Pico Interactive makes its standalone Neo 2 headsets available worldwide. The base model costs $ 700, while a Tobii-operated eye tracking variant costs $ 900.
We tried it both models at the CES in January While eye tracking wasn't perfect in the early demo, it worked without calibration and the tracking technology for electromagnetic controllers was very interesting. The controllers were even able to track when they were behind my back, contrary to the type of tracking used on Facebook's Oculus Quest.
The Neo 2 headsets They can be run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 chips, have an SD expansion slot and are said to be able to stream content from a VR-capable PC "via a wireless 2X2 MIMO 802.11ac 5G connection with a common MIMO 5G router".
The headsets are primarily aimed at companies, but may offer an interesting alternative for some people who want to leave the Facebook ecosystem for VR hardware. HTC also offers the Vive Focus Plus for around $ 800, while Facebook's Quest starts at $ 400 and has a price of around $ 1,000 when bundled with features and support tailored to companies.
The Neo 2 Eye version of Pico is designed to enable companies to "gain a deeper understanding of customer behavior, improve training efficiency, improve productivity, and improve overall work safety," the company said. The eye tracking variant should also contain dynamic foveated rendering in order to reduce the "shading load in some applications" and at the same time increase the frame rate. The headsets have a resolution of 4K with a field of view of 101 degrees and weigh 340 grams without a headband. These specifications are in line with Pico's, and comparing resolution and field of view in VR can be particularly difficult because there is no industry-standard way to compare these measurements. Likewise, streaming VR content from a PC to a standalone headset can cause convenience issues in certain situations, depending on a number of conditions, including traffic on your local network.
This story originally appeared on Uploadvr.com. Copyright 2020
