Daily Authority: HTC’s bugboy VR headset ????

Yesterday HTC announced its latest VR headset hardware, the HTC Vive Flow. It was pretty heavily leaked beforehand, but now we have a better idea of what the company is trying to do, and it’s… well, interesting.

• Like the Oculus Quest lineup, the HTC Vive Flow is entirely self contained (minus the battery pack), meaning you don’t need a high-powered PC to use it.
• You do, however, need an Android phone to use as a controller. No iOS here, sorry folks.
• It’s fairly impressive in terms of specs, with a 1.6k per-eye display with a 100-degree field of view at a 75Hz refresh rate. It runs on the last-gen Qualcomm XR-1 chipset with 64GB (or more) of onboard storage.
• But the most striking thing is its design.
• Instead of straps, it’s built more like glasses and slips on and off of your head with ease. 
• They sort of look like very bulky sunglasses… that make you look like a bug.
• If you wanted to see what they actually look like on a person, you’re out of luck. All of the HTC promo images are stock photos with the headset photoshopped in. Oof.
• The battery pack is also external, making them lighter than most other headsets at just 189 grams.
• The headset will launch in November starting at $499, with the battery pack costing an extra $79. HTC says that any USB-C battery pack will work, though.

So where does this new headset fit into the market? Well, somewhere new.

• HTC is positioning the Vive Flow as an alternative for users who find traditional VR headsets too complicated or intimidating.
• More specifically, the large older audience of “boomers” in the US.
• In many ways, it’s similar to the now-discontinued Oculus Go, but at more than twice the price.
• The Verge got some hands-on time with the headset, and found it to be “a mixed bag.”
• Reviewer Adi Robertson praised the lightness and ease-of-use, but didn’t like how easily it slipped off of her face without a strap.
• Will this be enough to attract a new audience to VR? At this price, it’s going to be a tough sell.

Remember that game you used to play as a kid where you and a sibling had to keep a balloon from hitting the ground while simultaneously dodging living room furniture and family pets?

Well, now it’s officially a sport. Yesterday was the inaugural edition of the Balloon World Cup, with Portugal taking home the golden balloon and 10,000 euros in prize money.

• The brainchild of footballer Gerard Pique and Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, it featured representatives from 32 countries around the globe in 2-minute one-on-one balloon-offs.
• Playing in an 8 x 8m space filled with living room furniture, they competed to be the last one to hit the balloon before it hit the ground.
• Competition was fierce, and the sponsorships were huge. Oreo, Doritos, Volkswagen, Mentos, Amazon, and several others funded the event, which had some serious production value.
• Llanos and Pique served as sportscasters and hype men, alongside veteran Spanish football announcers and referees.
• Viewership piqued at 630,000 concurrent viewers, but averaged 500k throughout the event.
• Watch the entire (nearly six-hour) spectacle in Spanish here on Twitch. In this case, seeing is believing.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Nick Fernandez, Editor