HTC has a new standalone VR headset that's still not for you

HTC Vive Focus Plus


HTC has been a busy bee today, announcing not only new touch controllers for the upcoming HTC Vive Cosmos, but also a new standalone headset.
Meet HTC’s newly announced headset is the Focus Plus and its main focus *rimshot* is it now comes with dual six-degrees of freedom (6DoF) controllers for a much more immersive, completely untethered VR experience. 
The original HTC Vive Focus only came with a single three-degrees of freedom (3DoF) controller that only offered rotational tracking (i.e. up, down, left and right). This new headset’s controllers will allow for a full transitional movement, which includes tracking whether the user has stepped forward, backward, side-to-side or shifted vertically.
Other than those new ultrasonically tracked controllers, not much has changed on the virtual reality headset itself. The Vive Focus Plus still features a 2,880 × 1,600 (1,660 × 1,600 per lens) resolution AMOLED display. You'll also find the same underlying Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor power this headset to deliver completely self-driven VR experiences.
Engadget reports the Vive Focus Plus will feature "next-gen" lens for “no more god rays." However, we’ve also seen a conflicting article from Road to VR that speculates HTC will stick to the same Fresnel lenses as found on the original Vive Focus. 
We’ve reached out to HTC for more clarity on the lenses and will update this article as soon as we hear back.
The HTC Vive Focus Plus is slated to launch in Q2 of 2019, but has yet to announce pricing. We'll also have to see and wait about whether this headset will come to mass market as it's currently only marketed to the enterprise sector.

Related product: HTC Vive Pro

Our Verdict:

If you have both the financial and hardware resources for it, the HTC Vive Pro is a thing of beauty. It offers a higher resolution than the standard Vive and can take games from ‘good looking’ to ‘gorgeous’. Similarly, improvements to the weight distribution and the addition of the built-on earphones help the Pro sound - and feel – as good as it makes games look. But, all that said, when it doesn’t work as expected – or during the lengthy and problematic setup process – the Pro is a trial in troubleshooting skills.
 FOR
  • Improved visual fidelity
  • Built-in headphones
  • Gradually improving game library
 AGAINST
  • Price isn’t absolutely justified
  • Jitteriness with all non-new hardware
  • There’s still no must-own title

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