But it’ll only be available for four months. Huh?
The Taiwanese company isn’t nuts (at least not this time), what they intend to do is release the (second) developer version first. Bridging the gap in the form of this in-between period, the Pre will be prototype Alpha aka the final stage before hitting consumers.
Developers out there will be receiving the second-generation development kit that dials in on pushing the envelope and making the least compromises to deliver its experience. Naming it the Pre, HTC hoped that people would understand it literally – Pre as in, pre-production – and it was never supposed to exist.
It’s makers and partner Valve felt that if they didn’t, they’d be letting an opportunity go to waste; passing up the front-facing camera that allows users to see what’s really happening outside the VR headset.
This prevents you from stubbing your toe on an edge or bumping yourself face first into a nearby wall, saving us from a lot of accidents in our homes or anywhere else for that matter – HTC calls this room-scale technology “Chaperone” – implementing it properly should allow its users to use it for longer periods without having to remove the headset.
Aesthetically it has changed a lot since first being shown off, here are some photos for comparison courtesy of Gizmodo:
Vive Pre headset last year
Vive Pre headset this year
Controller last year
Controller this year
From observations around the tech scene, they mention that the headset is now more ergonomic, making it sit easier on your face. They bumped up the foam and rubber around the Pre as well, ensuring a better fit to go along with a reworked strap system.
HTC and Valve have also added that front-facing camera we talked about earlier. While the hand-controllers are revamped to make buttons easier to reach, inbuilt haptic feedback and an included rechargeable batteries.
The Vive exists in a space that has Oculus, Sony, Samsung, Microsoft, Fove, Avegant and Razer all in one picture, each vying for a slice of the virtual reality pie that’ll soon exist for consumers to weigh their differences.
But something that holds all of them back would be their pricing – none of them cost below US$ 200 – while some (including HTC) have yet to put a number to their products. In retrospect, we don’t expect a VR headset in everyone’s home so soon however you can bet on everyone wanting one.
