HTC Vive XR Elite initial review: Next-gen XR experience - Pocket-lint

HTC, champion known for laying retired the scenery for modern Android phones successful the aboriginal 2010s, present focuses astir of its vigor into VR headsets. Having been 1 of the large players successful premium VR with the original HTC Vive, that household of devices has expanded implicit the years.

The HTC Vive XR Elite steps into caller territory, evolving HTC's erstwhile mobile solution, removing the wires and creating a versatile lightweight headset. We got our hands connected it astatine CES 2023 to spot if HTC's latest headset is going to commencement a caller section successful the VR story.

HTC Vive XR Elite

The next-gen headset from HTC offers a versatile design, capable to beryllium standalone oregon connected, with a hot-swappable battery. It's bully and light, portion the beforehand RGB camera connection a large passthrough acquisition to enactment its XR skills. It's expensive, however, truthful overmuch volition beryllium connected the pipeline of contented for this headset.

Pros

• Lightweight design
• Hot-swappable battery
• Standalone oregon tethered
• Great controllers

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The HTC Vive XR Elite takes the Vive Flow arsenic its basal plan and adapts it into a standalone solution. The erstwhile Vive Flow required a wired transportation to a mobile instrumentality and was worn similar a brace of glasses. The Vive XR Elite looks akin with a compact goggle-style form, but alternatively than arms similar a brace of glasses, present connects to a rear artillery battalion with a pad for the backmost of your head.

On the rear of the Vive XR Elite is simply a dial to set the tension, portion there's a strap that volition spell implicit your head, benignant of level with your ears. Given the airy value of the Vive XR Elite, it's amazingly unchangeable and we recovered it comfy to wear.

Integral to this is the pad astatine the front, the baffle that blocks airy astir your eyes, portion providing a comfy touchpoint against your face. This baffle tin really beryllium removed, truthful it's casual to change, region for cleaning oregon for immoderate different crushed you privation to retired of there.

However, the Vive XR Eilte is really a modular design, allowing you to gaffe the artillery disconnected and swap the arms to beryllium much similar the Vive Flow - though we didn't get to trial this facet of the device. The artillery is blistery swappable too, meaning there's plentifulness of versatility.

The HTC Vive XR Elite uses the aforesaid controllers arsenic the Vive Focus 3, allowing plentifulness of enactment for a afloat scope of motions and controls, portion besides being tracked by the headset.

The tech specs

Inside the Vive XR Elite are adjusters truthful you tin marque changes to suit your imaginativeness and absorption the lenses for the display. That should mean that glasses wearers don't person to interest astir peculiar lenses, though you'd beryllium omniscient to cheque the Vive XR Elite's capabilities to spot is the dioptre accommodation volition conscionable your requirements.

There are 2 displays, with 1920 x 1920 pixels per eye, offering a refresh complaint of 90Hz to effort and support things creaseless and up to 110 degrees successful the tract of view.

The headset is powered by the Snapdragon XR2, the aforesaid Qualcomm level arsenic the Meta Quest 2 and the Pico 4. It tin beryllium utilized standalone oregon tethered to a PC to entree much content. We lone tested it arsenic a standalone device, experiencing contented moving locally from its ain storage.

There is 128GB of retention and 12GB RAM, though we didn't get to navigate the instrumentality capable successful our archetypal hands-on clip to acquisition however good the interface oregon day-to-day usage truly hands together.

The interior sensors supply 6 DoF (degree of freedom), with outer cameras to supply full-colour passthrough imaginativeness truthful you tin spot the existent satellite astir you and to powerfulness those mixed world oregon extended world experiences - hence the XR successful the name.

The headset besides supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for connectivity, portion determination are speakers built into it - though we didn't person the accidental to trial the dependable to immoderate large extent.

HTC Vive XR Elite show and artillery life

In our abbreviated clip with the Vive XR Elite astatine CES 2023 we experienced a fig of antithetic usage cases to screen a spectrum of features it offers. Firstly, the artillery beingness is cited arsenic 2 hours, which we didn't person a accidental to test, but it's blistery swappable, truthful you could prolong your sessions, oregon much likely, not person to interest astir ever afloat charging earlier you start.

The archetypal acquisition we encountered was to research mixed reality. This uses the RGB cameras connected the beforehand of the headset to amusement you the existent satellite successful glorious colour. This isn't arsenic communal arsenic you mightiness deliberation with galore headsets lone offering achromatic and achromatic passthrough arsenic a basal function. However, with XR oregon MR successful mind, there's overmuch greater fidelity successful what you'll spot erstwhile successful this mode.

While the demo was large - we painted connected a virtual easel successful a beauteous modular XR demo, flipping into creating 3D aspects until we'd wholly abandoned the coating task we were expected to beryllium doing and conscionable crafted a virtual hellscape alternatively - it was thing other that demonstrated however bully the passthough acquisition is.

The HTC typical offered to instrumentality immoderate photos of america wearing the headset and it was imaginable to prime up the camera, alteration each the settings and cheque those connected the show connected the rear, arsenic good arsenic springiness instructions, without removing the headset. The item was that good.

Suitably impressed by the XR experience, HTC wanted to showcase Viverse, peculiarly immoderate of the shared spaces that mightiness regenerate your bureau 1 day. There's inactive a somewhat jilted feeling to this benignant of experience, wherever existent things are created successful a virtual world. Sure, the presumption retired of the model looked large but it's inactive a somewhat bizarre conception to us.

However, we opened plentifulness of files to presumption unrecorded data, arsenic if crossed 3 immense displays, and again the clarity was truly bully - determination was nary occupation speechmaking the accusation which suggests that successful a virtual moving situation determination would beryllium nary occupation erstwhile it came to this benignant of content.

The last acquisition we got into was playing Hubris, a VR rubric that's disposable connected Steam, PSVR and Oculus/Meta Quest. This was a amended showcase of the benignant of interactive gaming situation and the controls supported. Hubris is graphically impressive, but the state of question astir the situation is great, including swimming and climbing taking vantage of those controllers.

First impressions

HTC Vive XR Elite leaves america impressed with the lightweight hardware offering and the scope of the controls. This appears to beryllium a flexible headset with versatile usage cases. As with each specified devices, overmuch volition beryllium connected the contented that you get entree to and your requirements beyond conscionable gaming.

It's surely large to beryllium wearing a headset that doesn't consciousness similar it's trying to devour your entre caput and the passthrough acquisition from those RGB cameras connected the beforehand is truly impressive. But the asking terms for this headset astatine $1099 / £1299 / €1399 is eye-watering. The HTC Vive XR Elite is truly going to person to present connected the contented pipeline to person user entreaty astatine that price.