HTC Re Vive demo and first impressions roundup

Last week at Mobile World Congress, HTC pulled out a huge surprise on us when they announced the partnership with Valve to produce the HTC Re Vive. I mean we were already anticipating a fitness tracker and had a feeling there would be a third item introduced, isn’t there a saying about things in threes, but HTC did a really good job keeping this a secret. In fact, HTC did so well compared to all the leaks relating to the HTC One M9 and we even saw details about the HTC Re Grip before March 1st.

What is the HTC Vive? It is a virtual reality portal (not just a headset) that will transfer the user from a small space in the house beyond the boundaries of earth and then some more. The Vive is made up of two individual hand controllers that currently look like a couple of wands that have three actionable buttons or surfaces and a traditional VR headset that is lightweight and has tons of sensors that scan the room allowing you to move around your virtual space without bumping into anything in the real space. HTC didn’t allow anyone to photograph the hand held controllers most likely because the design is unfinished but The Verge mentions the wands will have an area to grip, thumb over, and trigger to squeeze and even adds that “the wireless controllers are accurate and full of potential.”

The video on HTC’s VR website reminds me of the original movie Total Recall, but without the lobotomy. Arnold, the Governator, watches a commercial about this new technology offered by a place named Rekall that implants dreams so real it would be hard to distinguish a difference between realms. The difference in visits to Mars between Douglas Quaid’s virtual experience and those using HTC Vive is that one does not have any vertigo side effects when finished and I’m not talking about Rekall. With the technology from HTC and Valve, your virtual fantasies could be right around the corner and the pair are on the verge of delivering the best, most interactive virtual experience to date. HTC’s goal is to introduce us to whole new realities with limitless possibilities.

If the HTC Vive demo left you speechless, don’t worry you weren’t alone. So many MWC attendees, including the judges, were impressed with what HTC brought to the table that it beat a totally redesigned smartphone by a top seeded manufacturer in the “Best in show” category. And if the Apple Watch would have been announced at MWC it would have been placed outside the winner’s circle with the others surrounding the HTC Vive. Read about the Best in Show from TechRadar.

During the week at Mobile World Congress and Game Developers Conference, HTC had a few opportunities for spectators to get a personal demonstration of the HTC Vive and we’ve enjoyed hearing how much everyone loves what HTC and Valve are working on together. We can’t wait to get our hands on some version of Vive this year and we’ll be sure to give you our detailed opinions in a full review as soon as we can, but for now let’s stroll through some of the articles we’ve read from first hand experiences of those at the venues.

Phonearena.com spent some time with HTC Vive and said,

“boy was it a nerdgasmic experience!”

Gizmodo.com actually has a picture of the hand-pieces and says that in the HTC Vive they,

“…saw the future today… and it was absolutely incredible.”

TheVerge.com quotes Valve’s boss saying that,

“zero percent of people get motion sick.”

Thanks to the tracking sensors on the Vive headset and refresh rate on the screen Valve and HTC are able to brag that no one will get sick using Vive.

Lastly, we’d like to share what we read from a game developer that received the first demonstration of an early prototype of the Vive, how they were offered a chance to come up with a game idea on the spot, and brought it to life over the course of a week in a basement like true coders burning the midnight oil. Reading about Owlchemy’s time with the HTC Vive struck up a lot of excitement for us thanks to engadget’s story. When a game developer uses technology that they feel has bridged the gap other virtual reality makers have been unable to fill and they feel like they are part of something huge that is certain to gain lots of traction on the market… you get butterflies.

“It felt like we had something that no one else did, and that we were the first to see something that was so freakin’ cool.”

We know there are other companies that have stepped out into this new territory before HTC, but as of right now it looks like HTC has found the best way to deliver virtual reality on the right foot and should be a market leader and innovative trend-setter. HTC realizes the big companies in the mobile industry are those with a broader business model and in order to hold a top ranking position HTC will need to expand outside of the smartphone space.