We’re at HTC’s booth at CES 2019 where the company just revealed two new VR headsets. Did someone say Vive Cosmos images gallery?
The first of the two headsets announced today was the HTC Vive Pro Eye. It’s the next version of last year’s Vive Pro with one key upgrade: integrated eye-tracking. This allows you to use your eyes as a form of input. More importantly, though, it allows for foveated rendering. This uses eye-tracking to fully render only the part of the VR display a user is looking at. The rest of the screen isn’t completely rendered, but this isn’t noticeable to the user.
Other than that, it looks pretty much like the regular Vive Pro with a new sensor located inside the headset. We don’t have price or release dates yet, but HTC says this is an enterprise-level product. Seeing as the Vive Pro itself starts a $799, expect the price to be steep.
The next, arguably more exciting reveal is for Vive Cosmos. This is a consumer-grade headset that integrates inside-out tracking. We know it can run on PCs but HTC is also hinting at some kind of portable functionality, possibly supporting a new smartphone.
We’re especially fond of the Cosmos’ new controllers. They look a little similar to the new Oculus Quest controllers but the tracking pattern around the rings is pretty funky. Again, we don’t know when it’s out or what it will cost, but stay tuned for updates.
All in all it’s been a pretty big CES for HTC. Check back soon as we go hands-on with Vive Pro Eye (it doesn’t look like Cosmos is available to try, sadly).
