HTC VIVE UNVEILS VIVE FOCUS PLUS PRICING, AVAILABILTY, IMPROVED CONNECTIVITY, AND ENHANCED LENSES
Our friends at VIVE have a new announcement. At the VIVE Ecosystem Conference in Shenzhen today, they announced VIVE Focus Plus pricing, availability, details about enhanced lenses, and the multi-mode capability to access content from external devices.
The Vive Focus Plus will be available April 15 on Vive’s website for $799 and will initially be sold in 25 markets worldwide, supporting 19 languages. It’s designed primarily to meet the needs of commercial users, so the Vive Focus Plus will provide developers and business partners enhanced optics, featuring all new fresnel lenses implemented into their HMD to enhance visual clearness. Here is their full press release.
Seattle, WA – March 25, 2019 – HTC VIVE® today unveiled VIVE Focus Plus pricing, availability, details about enhanced lenses, and the multi-mode capability to access content from external devices at their annual VIVE® Ecosystem Conference (VEC2019) in Shenzhen. Designed to meet the demanding needs of commercial users, Vive Focus Plus will provide developers and business partners enhanced optics, featuring all new fresnel lenses implemented into the HMD to enhance visual clearness and bring objects to life like never before. The standalone headset will be available April 15 on Vive’s website for $799 and initially sold in 25 markets worldwide, supporting 19 languages.
“With the unveiling of these enhancements for Vive Focus Plus, the VR industry is taking a big step forward with this new generation of full-fidelity standalone VR devices enabling total freedom of interaction and freedom of connection,” said Alvin Wang Graylin, China President, HTC. “We’re thrilled so many developers and partners are supporting this product with exciting experiences across a wide range of use cases, showcasing the incredible opportunity for VR/AR to enter all facets of our lives”
New crisp visuals and upgraded features for business use
Designed to meet the needs of enterprise customers, Vive Focus Plus has new fresnel lenses which offer a sharper visual to reduce any screen door effect. The new lenses create a crisper more true to life visual for users to truly immerse the headset user. With the newly added dual 6DoF controllers, increased comfort for extended VR sessions, and enhanced optics, Vive Focus Plus users can blur the lines between reality and virtual reality in addition to having piece of mind with enterprise support. In most markets, the product will include an enterprise license for use at no additional cost.
Powered by the VIVE WAVETM Platform with content from VIVEPORTTM, users will have access to nearly 250 Vive Wave applications at launch that run natively on the Vive Focus Plus, and the Viveport Infinity Wave subscription program for the Vive Focus already includes over 70 premium titles. A number of these new titles provided will debut demonstrations at VEC2019, generating much excitement for the attendees.
New multi-mode capability turns Vive Focus Plus into a VR hub for multiple content sources
With the newly added dual 6DoF controllers and its multi-mode capability, Vive Focus Plus users can not only enjoy native standalone VR content, but also access a huge collection of existing content across a range of devices. The new “multi-mode” capability will be compatible with PC VR, PCs/laptops, smartphones, game consoles, 2D video streaming devices, live 360 camera streaming and upcoming Cloud VR services. These types of content extensions will be demonstrated live at VEC2019.
Vive Ecosystem Conference 2019 event highlights
l be demonstrated at VEC2019, including content employing haptic solutions, arena-scale gaming, multi-player experiences, and even mixed-reality gaming. By linking the Vive Focus Plus with a haptic vest, visitors will be delivered an unparalleled multi-player experience where users will feel immersed in the “Paintball VR” battle. ModalVR, co-founded by Nolan Bushnell, will also show off their super large-space tracking system enabling up to 40 standalone devices to be tracked in real-time across as physical space up to 900k square feet, unleashing the potential of stadium scale VR theme parks. During VEC2019, Vive will also demonstrate the first fully interactive mixed-reality game for standalone VR devices from New Tech Walkers Studio, where users get fit hitting virtual objects while still maintaining the added safety of seeing the real space around them via the Vive Focus Plus front facing cameras.
The 5G Hub, which generated high interest at MWC2019, will also be featured at VEC2019. The device will be showcased demonstrating the potential of interactive 5G Cloud VR rendering and also high-definition 360 video live streaming. With the newly released Insta360 EVO dual-mode 180/360 camera, designed for Vive Wave platform, users of Vive Focus or any Vive Wave enabled devices will be able to connect their headsets directly with the EVO via a Wi-Fi or a future 5G connection to share the highlights of our lives with their friends and family from around the world.
At VEC2019, HTC Vive is further strengthening the bond between the VR and the entertainment industry by agreeing to jointly create VR content with Beijing Culture Co. Ltd., based on the Chinese blockbuster movie, “The Wandering Earth”.
VIVE Focus Plus Specs
- Display: 3K AMOLED (2880×1600)
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon™835
- Audio: Built-in Speaker
- Tracking: Inside-Out
- Frame Rate: 75Hz
- Field of View: 110-degrees
- Battery: 4000 mAh
- Controller: 6DoF
- Data Connectivity: Wi-Fi® 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
- Memory (RAM/ROM): 4/32 GB
- Connector: USB Type-C
- Charging: QC3.0
- Encryption: File-based (same security as Andriod Smartphone)
About HTC VIVE
HTC Vive is the creator of the unprecedented PC-based virtual reality system, the Vive, which was built and optimized for room-scale VR and true-to-life interactions. The Vive ecosystem has evolved around its premium VR product portfolio, supported by Vive X, the most active global VR/AR accelerator that has invested in over 80 start-ups, Viveport, a global content platform with the world’s first VR subscription model that operates in more than 60 countries, and Vive Studios, Vive’s VR content development and publishing initiative. Vive is delivering on the promise of VR with game-changing technology and best-in-class content, bringing VR to consumers, developers and enterprises alike.
For more information on Vive, please visit www.vive.com.
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Happy VR gaming!