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GAMING FEATURE

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ACCESSORISE AWAY! There’s an impressive range of extras available for the Vive XR Elite, including additional battery cradles (they’re hot-swappable, too), a neat carrying case, a streaming cable, power adaptor, and more.

any of the thousands of top VR experiences that are available. See clearly Glasses wearers, or those with other sight issues, can sometimes struggle with VR headsets, so HTC have come up with a smart way to make the Vive XR Elite accessible. Both the left and right sides of the goggles have prescription focus adjustment in a range of 0 to -6, as well as a slider to adjust the distance between lenses, so most people should be able to find an in-focus fit. If not, there’s a gasket available that provides space for glasses wearers to keep them on and experience all of the excitement.

VIVE LA VR REVOLUTION!

Virtual and mixed reality technology is evolving at a rapid rate, and with the Vive XR Elite, HTC are right at the forefront of innovation. We took one for a spin. Words Amy Flower

As for the screens, each eye has 1920 x 1920 pixels, with a 110-degree field of view, and a zippy 90Hz refresh rate. In play, vision is bright and clear, and we found it easy – thanks to those aforementioned adjustments – to get sharp focus without wearing our usual glasses. Playtime! Ah, the fun stuff! Playing untethered with the battery pack will deliver a session of up to around two hours – plenty of playtime without a break – with an hour’s recharge available in around 30 minutes. Hook into a PC via USB and you can just keep on playing to your heart’s content. We found the controllers easy and quick to get to grips with, and they were our preferred playing method over the hand tracking, although the latter is super-handy – and less awkward - when out and about. When trying the mixed reality capabilities of the Vive XR Elite, the combination of outside world around us and computer-generated insertions onscreen worked a treat, with detailed vision, and depth sensing working particularly effectively. Sonically, there’s no need for a separate audio delivery device, as

First impressions and getting acquainted What’s most arresting upon first unpacking the Vive XR Elite from its environmentally responsible packaging is how compact and light the main unit is, especially considering it’s toting four tracking cameras, an RGB camera, plus depth and other sensors. The Vive XR Elite is actually convertible, in that it can be used much like a pair of oversized glasses without the battery cradle (connected via cable), or with it attached at the rear, providing a pleasing counterbalance that sits the unit very comfortably on the head. Just remove the ear prongs, swap in guides you through making appropriate adjustments, updating if necessary, getting the two hand controllers going, and introducing the unit’s clever hand tracking functionality, which offers a remarkable array of natural hand and finger movements. the battery unit and away you go. As for setup, it’s all done within the unit, with a visual process that

Play it here, there, anywhere! Part of the genius of the Vive XR Elite is that it isn’t PC dependent – as a standalone headset with its own 128GB of storage and 12GB of memory coupled with a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor, you can connect directly to HTC’s Viveport store and access over 1,000 games, then play them wherever you are – and you can do that either standing or seated. The play space ranges from a minimum of 1.5 x 1.5 metres to a sizeable 10 x 10 metres. All this doesn’t mean that the Vive XR Elite isn’t a powerhouse PC VR unit, though, for when hooked into the likes of Steam VR – connected via USB cable or Wi-Fi - it can deliver

there’s a powerful speaker embedded in each of the headset’s arms, with a volume control atop the left one. Sound from these is impressive, and plenty immersive enough to enhance the entire experience, which really is an exciting advance in personal entertainment.

12 SEPTEMBER 2023

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