HTC Vive Pro first impressions: should you buy it?

Thanks to my magical encounter with Mr. Alvin Wang Graylin, I’ve been very lucky to be able to try the new Vive Pro for some minutes and I’m here to describe you my first impressions with the latest device made by the Chinese virtual reality company. So, how is it? Should you buy it?

I remember some cool moments in my career with virtual and augmented reality, some WOW moments I can’t forget: the first time I’ve tried the Oculus DK2 and discovered what VR meant; the first time I’ve tried the Samsung Gear VR and experienced wireless virtual reality; the first time I’ve tried the Oculus Rift CV1 and its comfort and clear definition; and also HoloLens with the magic of AR and the Vive Focus and its 6 DOF wireless reality. The moment when I tried the Vive Pro has not been one of this wow moments. It has just been an “ok, good” moment.

Let me explain that: the Vive Pro is a clear evolution of the HTC Vive 1 that was a device with almost no comfort and few “special features”. The success of the HTC Vive has been driven mainly by three features:

• The wonderful SteamVR tracking technology;
• The fact that has been the first device with 6 DOF controllers;
• The completely open and customizable ecosystem (OpenVR drivers, Vive Trackers, etc…).

Comfort and special features (design, noise-free microphone, integrated audio, etc…) have been the typical advantages of the Rift. The Vive Pro tries to evolve the original Vive so to fill this gap with the Rift on this side and also add some improvements to make it the most advanced headset released until now. And in my opinion, it fulfilled this mission. But from my personal point of view, it lacks the “quid”… that special touch… it’s like when you know a girl that is fantastic, but you don’t fall in love with her.

That’s the point of view that I can have as a general consumer putting on the headset for the first time for a quick test: it is not impressive. But, speaking with Mister President, he highlighted the fact that this impression of mine is perfectly normal, since the device is actually targeted at professionals and have features that will (and already have in the first tests) impress professionals: for instance the company has spent a lot of time and money to create a 3D hi-quality audio system, so if you are a sound designer or a musician, your reaction may be “WOW”; the polished microphone may be great for people that will do extended use of collaborative VR environments; the dual front facing cameras will allow companies experimenting on AR/MR/VR to just have the Pro and experiment with all technologies with only one piece of hardware, so sparing a lot of money; then you can read text and this is a great advantage for developers; the greater resolution is useful for people in the artistic creation sector; then… then… ok, Mister President, I got it: if you are a Pro and try the Pro with a Pro application, then you’ll like the Pro. And I still remember that you have done boxing, so I agree with you in any case… 😀 😀 😀

HTC Vive Pro first impressions

First of all, the Vive Pro has a nice design. The device appears better manufactured than the original Vive and I also like its blue color: black was too sad. It is more refined than the original Vive, but it has not that Apple-like approach that has the Rift. Regarding the comfort, it is amazing. I tried wearing it and it fits very well on my head and closing the knob that is behind it, I was able to secure it very well. The overall comfort is like “wow” for two reasons: first of all, the weight is very well balanced and second because the internal sponge is very fluffy and makes your head feel as hugged by all the workers of HTC. On the comfort side, it is even a bit better than the Rift, especially because of the closing knob that is very very handy, while on the Rift you have to play with straps every time. The problem is that it also appears a bit bigger and bulkier. I found a bit hard to find the “sweet-spot”… I had to slightly move the device various times on my head before finding the setup that satisfied me. But once I found it, it was great. The Vive Pro has only one “normal” cable going from it to the PC, so it is far better than the old one that had that monster wire.

The fact that there is integrated audio is great and the audio headphones are comfortable and work very well. They have a spring that basically makes them stay in opened (away from your ears) or closed (next to your ears) position, but not in an in-between position. While talking with Mr.Graylin I started opening and closing them and the mechanism didn’t break, so they seem robust. The volume control on the left ear and the mute button on the right ear work very good and are pretty useful.

The resolution of the display is great, much better than the one that I was used to. Anyway, looking at the screen, it is still possible to see the pixels, even if now they are very little. Since my favorite reviewer, Ben Lang, always talk about the “mura”, I’ll throw here that I also saw some mura here and there. Lenses are the same of Vive one, so yeah, not that great. Looking at the Pro you have the sensation of looking inside an upgraded Vive, but basically, it is the same sensation. Because of the (small) SDE and the not extraordinary FOV (still 110°), the sensation is still the one of looking at a smartphone display through a binocular. That’s why I had not the WOW effect: this is not the Pimax 8K that has super-ambitious features like 180° FOV and 2*4K displays (to be fair, anyway, the Pimax is still a working prototype while the Vive Pro has reached the polished product stage).

Regarding the tracking, it is always the awesome tracking of SteamVR. Fantastic. Unluckily there were only SteamVR 1.0 Lighthouses, so I wasn’t able to try the new tech… but with this headset, you will be able to use SteamVR 2.0 Lighthouses, that allow you to track big spaces and have multiple Vives in the same room. Also, the controllers were the ones of Vive 1 and being used to my Oculus Touch, I felt back to the nineties.

HTC Vive 1.0 vs HTC Vive Pro

I want to highlight that the true improvement from Vive 1 to Vive Pro is actually comfort:

• The device is very fluffy and comfortable;
• It has integrated audio so you don’t have to continuously wear your audio headset;
• The cable has now an acceptable size.

Then there is for the support for next-generation controllers, that is Valve Knuckles and some surprise controllers that, in my opinion, HTC will reveal in the upcoming times and that will make interactions in VR better.

