It looks like PlayStation VR won’t be the last VR headset to take our cash this year; eye-tracked contender FOVE 0 will be launching pre-orders soon.
You’ll be able to lay down an early order for the upcoming device at 8am PST on November 2nd via an official website. FOVE hasn’t confirmed a price or final release date for its kit, but we’ll probably learn on the day.
https://youtu.be/mFh2_6olco8
What the company has released, however, is the complete list of final specifications for the device. We’ve listed everything below, but FOVE is highlighted with a 2560 x 1440 OLED display with a field of view said to be between 90 to 100 degrees. Sadly the display’s refresh rate in only 70Hz, though it does feature two 120fps infrared eye tracking systems that are accurate up to less than a degree.
The kit will also come with its own camera for position-tracking.
FOVE has also released minimum hardware requirements for the PC running the device and, surprise, surprise, they’re very similar to those of both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The company has even set the Nvidia GTX 970 card as the minimum GPU, though we’d recommend getting something a bit beefier for VR by this point.
The headset’s eye-tracking sets it apart from its better known PC rivals in several ways. For example, it can be used as a form of control, targeting items on menus or enemies in games. It could also be used for foveated rendering, which refers to games only completely rendering the exact area of a screen you’re looking at, freeing up processing power. It could be an essential tool to help driving PC performance going forward, and the FOVE 0 will be one of the first true testbeds for this approach.
Still, it’s going to be interesting seeing how the product will perform in a market where the vast majority of the conversation is centered around Rift and Vive. With FOVE trying out something genuinely new it’s in everyone’s best interests for it do well, but we’ll likely have to wait until 2017 to find out if that will be the case.
FOVE 0 Product Specifications
Display: WQHD OLED (2560 x 1440)
Display frame rate: 70Hz
Field of view: 90° ~ 100°
Tracking sensor: Head tracking, Position tracking
Eye tracking sensor: 120fps infrared eye tracking system x2 <1° accuracy
Weight: 520g
Audio: 3.5mm Audio jack
Connection: HDMI 1.4 / USB 3.0 / USB 2.0
Accessories: Position tracking camera / Face cushion
Minimum Hardware Requirements
Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 or greater
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or greater
RAM: 8GB or greater
Interface: HDMI 1.4 / USB 3.0 / USB 2.0×2
