30 PCWorld FEBRUARY 2019NEWS HTC REVEALS TWO NEW VR HEADSETS
VIVE COSMOS
Let’s cover the more interesting
announcement first, yeah? The Vive Cosmos
is a semi-standalone headset, designed for
easy setup and long-term comfort. It is, if we
extrapolate a bit, a direct competitor to the
Oculus Quest—or the closest we’re going to
get from HTC.
You’ll notice I said “semi-standalone.”
That’s probably the most interesting hook for
the Vive Cosmos. We didn’t get many details
during the show, but it sounds as if the
Cosmos will be able to hook up to your PC for
a high-fidelity experience, or be detached for
a more mobile use-case. It doesn’t look like
the Cosmos has wires though, which makes
me wonder whether the recent HTC Vive
wireless adapter (go.pcworld.com/htca)—the
one using Intel’s WiGig tech—is built straight
into the headset this time. That’d perhaps
allow for a PC experience sans-wires as wellas a lightweight mobile experience.
In any case, tracking is handled by two
cameras on the front of the headset. That’s a
step down from the Oculus Quest’s four
edge-array cameras, so I’ll be curious to put
the Vive Cosmos through its paces at some
point. I haven’t been impressed by any
dual-camera setups yet, be it the Vive Focus
or the bevy of Windows MR headsets (go.
pcworld.com/mrhs), but I’ll reserve
judgment for now.
We didn’t get any real specs, regardless.
There were no details on the screen, nor the
audio solution. The controllers look similar to
the redesigned Vive Focus wands (albeit with
Tron-esque light channels around the
outside), which isn’t the Oculus Touch
competitor (go.pcworld.com/tuch) people
have been hoping for.
The best I can say is the Vive Cosmos has
potential. If you asked me right this minute
I’d wager the
Oculus Quest
seems like a bolder
and more exciting
headset, but we
know so little about
the Vive Cosmos
it’s hard to say for
sure. Ask me again
after GDC, where
we’ll presumably
get plenty of
hands-on demos.