From a small black drawstring bag, he pulled out a pair of unusual black shade glasses. I show them to my son. I tell him they are VR. a Quest 2 Player, looks surprised.
The HTC Vive XR Elite seems like a kind of impossible futuristic step into the next generation of VR and AR. These shimmery, bewildered-eyed goggles appear to be a vehicle for a smaller, self-centered mixed reality. But this portable little dream has some complications.
Watch this: Vive XR Elite: Is this the beginning of virtual reality glasses?
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It’s not just folding glasses, you see. There’s a battery pack strap, too. and virtual reality consoles. And optionally, an adapter so that these little glasses actually fit over your glasses, if you wear glasses. The XR Elite is a bunch, and it’s pretty much the same Meta Quest Pro. But, if you want to strip it down to a smaller size, and run it off a separate battery or laptop, you can do that.
HTC’s aggressive next step in virtual reality hardware looks more like goggles than the Meta’s Quest Pro, to be sure. It is a sign of the evolutionary steps that are coming for all VR/AR devices.
I tested the Vive XR Elite over the course of a week, using the device with a number of apps and games in standalone mode, both in virtual reality and in mixed reality modes using transit cameras. I used controllers, but also manual tracking on the plane. The XR Elite also works as a connected PC VR headset, but for the purposes of my time with the device, I focused more on what it could do on its own. I wore them over my own glasses, did not put in contact lenses and used the prescription modified lenses that were included. I used HTC’s own adapter to fit the hardware over my glasses, to see how it would feel.
HTC Vive XR Elite
Likes
Compact design Works with computers or on its own High-resolution, clear screens Mixed reality applications can be run Adjustable optical lenses
You do not like
Expensive modular design gets an adjustable prescription that doesn’t work with my vision. There aren’t many mixed reality apps
The Vive XR Elite, like the Quest Pro, is a VR headset in a different form. And while it can do “mixed reality” — which is, effectively, a combination of video captured from the real world with its cameras, on top of which you get superimposed VR objects and experiences — there aren’t many apps yet that do this pretty much. With mixed reality features.
But this $1,099 virtual reality headset is available ahead of Apple’s expectations Mixed reality device and dead Quest 3, also seems like a stepping stone to some futuristic-looking products that don’t quite exist. Until now.
The XR Elite, in its little black bag, seems impossibly small at first.
Scott Stein/CNET
Design: VR Deconstruction
Next to the Meta Quest Pro, the Vive XR Elite’s deconstructed design looks surprisingly small. That’s mostly because a lot of the components are optionally removable here (the head strap battery pack can be left on, and you can plug the XR Elite directly into a laptop for power or use your own battery pack). But also, the design of the glasses is actually smaller. The mirror-finished front panel isn’t as wide as the Quest Pro, and the lenses are more compact.
This also means that the XR Elite either feels a bit too tight on the face without glasses, or ends up exposing more of your outer peripheral vision when worn with them. HTC calls this “Mixed Reality Mode,” and like the Quest Pro, the sensation is like wearing virtual reality glasses, where you’re looking at a different world through your lenses while still seeing bits of everything else around you in the periphery. This may sound distracting, but over time my eyes got used to it.
The XR Elite, with its controllers and battery strap, which are essential for most uses, adds to the bulk.
Scott Stein/CNET
The XR Elite didn’t work at all with my glasses when I demoed the devices a few months ago in Las Vegas, but a new magnetically attached bracket allows the headset to sit atop my glasses, and the padded bracket rests against my forehead. This spacer needs to attach a battery head strap to stay on my face without falling out (in glasses mode, it wouldn’t stay on my face in this configuration, and it lacks a nose piece). And in this position, the entire headset looks like a slightly shrunken Quest Pro.
In glasses mode (which requires USB-C to be tethered to a separate battery pack or laptop), the Vive XR Elite (right) is significantly smaller than the Meta Quest Pro (left).
Scott Stein/CNET
The LCDs, with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,920 pixels per eye and an effective field of view of 110 degrees, look great for the most part. Wearing the headset on top of my glasses, I found the optics to be more distorted than the Quest Pro. But people without glasses who wear a stethoscope near their eyes may not feel the same way. It’s great that this headset can automatically adjust its prescription, between a range of 0 and -6. It still means I’m not lucky with my eyes, which are -8 plus. A separate slider also moves the lenses closer or farther apart to accommodate interpupillary distance.
The Vive XR Elite has its own prescription for diopter adjustment, but my myopia runs way beyond it.
