How good is the new HTC Vive Focus Plus?

The Taiwanese provider HTC is one of the absolute market leaders in the field of virtual reality. And as the Mobile World Congress last year showed, HTC won’t lose their position anytime soon. At the Mobile World Congress the company presented several VR headsets for various purposes. One of them, which attracted all the attention, was the HTC Vive Focus. Unlike other VR headsets, the device does not operate on cameras but on ultrasound.

The new model is based on HTC Vive Focus standalone goggles, which debuted in Europe at the end of last year. Like them, Plus is equipped with an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, an AMOLED display with a resolution of 2880 x 1600 pixels (1440 x 1600 px per eye) and a refresh rate of 75 Hz and position tracking cameras.

New functions for the HTC flagship

HTC managed to set a new standard for head tracking

The new generation of the virtual reality headset is an improvement compared to the originally launched product. The technology acts even more accurately than comparable products. The "culprit" here is the switch from built-in cameras to the use of emitted ultrasonic waves. The exact determination of location and orientation at the respective place is thus even more precise. In one respect, however, the new HTC Vive Focus Plus does not differ from its predecessor. The coverage area remains unchanged at 180 degrees horizontally and 140 degrees vertically. Anyone who steps outside this range must then rely on the use of sensor data.

Already at MWC 2019, this function was shown off. In the example presented, nurses were trained entirely with this virtual reality headset. It was already possible to impressively demonstrate how well the controller works within the covered area with the ultrasonic waves. As soon as the covered area is left, an additional adaptation of the current position is necessary in most cases.

Parallels to Windows VR headsets

There are still some issues though with the HTC headset

However, a certain similarity to the Windows-based VR headsets cannot be completely denied. The developers at HTC will also have to work on ensuring that the controllers work smoothly and without jerks in the near future. Even at the presentation of the first generation, it was noticeable that there was slight judder from time to time. At the trade fair in the Spanish capital, this small problem was not only found in the controllers, but also in the tracking of the headset. Some experts assume it might be that the problems there are due to the inside-out tracking from the trade fair environment. In everyday use, for example in one's own four walls, such delays and dropouts should not occur as a rule.

The demonstration at the trade fair also did not give top marks for the inputs via the controllers. In some situations, it was necessary to make an input two or three times. However, experts assume that the less than optimal environment for the HTC Vive Focus was the decisive factor here. For an exact assessment, it is probably necessary to try out the same inputs and commands again in a different environment, for example directly in a hospital with the patients.

Sales launch in the first half of 2021

There is currently no exact delivery date for the new HTC Vive Focus Plus, but according to HTC, the market launch is planned for the first half of the year - between April and June. The question of the price is also likely to be interesting. While the predecessor cost 699 Euros, HTC is still keeping quiet about the new prices. However, the company should not add too much, because the Oculus Quest is almost half the price at 399 euros.