I was apparently supposed to see the final consumer version of the HTC Vive (not the HTC Vive Pre developer kit) on Saturday night here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but it was delayed in its arrival. HTC received it here late this afternoon, so we scampered over to the HTC booth, and our News Director, Seth Colaner, managed to get some first pictures.
Sure, it looks like an HTC Vive! The differences: The head strap has been refined, the HMD has a more refined finish, and -- this part you can't really see -- there are better face gaskets (one more narrow, one wide, and both offer some extra eyeglass relief). We weren't allowed to pick it up, hold it, or move it around in any way, so we weren't able to do this as a side-by-side comparison with the Vive Pre dev kit, but for those of you who like to see every trickle of newness where VR is concerned, here you go.
Update: For more details on the hardware and final pricing on the HTC Vive, go here.
Fritz Nelson is the Editor-In-Chief of Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.