HTC Vive takes VR wireless with new adaptor, and also there's a fancy pants new Pro version
Virtual reality, wire-free - and you don't need to buy a new headset? Oh, we're listening.
HTC has made a bunch of announcements for the Vive family of VR peripherals at CES 2018. The one that's most pertinent to current owners is the Vive Wireless Adaptor, which will be the first cable-free VR experience to date.
HTC said the Vive Wireless Adaptor uses Intel's WiGig technology to "operate in the interference-free 60Ghz band, which means lower latency and better performance". We want to hear about battery life, mostly, but HTC said only that the device will "meet the most discerning quality bar".
The Vive Wireless Adaptor will work with existing Vive headsets as well as the new Pro model - more on that in a tick - and is expected to ship in the third quarter of this year.
So now onto the new Vive Pro. This is a new version of the Vive headset designed for those who want better audio and visual performance in VR.
This starts with dual-OLED displays offering a combined resolution of 2880 x 1600 combined, apparently a 78% increase in over the current Vive model. It also comes with "integrated, high-performance headphones with a built-in amplifier".
More esoterically, the Vive Pro has "dual microphones with active noise cancellation and dual front-facing cameras designed to empower developer creativity". Design-wise, the Vive Pro has been built to be more comfortable, with a sizing dial to help you move the headset's weight from your forehead.
here's no price or release date as yet but we'd expect it to cost more than the vanilla Vive unless HTC phases out the older tech.
HTC also got very excited about an upgrade to its Viveport online store and a partnership with Vimeo, but you can head on over to the Vive website to read up on that if you want to.