What’s really interesting, however, is the addition of a front-facing camera, which will allow Vive Pre users to see both the real world and the virtual.
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“When we first announced Vive ten months ago, we had an ambitious goal of fundamentally changing the way people communicate and interact with the world – forever”, commented Cher Wang, chairperson and CEO of HTC.
Changes have been disclosed by Taiwanese technology company HTC in the CES technology show to its upcoming virtual reality headset.
The underlying benefit of having a camera on your VR headset is that you won’t have to remove it when you want to take a drink of water or want to take a seat. The controller also features a new dual stage trigger and haptic feedback, to deliver vital feedback and immerse you more deeply in the virtual world.
There is a lot of technology behind the HTC Vive Pre virtual reality headset, and now it looks like that delay was well worth it. HTC also updated the controller, and is now promising an April release date. As the “Pre” in the nomenclature suggests, this is essentially meant for developers ahead of the final launch sometime in April.
The chief VR contenders are Microsoft with its Hololens, Playstation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC VR. The company is exhibiting the second-gen HTC Vive Pre in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show 2016.
The new headset entitled the Vive Pre has been redesigned from the ground up to increase the sense of immersion in virtual worlds.
Fully-fledged virtual reality systems are still to be integrated into modern homes, with the Samsung Gear VR, which is powered by a smartphone, now the only mainstream headset on-sale.
“Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network”, said Hastings.
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The new headset has a front-facing snapper that has been installed purposely to help those wearing the device to easily blend their physical and VR world. Whenever you double-tap on the Vive controller’s menu button or simply come near an object in the real world, the Vive Pre will overlay of the real world into your visor. They also now have rechargeable batteries for up to 4 hours of run time per charge.
