HTC Vive vs New Gear VR Review Part 1

 Though this might seem like an odd move for HTC, President Peter Chou said that “Virtual reality will become a mainstream experience for general consumers.” The virtual reality race is heating up with products in development from Oculus, Sony and Microsoft. Here’s our HTC Vive vs Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition comparison. Design In terms of design, the updated Samsung Gear VR is 15 percent smaller than its predecessor – thanks to the smaller screen size of the Galaxy S6, which is used as the display (similar to Google Cardboard). This means the headset is useless on its own: you’d only buy one if you have a compatible Samsung smartphone. Speaking of compatible smartphones, there are only two devices that can be used; the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. It uses the same software as the Oculus Rift to power the software and mechanics of VR, compressed into an Android app. The Oculus software makes the Gear VR stand out against its competition, as it was long believed that the Oculus Rift was the best all round VR headset (even though its still in development).

Samsung has tried to combat the issue of comfort, one of the problems with the original Gear VR and headsets in general, by adding mechanical ventilation to make it more comfortable over long periods of use. It also has better weight distribution than the previous generation, which is down to a redesigned strap, according to Samsung. All this equates to a good-looking, sleek VR headset. The HTC Vive doesn’t look as sleek. It looks more like the Oculus Rift developers’ kit than a nearly fi nished product and appears to be wired, as opposed to Samsung’s wireless off ering. Whether this will change before launch is anyone’s guess but looking at how HTC is describing interaction with VR, particularly the ability to walk around a virtual environment, it looks like wires would tie you down. There’s currently a lack of built in headphones, but again, looking at the way that HTC describes its VR experience, we can imagine that the fi nal version will come with headphones.

If not, there’s a headphone port ready to be used with your own headphones. It’s also “really light, so you can wear it for a long time without feeling weighed down”, according to HTC. Display The Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition relies on the Samsung Galaxy S6 display – but this is certainly not a bad thing. It boasts a 2560x1440 resolution on a 557ppi Quad-HD display, running at 60 frames per second (fps). It’s interesting that Samsung has only chosen 60fps as that is (according to developers) the minimum frame rate to not cause nausea. To put this into perspective, the Oculus Rift DK currently runs at 75fps and that may increase again before its consumer launch. The HTC Vive display is just as good, if not better. While the resolution is lower than the Gear VR, running at 1200x1080 per eye, the Vive utilises two separate screens. This coupled with the frame rate, a beautifully smooth 90 fps, eliminates jitter and gives the Vive “photorealistic imagery” according to HTC. Unique features One unique feature of the Gear VR is that it uses the Galaxy S6 as its display.

The reason for this is to off er the VR Gear headset cheaper – and we’re sure people forking out for the S6 will appreciate that. As well as Samsung’s upgrades to the Gear VR’s design, it has also added one other feature – a USB cable. Using the Galaxy S6 as the display is both a blessing and a curse, as it means draining your phones battery (and it already has a smaller battery than the S5) so this way, you can charge your phone and use the headset at the same time. With this phone charging blessing comes a price though; you’ll be tethered by a wire. You can still use your Gear VR wirelessly but intensive VR sessions might force you to reach for the charger. While the Gear VR uses Oculus technology, the HTC Vive does things a little diff erently. Where the Gear VR uses your smartphones various sensors to track your head movement, it doesn’t track your position in a room.