HTC today at the Vive Developers Conference (VDC) in Beijing has announced Vive Focus Standalone VR headset after teasing it for some time now. The company has also introduced VIVE WAVE VR Open Platform which will be open for easy mobile VR content development and device optimization for third-party partners.
The Vive Focus is the company’s first Standalone VR Headset for the China market and is the first commercial standalone device to deliver inside-out 6-degree-of-freedom tracking (6DoF). Meaning you don’t need a base station like PC or mobile to connect it nor sensors and you get the freedom of mobility to use it anywhere.
The Vive Focus VR packs an AMOLED screen to deliver best VR experience with low latency, and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 VR Platform and utilizes the Vive Wave VR open platform. It has a rotational head strap that’s similar to the Vive’s Deluxe Audio Strap.
The Vive Wave Open Platform already has 12 partners including 360QIKU, Baofengmojing, Coocaa, EmdoorVR, Idealens, iQIYI, Juhaokan, Nubia, Pico, Pimax, Quanta, and Thundercomm, announced their support for Vive Wave and integrating the VIVEPORT VR content platform into their future products. Developers can take advantage of the Vive Wave SDK to integrate accessories even outside-in solutions for 6DoF input.
It enabled developers to create content for a common platform and storefront across multiple hardware vendors, and over 35 Chinese and global content developers have already built VR content optimized for Vive Wave. At the same event, HTC has also announced the Viveport strategic partnership with Unity which will enable in publishing content onto Viveport for PC VR, Standalone VR, and mobile VR developers with just one click.
Unity will integrate the Viveport into its content platform and provide developers simpler way to utilize the new Vive Wave VR SDK. The company said that it would incorporate the VivePort’s in-app payment and VR advertisement functions. China will be the initial cus, and Viveport will give back 100% of all profit earned on its platform back to the developer community.
The company didn’t announce pricing and availability of the Vive Focus.