating interface appear attached to that hand, and I could use the pointer finger on my other hand to tap various icons that impacted the experience. I was really impressed with the intuitiveness and functionality of this hand-based interface; it felt like an incredibly easy and natural way to use my own two hands to control my VR experience, likely because it kept the interface mounted to me, and used one of the most simple gestures known to humankind—the point/poke—to initiate actions. It felt very good and I'd love to see the idea adopted more widely, especially among mobile VR headsets which today have rather clunky interfaces. This type of 'hand-mounted interface' isn't entirely new—we've seen similar things in VR experiences that use VR controllers—but doing it without any controller in my hands was hands-down the more natural feel compared to pointing a laser pointer, or even to pointing your finger via Touch's binary finger-sensing implementation (which does allow you a 'point' gesture). Impressive tech, but still there's still a number of limitations that this sort of hand-tracking tech will be hard pressed to solve. For one, physical buttons and sticks are still important input methods; I still get a more natural and immersive feeling by using a trigger to grab an object in VR than by pinching my fingers together into a 'fake' grabbing gesture. The increased field of view certainly helps, but there's still times where your hand will leave the hand-tracked field of view. Despite these challenges, when it comes to mobile VR, Leap Motion's new mobile tracking module is a compelling addition, and, if the price is right, a seeming no-brainer. It has the potential to make the mobile VR experience much closer to the that of high-end tethered VR headsets, thanks to the ability to naturally reach into the virtual world in a way that's much more immersive than the basic rotational controllers of today's mobile VR headsets. Not to mention the usability factor—if mobile VR headsets are aimed at more casual users, the ability to control an interface by reaching out and touching it with your finger is something that everyone with a smartphone already knows how to do. That means mobile VR headsets equipped with hand-tracking are likely to have a much reduced learning curve compared to basic rotational controllers and to the side-head-mounted trackpad approach that we see in Gear VR and other headsets. Qualcomm says the first VR headsets built on the VRDK are due out in 2017, but whether they will incorporate the Leap Motion mobile hand-tracking tech isn't clear just yet. Disclosure: Qualcomm and Road to VR co-hosted a networking event during GDC 2017.