HTC Unveiled Vive Pre With New Features @ CES 2016
HTC is showcasing a new Vive Pre developer’s kit at CES 2016, the new VR system has some exciting new features and upgrade. According to Dan O’Brien, the vice president of product management at HTC, HTC is giving away 7,000 pcs of the kit to VR content creators and developers around the globe.
HTC previously announced the delay of the Vive consumer version until April 2016, and will start accepting pre-order around late February. According to Fortune, HTC has built and designed HTC Pre from ground up, and all of the enhancements on the HTC Pre version will ultimately end up in the consumer edition.
HTC Vive Pre Headset Sizing & Fitting Improvement
The Vive Pre headset is smaller, and according to O’Brien. The padding foam for the face and nose is interchangeable and adjustable to provide more comfort and to cater different face sizes and shapes, and also allowing more room for eye glasses wearers.
“The headset has brighter, crisper screens with Mura correction, which makes objects feel like they’re right in front of you,” O’Brien says. “It adds to the presence value.” ( via Fortune )
Vive Pre Hand-Controller Upgrade
The controllers are now slightly smaller. In addition, the processing seems significantly high. Otherwise, the button arrangement remains relatively similar to the first Development Kit HTC Vive. The buttons are not smooth but have a structure. Thus they should be better to find. In the controllers is found in each case, a lithium-polymer battery. This should bring enough juice for 4 hours wireless pleasure. Load the controller via a USB cable.
HTC Vive Pre Lighthouse Station Enhancement
The Lighthouse station has a new minimal and sleek appearance! The new Lighthouse Station has rounded corners and is designed to make less noise.
Image Source: Wearable.com
Vive Pre Introducing “Chaperone System For Safety W/ Built-In Pass-Through Front Camera
The most exciting new feature of the Vive Pre is the build-in front camera lens, described by HTC as pass-through camera, as a part of the new Chaperone System, which allows user to see the objects in the real world, and provides mixed reality experience.
The new Vive Pre Chaperone System is replacing the Vive developer kit’s grid wall feature that prevents users from run into the wall when playing VR games in a small scale room. This new safety feature is also customizable, users can preset the size of the space. According to O’Brien, users can activate the camera simply by press a button on the hand-controller during a VR experience.
Image Source: Cnet
Several VR games will be displayed at CES using HTC Vive Pre, including a demo of Starbreeze VR’s John Wick shooter, Vertigo Games’ zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine, Owlchemy’s Job Simulator, and Valve’s Portal and Shopkeeper demos. The Martian VR Experience from 20th Century Fox also will be on display.
