The HTC Vive Cosmos has been the best hidden secret of the virtual reality industry for the past few months. HTC has been very hesitant to release any hints to what their new Vive VR could be, but we finally have a steady idea on what the Cosmos is going to be and what it is going to be able to do. This is going to be a happy middle ground between the consumer-friendly Oculus Rift S and the high-spec Valve Index.
The official HTC Vive YouTube page released three different videos yesterday that were all based on the new Vive Cosmos. The first we are going to touch on is the video with the title of HTC VIVE COSMOS Reveal. In this short 38 second clip you learn a handful of new information. This is the information that we expected much earlier in the process of the headset, but we finally have it. You can check out the official video below.
Resolution
The first piece of information we are given is the combined resolution. 1880 x 1700 is nothing to laugh at. This is the best visuals we are going to get on a Vive headset yet, and its not even close. The Vive Pro Eye comes close, but we are expecting a much more smooth experience with this headset, especially know that we know it is designed for the comfort of the consumers.
The next feature they show is nothing we didn’t know before, but it is still worth noting. The flip-up design is going to be very convenient for all virtual reality consumers. Almost every day that you use a VR headset, there are times you put the headset on right as you forgot to grab the controllers, press start on the game, or even to take your glasses off. The flip-up design is something we are surprised we haven’t seen before, and it is clear Vive is making moves for the masses right now.
Comfort
We next see the perfect weight distribution, but we aren’t going to touch on that until we get to the comfort of the headset. The next thing we want to emphasize is the image we see right before the words “six-camera inside-out tracking.” The small two second clip we see before this is two USB cords going into something that looks like a laptop. There have been rumors swirling around the headset and what it will exactly need to operate, and this clip has a lot of clues we want to read in to. Will the Cosmos be simple enough to only use a regular laptop to function? Does the Cosmos take some of the computing responsibilities inside of the headset? If so, will this impact the fidelity inside of the headset?
It is hard to answer any of the questions without more information from Vive, but companies this large don’t make mistakes with their reveal videos. Whatever they put inside of this video, it was meant to be there.
AR? MR?
Something that might go unnoticed the first time you watch the video is the moving letters behind the headset. These letters are probably the biggest reveal inside of this video, and we would be fools not to comment on them. VR, AR, MR. Those are the letters that are stopped on when going through the whole alphabet in the background. Virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality were all highlighted, but why? We are pretty sure this is showing off the capabilities of the Vive Cosmos. The ability to do VR inside of this headset is promised, but augmented reality may be the next step for the Cosmos. Because of the 6 camera tracking, we are betting that they are also going to be able to give you a full view of the outside world, making augmented reality a real possibility.
The next feature is the controllers, as they are going to be tracked by light. Not anything new in this regard, but Vive released a full video for these that we are going to be touching on next.
Although we are unsure how much AR and MR we are going to get with this new headset from Vive, we are anxiously waiting for the next release of news for more updates. The Vive Cosmos is sure to be the biggest release of the second half of 2019 and it should be released in time for the holiday season. For more VR news and updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
