HTC Vive Cosmos Play

VRS Review

VRS OVERALL RATING
Recomended Not Recomended

The Cosmos Play is a variant of the standard Vive Cosmos VR headset. It shares most of the same specifications but is aimed at a consumer audience with less need for certain high-end features and, of course, smaller budgets.

When it comes to what the Cosmos Play has in common with the standard Cosmos, it’s all good stuff. It’s closest high-end competition is the Valve Index, which has a slightly lower resolution screen, but a slightly wider field of view.

The refresh rate is also still 90Hz, which is the industry standard. However, it pales in comparison against the Vive’s 144Hz mode while having none of the low latency or image persistence advantages of a 90Hz OLED.

At $700, the standard Cosmos has a pricing problem, since for $300 more you can have a much higher-end Valve Index. Then again, for less than half the price you can have an Oculus Quest 2, which gives you most of the fidelity and offers amazing standalone VR as well.

The Cosmos Play mitigates this problem by cutting a further $200 from the price of the standard model. This means you still get the high-end resolution, wide field of view and other fundamental next-generation VR features,but at half the price of a Valve Index.

That’s suddenly a much more compelling deal, but how did HTC slice so much off the top? It mainly comes down to the Cosmos’ innovative faceplate system, which allows users to mix different technologies with the core headset. The standard Cosmos has a six-camera inside-out tracking array.

The Play uses a much less complex 4-camera system. As you might expect, this affects the speed and accuracy of tracking. Although perhaps not as much for the Play’s intended audience.

While tracking IS worse on paper, HTC has been careful about the specific sacrifices they’ve made. The standard Cosmos has high-precision tracking that’s essentially enterprise-grade. Users who mainly want to play video games and use VR for recreational purposes don’t need that level of tracking.

The 4-camera array also sacrifices tracking accuracy in the vertical axis. One that’s less important for gaming and general entertainment.

It also opens up the possibility of one-day buying higher-end faceplates once the initial cost of the Cosmos Play has been defrayed. If you don’t care about standalone VR, this is a compelling alternative to the Oculus Quest 2.

SPECIFICATIONS

Display LCD
Panel size Unknown
Resolution 1440 x 700
Refresh rate 90Hz
Field of view 110-degrees
Sensors Unknown
Connections Unknown
Audio 3D

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