MyOpinion

Mark Zuckerberg says he tried Apple Vision Pro, but he doesn't seem impressed. In a three-and-a-half-minute video posted to his Instagram page, the Meta CEO gave his review of Apple’s headset and his comparison to Meta’s own Quest 3. Zuckerberg didn‘t seem impressed with Vision Pro, stating that while he previously expected that Quest 3 would just offer better value than Vision Pro, after using it he now believes Quest 3 is outright “the better product, period” because it’s “better for the vast majority of things that people use mixed reality for”, claiming he was actually surprised to discover this. Zuckerberg first pointed to the fact that Quest 3 has “precision controllers” that are “great for games” and enable an immersive content library that’s “a lot deeper”.

Virtual Desktop and iVRy are both working on Apple Vision Pro ports. These paid tools currently let you use non-PC VR headsets on PC, including on SteamVR. Virtual Desktop is available on Quest, Pico, and Vive XR Elite, while iVRy is available for Quest, Pico, Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream, iPhone and Android smartphones, and the original PlayStation VR. iVRy has also been working to support PlayStation VR2, though has discovered that this will require a custom hardware adapter. Virtual Desktop also lets you stream your desktop to a virtual monitor.

HTC has released a beta for its Vive Ultimate Tracker that brings support to third-party PC VR headsets, such as PC-tethered Quest and Pico headsets, letting you do body tracking in supported apps.

Unlike previous Vive Trackers, which required SteamVR base stations, Vive Ultimate Tracker makes use of inside-out optical tracking thanks to each unit’s dual wide-FOV cameras.

At launch in November, the device was only compatible with HTC standalones Vive XR Elite and Vive Focus 3. As promised, now the company is launching beta access to OpenXR/SteamVR based PC VR headsets, like Valve Index or Quest 2/3/Pro with Link.

A developer got Apple Vision Pro working on SteamVR by porting ALVR. You're probably familiar with the three most popular tools to make Meta Quests act as PC VR headsets on Windows: Virtual Desktop, Steam Link, and Quest (Air) Link. But you might not be as familiar with ALVR, the open-source alternative that has been around since before any of those. ALVR is an Android client app with a Windows streamer, compatible with most Android-based headsets including Quest, Pico, and Vive XR Elite. But the code is open-source, and software developer Zhuowei Zhang has successfully ported it to visionOS, meaning Vision Pro too can act as a Windows PC VR headset.

HTC today announced the launch of a new Full Face Tracker accessory for Vive XR Elite. The device attaches to headset to capture eye and mouth movements which developers can use for a variety of purposes.

HTC says the Face-tracking add-on for Vive XR Elite is available staring today, priced at $200. The device attaches magnetically to the XR Elite and connects via USB-C. It adds two cameras for eye-tracking and one camera for mouth-tracking.

Apple Vision Pro will launch in the US on February 2, and preorders will open next Friday.

The headset will be exclusively available from Apple's US web store and physical Apple Stores in the US.

Preorders open at exactly 5am PT on January 19, next Friday.

Apple previously said Vision Pro will come to other countries "later" in 2024, but hasn't yet confirmed which countries this will include. Apple revealed today that the $3500 base model has 256GB of storage. While the company hasn't explicitly confirmed higher storage models will be offered, it uses the pricing language "starting at" which strongly suggests it.

Apple also revealed that the optical inserts from ZEISS will be available for $100 for readers or $150 for prescriptions.

Panasonic subsidiary Shiftall announced it’s releasing a new version of its MeganeX PC VR headset along with the next generation of its HaritoraX wireless body trackers.

The company calls its next SteamVR headset ‘MeganeX superlight’, which is said to be around 50% lighter than the original MeganeX headset.

In contrast to the original, the new MeganeX superlight also appears to be a cheaper, easier to produce version of the device, which previously included onboard optical tracking in addition to a mountable SteamVR tracking module.

The ‘superlight’ version is said to include the same display specs: dual 2,560 × 2,560 1.3-inch micro-OLED displays (120Hz), however it reduces the size from 385g to around 200g.

Shiftall is also releasing what it calls ‘HaritoraX Wireless R’, its next wireless full body tracking device fuses its inertial measurement unit (IMU) tracking with an external camera, promising around 20 hours of battery life. Like the original HaritoraX Wireless, it provides six-point tracking, including chest, hip, knees, and ankles.

It looks like the Vive XR Elite has dropped below $800 at Newegg and Amazon. Amazon was out of stock so I Included the link to Newegg.