Scott Stein/CNET
Audio comes in through the side arms, and it’s spatial surround sound like the Meta Quest Pro which means no headphones are needed. Unlike the Quest Pro, the XR Elite doesn’t have a headphone jack.
Swapping out parts to switch from glasses to full-band battery pack mode is a little tricky. The two plastic glass arms are separated by a non-click, and the battery pack’s adjustable headband snaps into the holes in place. I was concerned that the flexible plastic of the head strap might wear out or break over time as I kept disconnecting and reconnecting it.
The front panel that allows me to mount the headset to my glasses has foam padding, but the fit won’t work in glasses mode: You need to attach a battery strap instead.
Scott Stein/CNET
One part of the XR Elite that isn’t small, though, is the controllers. HTC includes a pair of the same Oculus USB-C-like rechargeable plastic controllers that were included with the Vive Focus 3. There are standard triggers, buttons, and analog sticks, but those controllers feel a bit too big for the XR Elite’s compact design. The Quest Pro, by comparison, has newer, smaller controllers that also have camera-based tracking. It would have been nice for the XR Elite to get a controller upgrade to match, especially to make the whole experience more portable.
The XR Elite didn’t include eye tracking like the Quest Pro, but a future add-on will offer it if you’re willing to pay. I don’t mind being on the plane.
The inline controllers are large compared to a small headset.
Scott Stein/CNET
Virtual reality experience: very powerful
With a Snapdragon XR2 chip and a full pair of mobile VR controllers included, the XR Elite runs standard VR apps and games just fine. It also connects wired or wirelessly to computers for VR playback, just like the Quest 2 and Quest Pro. The advantage here is that you can just use the headset in glasses mode with a computer and get a tethered headset that’s much smaller than most competing offerings.
The XR Elite has full motion tracking built in, using its own array of four cameras and a depth sensor. Setting up a room for VR works just like Quest 2, drawing boundaries on the room with transit cameras.
How does the XR Elite fit my face with glasses. There’s plenty of open space under the headset, but it also means I can look down at my phone and into my virtual reality, if I get my angle right.
Scott Stein/CNET
The XR Elite’s hand tracking has also worked well so far. Just like Quest, hand motion is interpreted to show your on-screen virtual hands, which can tap objects, tap virtual buttons, or scroll through menus. Most of the time you will still refer to the controllers for more granular and detailed controls (many applications require controllers).
HTC’s Viveport platform has many of the same games and apps as Quest, but it lacks a number of games and exclusives, so it feels like a relatively subset. However, when connected to a PC, you can click HTC Viveport or Steam VR apps.
Scott Stein/CNET
Mixed reality: Not much yet
You can search and find some apps that use passthrough cameras for mixed reality on the Vive XR Elite, but they are hard to come by. Much like the Meta Quest Pro, this is the first semi-mainstream virtual reality headset for mixed reality out in the wild, and existing VR applications may not necessarily find an incentive to support these new hardware just yet.
Maestro (a game that manages music), Figmin XR, and Art apps are all part of the initial demo, and the results look similar to what Quest Pro produced. I actually like the Quest Pro’s mixed reality a little better—for some reason, the XR Elite camera’s color pass-through video appears flat to me, and at times distorted.
You could, perhaps, use this headset a bit like the Magic Leap or HoloLens for some mixed reality use down the road, depending on whether those apps show up. But by then, there may be new hardware that you have to wait for.
All the gear the Vive XR Elite has can mean a large travel bag of stuff.
Scott Stein/CNET
Bottom line: a shape that grew on me, but too many random quirks
The Vive XR Elite, in my week of use, just seemed so frivolous and sometimes clunky that I got used to it. The system software doesn’t look as polished as the Meta, either. But the smaller shape and the way it fit my face became something I appreciated more when I used it.
If only these were really useful as everyday glasses. Just like many early augmented reality glasses like the nReal Light, the design is still too awkward to be comfortable. Also, the opaque alien headband looks very fragile. I look back on the more intense Quest 2 and at least appreciate its clean design in comparison.
However, the XR Elite can pack flatter than most VR headsets and is more portable than the Quest Pro. But this seems like an odd middle step for virtual reality, the product of “growing pains” that suggests future developments will be better. And at $1,099, that means you’ll absolutely have to wait for this tour. I prefer the Quest Pro’s software and operating system more, which feels more refined, and the Quest’s app library is also superior to what the Vive has.
But that’s clearly where the headphones are headed. Expect Apple to certainly take a similar path; Maybe less embarrassing. But smaller displays and modular designs will be a trend to watch.
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