The HTC Vive Flow is a new portable virtual reality headset that takes us that much closer to our inevitable Ready Player One future.
The HTC Vive Flow is an astonishingly lightweight VR headset that’s more like a pair of VR glasses than any of the heavy head-strapped displays that have come before it. Of course, it helps they even look like a pair of oversized sunglasses that uses traditional temples that fold up into a small package too. This headset basically sits on your ears instead of using a big adjustable head strap system to wrap itself around your head.
Wearing the HTC Vive Flow reminds me of using science goggles thanks to its large gasket that basically forms a light-blocking seal around your eyes with soft and extremely flexible fabric.
The headset also isn’t front-heavy at all because HTC opted to remove the internal battery and instead have it draw power from an external power bank via its USB-C connection.
The second reason the Flow is so compact is newly developed pancake lenses that are much thinner than the Fresnel lenses used in most VR headsets. Aside from that, all that’s in the headset is a pair of 1,600 x 1,600 resolution screens, a Qualcomm XR One processor to power all the virtual experiences, and a cooling fan.
As the HTC Vive Flow is designed to be portable, it primarily connects to Android phones (there’s no word of iOS support yet) over Bluetooth. The headset merely uses your phone as a controller and amazingly it doesn’t need you to launch into any dedicated app. instead, HTC has found just overlays a virtual D-Pad-like control scheme over the Android home screen.
The onboard Qualcomm chip handles all of the Flow’s processing. It’s powerful enough to drive your basic polygonal VR experiences like attending a virtual meeting in Vive Sync or play games like Space Slurpies, which is basically like a 3D version of snake that uses your phone’s gyroscope as a joystick.
HTC is also pushing its latest VR product as more of a relaxation and entertainment device. During my hands-on time, I went into a pseudo-sensory deprivation tank with TRIPP and explored a bit of the virtual reconstruction of Route 66 in A Road to Remember. In a virtual theater setting, you can also use the Vive Flow to watch any content from streaming service apps on your phone – such as HBO Max, Netflix, and Disney+.
Unfortunately, the HTC Vive Flow isn’t really designed as a gaming device as its displays only refresh up to 60Hz and the pancake lenses only offer up a 100-degree field of view. HTC has also told us you can’t connect the headset to a gaming PC or gaming laptop through USB-C – we really wished it could because it would be the perfect portable VR headset for gaming.
The HTC Vive Flow will retail for a steep $499 price which includes the headset and a carrying case, but no bundled power bank. Pre-orders open on Oct 14 and the headset will be available starting November 2021.
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