Pimax Portal hands-on: The Nintendo Switch of VR headsets - Inverse

I was skeptical of the Pimax Portal, but aft trying the unusual Android handheld and virtual world headset hybrid astatine CES 2023, I tin corroborate that Pimax’s do-it-all instrumentality truly does work.

Pimax launched the Portal’s Kickstarter run successful November 2022 with the framing that its latest hardware is “the world’s archetypal metaverse amusement system” acknowledgment to a suite of accessories that tin person it into a Quest 2-like VR headset, location console, oregon larger handheld. But based connected my clip with the Portal the existent contented for the instrumentality isn’t whether its hardware is up to the trial but whether it’ll person the apps and games to instrumentality vantage of its flexibility.

More Switch Lite than Steam Deck

As a refresher, the Pimax Portal ships with a respectable postulation of specs that enactment it successful enactment with different VR hardware successful its wide $300-$400 starting terms range. Here’s what you’ll get if you backmost a Pimax Portal:

Pimax Portal Tech specs

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2
• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 650
• Memory: 8GB of RAM / 128GB of retention OR 8GB of RAM / 256GB of storage
• Display: 5.5-inch, 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, 144Hz LCD oregon QLED display
• Tracking: 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) tracking via 4 backmost cameras
• Battery: 4,000mAh

Holding the Pimax Portal during my hands-on demo, I was astir amazed by however tiny the instrumentality really is. Maybe it’s my clip with the Steam Deck, but this handheld is positively petite, with removable, soft-touch integrative controllers (compatible with lodging that lets them enactment with VR) that are smaller than you’d find connected the Switch.

Playing done Streets of Rage 4, the buttons and sticks did the occupation but were possibly a tad mushier than I’d similar if I was playing successful handheld mode for longer periods of time. In presumption of games, there’s thing you tin get disconnected the Play Store, entree to assorted crippled streaming services, positive a enactment of VR-specific experiences disposable done Pimax’s store.

Kind of complicated

When you determine to power to VR, it’s simply a substance of toggling Pimax’s VR launcher from the Portal’s location screen, sliding the controllers disconnected the Portal, and sliding the handheld into 1 of 3 of Pimax’s Portal View accessories. The large quality betwixt each is however wide your tract of presumption (FOV) is portion you deterioration it, with options for either 60, 100, oregon 140-degree FOVs with tradeoffs connected pixel density depending connected which you pick.

This yet makes deciding what you’ll privation for your Portal much analyzable than it needs to be, but thankfully the strategy does enactment arsenic expected. This mightiness not regenerate Pimax’s higher-end headsets similar the Pimax Crystal, but if VR is much of a nice-to-have than your main draw, you’ll beryllium blessed with what Pimax tin execute with the Portal’s 4K screen.

If you tin get implicit the fiddliness of the full Pimax Portal experience, the starring origin for interest I person coming retired of the demo is if it's going to person the VR experiences anyone volition privation to play. Pimax offers a wide assortment of content, but volition it person the kinds of exclusives Meta oregon HTC volition unafraid for their headsets?

It’s hard to say, but if you’re funny successful the Pimax Portal, Pimax is inactive accepting backers connected Kickstarter for the genuinely adventurous.

INVERSE brings you everything from the amusive and futuristic satellite of user exertion astatine CES 2023. For each the latest exertion sum from the show, spell to the INVERSE CES 2023 hub.