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HTC Vive Consumer Version: First Pics

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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.

12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • kinney 23 February 2016 17:23
    The price of the Rift and Vive are the same as a highend cell phone.

    The fact people are complaining about the $600 price point of the Rift is a bad sign. Though I think Oculus took the edge off the surprise-factor for the Vive.

    If you look at all the R&D and hardware included here, it's a good deal for what you're getting. The alternative is an iPhone6S Plus. A nice buy, but considering this is roomspace VR, it's a steal.

    The chances these will ever drop to less than a high end cell phone or a high end monitor is fantasy.
    Reply
  • kyle382 23 February 2016 17:25
    I feel like occulus spent a lot more money on product design R&D with regards to the weight distribution and strapping system...maybe it just appears that way. I can't afford a vive anyways so whatever :D
    Reply
  • alidan 23 February 2016 18:49
    The price of the Rift and Vive are the same as a highend cell phone.

    The fact people are complaining about the $600 price point of the Rift is a bad sign. Though I think Oculus took the edge off the surprise-factor for the Vive.

    If you look at all the R&D and hardware included here, it's a good deal for what you're getting. The alternative is an iPhone6S Plus. A nice buy, but considering this is roomspace VR, it's a steal.

    The chances these will ever drop to less than a high end cell phone or a high end monitor is fantasy.

    phones are stupidly overpriced, same as vr, yes some amount can be said for r&d, but how much of the r&d is passed onto me?

    ill wait till its out we know the tear down price to judge...

    but i say it time and time again, i don't want these high end versions of vr
    room vr is going to fail and continue to fail till these are wireless,
    i want native 720p per eye, because at 1080 per eye, if i scale it down the image quality looks like hell opposed to native, and i don't care too much about the "screen door" effect, i had vr on my head with it was 320x180/240 i forget which is the 4:3 resolution and i know from first hand experience, what it adds to the game play experience more then makes up for the lower res

    not to mention 2 720p would be so much easier to drive to 60/90fps then 2 1080 or higher screens, i mean sure, make the screens higher than 1080p and just watch vr die due to no one having computers able to handle it.

    i mean seriously, even take out 3d effect, and just have the head as an input point would make it a buy for me at a lower price just due to racing games
    Reply
  • thor220 23 February 2016 20:45
    The price of the Rift and Vive are the same as a highend cell phone.

    The fact people are complaining about the $600 price point of the Rift is a bad sign. Though I think Oculus took the edge off the surprise-factor for the Vive.

    If you look at all the R&D and hardware included here, it's a good deal for what you're getting. The alternative is an iPhone6S Plus. A nice buy, but considering this is roomspace VR, it's a steal.

    The chances these will ever drop to less than a high end cell phone or a high end monitor is fantasy.

    The difference between a high-end phone and VR is that the high end phone replaces their tablet, PC, and phone. I spent $20 on mine because I don't need that. You know I also don't need? All the extras that come with this VR helmet. Why on gods green earth are they including earbuds? Just like Microsoft learned with the kinect, not everyone is going to want everything forced on them.
    Reply
  • alidan 23 February 2016 22:08
    17553118 said:
    The price of the Rift and Vive are the same as a highend cell phone.

    The fact people are complaining about the $600 price point of the Rift is a bad sign. Though I think Oculus took the edge off the surprise-factor for the Vive.

    If you look at all the R&D and hardware included here, it's a good deal for what you're getting. The alternative is an iPhone6S Plus. A nice buy, but considering this is roomspace VR, it's a steal.

    The chances these will ever drop to less than a high end cell phone or a high end monitor is fantasy.

    The difference between a high-end phone and VR is that the high end phone replaces their tablet, PC, and phone. I spent $20 on mine because I don't need that. You know I also don't need? All the extras that come with this VR helmet. Why on gods green earth are they including earbuds? Just like Microsoft learned with the kinect, not everyone is going to want everything forced on them.

    the big fear i have right now is everyone is going to see vr the same way as 3d, because of a bunch of low quality 3d conversions, most people see 3d as a gimmick, where as when its actually filmed in 3d it changes the experience entirely.

    vr being to expensive, and requiring gods gift to gaming pc's to use... sales could be so low it just turns into a gimmick device when it should be a game changing way to play games for the vast majority of genres.
    Reply
  • BlackJakSchelack 24 February 2016 02:31
    Did the entire world just hear about HMD being released. I have been saving and slowly building a system since 2013. No I cannot afford to purchase a HMD until early next year. Need to finish building my computer first. Sony has had a HMD out since 2013. The HMZ-T3W is out in Europe in November for the staggering price of £1,300 $2,035 US and it did not have anywhere near the features of either Oculus or Vive. I personally would like to thank Palmer and the Oculus team for waiting as long as they could. They wanted this out since day one but held back to make it right. Too bad software companies didn't have the same goals. Go ahead purchase HMD's from companies clearly more interested in making money instead of a great product. That always works out in the consumers favour.
    Reply
  • BlackJakSchelack 24 February 2016 03:00
    Did the entire world just hear about HMD being released. I have been saving and slowly building a system since 2013. No I cannot afford to purchase a HMD until early next year. Need to finish building my computer first. Took 2.5 years to afford my chair ( Obutto R3volution) and Thrustmaster joysticks/wheel/shifter etc.

    Sony has had a HMD ( not the only one ) out since November 2013. The HMZ-T3W £1,300 $2,035 US and it did not have anywhere near the features of either Oculus or Vive. I personally would like to thank Palmer and the Oculus team for waiting as long as they could. They wanted this out since day one but held back to make it right. Too bad software companies didn't have the same goals.

    Go ahead purchase HMD's from companies clearly more interested in making money instead of a great product. That always works out in the consumers favour.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/foveated-rendering-eye-tracking-smi,31262.html This article just made my day. I was not going to purchase a HMD without eye tracking. In VR that is equivalent to when I played the original DOOM with just a keyboard. Until I got my ass handed to me from a Dink who used a mouse and keyboard.

    In 1996 -7 I took a Forte VFX1 HMD for a test drive in DUKE NUKEM 3D at my local mall. 15 lag-full minutes later I tossed my cookies and yet ever since then I have impatiently waited for proper VR. MECHWARRIOR 2 was begging for it as was Descent ( thank you Descent Underground for ground up support ) along with countless other software companies sticking their necks out to make this happen along with Zuckerberg who has only shown interest in making this happen.
    Reply
  • holyneo 24 February 2016 17:21
    You think for 800 dollars it would look better. If you painted it yellow, it would look like you are wearing a block of cheese. :)
    Reply
  • kyle382 24 February 2016 17:57
    17558009 said:
    You think for 800 dollars it would look better. If you painted it yellow, it would look like you are wearing a block of cheese. :)


    is it weird that this idea makes me more interested in the vive? I don't always buy $800 hardware, but when I do I spray paint it yellow right out of the box. XD

    Reply
  • leaded gas only 24 February 2016 20:42
    A bit too pricey for me. I'm going to wait till VR is a bit more main stream and these prices should have dropped by half then.
    Reply