Most of the other improvements are better appreciated by prosumers:

• the support for SteamVR tracking 2.0, that is fundamental if you want to track larger spaces (great for arcade owners);
• the improved resolution, that makes you see everything in a more definite way and is interesting especially if you need to read texts in VR because you are a devloper;
• the better microphone, that is great for social and collaborative VR applications;
• the 3D high quality audio (I think that Magic Leap would define that “photonic wavefield 3D audio”), that is great for people working with audio in VR. It should be a huge improvement over the one of the Deluxe Audio Strap, but it is not that easily understandable if you, like me, have not a trained ear;
• the frontal two cameras for AR/MR applications or experimentations on innovative UX (if you are an interface designer, well, this is for you);

As you can see, interesting evolutions, but nothing disruptive for the consumer. Targeted features for the professionals.

Oculus Rift CV1 vs HTC Vive Pro

Coming from the Oculus Rift CV1, the Vive Pro felt absolutely 不怎么样 (nothing extraordinary). The reason is: the Rift is already very comfortable, has already integrated audio, has already a standard cable, has already a great mic. And Oculus Touch are already great, I don’t think that Knuckles may feel SO better to justify the purchase of a new headset. Yes, there are improvements on all these areas (as I’ve said, for instance the Pro is more comfortable and easier to wear), but they are not big ones. So… when you wear the Pro, you just think: “wow, that resolution rocks” and nothing more.

Of course, the Pro has the advantage of the tracking technology: we all know that SteamVR tracking is far better than the awful constellation tracking (sorry Zuck) and with 2.0, things will be even more awesome.

Then there is all that reasonings about features for professionals, but I don’t want to copy-paste it here.

Extended use vs some minutes usage

Speaking with Alvin and an Unreal developer (that has used the Pro since various days) after my quick tests, they told me that probably I haven’t been excited by it because I just used it some minutes and because I haven’t tried demos that highlight all the pro-features that I’ve discussed above. According to them, the Vive Pro reveals its best on the long run and with the experimentation of different kind of applications. For instance, they reported that I should have tried:

• reading text and try developing from INSIDE VIRTUAL REALITY (wow);
• some cool 3D audio surround demo;
• hand interface or MR with the frontal cameras;
• plug-and-play things: the new headset works out of the box with previous lighthouses; the new headset works perfectly with the previous SDK, so every program can be “ported” easily to the Pro (it is not even a porting, it is a it-just-works);
• a long usage session to see how the comfort a huge improvement for the quality of life of the professionals.

This may be the reason why I didn’t get excited by it: maybe the Vive Pro is like when you receive a wool sweater on Christmas and in that moment you don’t feel that happy because it is not an amazing gift, but then you’re very happy to have it everyday in winter when the weather is super-cold. It is not a device that makes you WOW in 5 seconds, but it is a device that you appreciate with time.

This means that I need a more thorough usage to write a complete review of it. I really hope they will let me use it for more time in the future, so that I can write a more exhaustive review. Challenge accepted 🙂

Final judgment

The Vive Pro is an incredible device, well crafted and with a lot of features. I loved it. I couldn’t spot a true shortcoming, but the problem is that in my short test I couldn’t even spot a compelling reason to own it for the average consumer. It just seems a refresh of the old Vive, it is like a Vive that has gone through a plastic surgery to appear more handsome and younger. But it seems not having a killer feature, nothing for which you could say “I absolutely need it”. Yes, integrated audio is cool, but it is cheaper to buy a $100 Deluxe audio strap than a brand new headset for maybe $400-$500 (just to talk about the upgrade kit), unless you are a sound designer or such a professional (in that case you would spot the differences between the two headphones). Yes, the new big resolution enhances the immersion, but not so much to throw hundreds dollars to HTC.

The only compelling reason may be the new controllers, but they’re still unknown… and the usage of the two frontal cameras: if HTC engineers can make us blow our mind with them, well, I would be really intrigued by the idea of buying the Vive Pro.

Regarding the big tracking area of SteamVR tracking 2.0: it is impressive, but how many people have in their home the space for tracking 10m x 10m? Mmmmh, very few, I don’t see this huge area useful for the general consumer.

Again, I’m being very critical… but as the other people in the room have made me notice, maybe I have not been excited and nothing seemed to me a “killer feature” because there is not a “killer feature”, no single feature that is disruptive and compelling for a consumer, but a set of little improvements that taken together make the Vive Pro an interesting device if used on the long run, especially by a professional.

I think that HTC has decided to target this device towards prosumers because it can’t appear compelling for the general consumer for the price it will have. It is surely interesting the fact that the new Pro will maybe cause a drop in the price of the original Vive, allowing more people to buy it.

Regarding prosumers, I think that the innovations of the Vive Pro can be interesting: if you have to demo stuff, having a comfortable device is better; having a balanced headset if you wear it various hours in your everyday job is important for your health; if you are a developer, continuously putting on and off the HMD plus the audio headset is a waste of time and so money. The bigger tracking area can allow for arcade installations and such. The super-high-quality 3D audio headphones are great if you work with sounds in VR. So, I think that for enterprise and prosumers, the device is surely interesting.

Of course, we all want to know the price to make a better judgment and this will happen soon, according to Mister President.

Should you buy it?

After having tried it for some minutes, these are my (proably unreliable) suggestions about if you have to buy it or not.

If you are just a VR enthusiast, probably not. The headset you already own (or that you can buy on the market) is most probably enough for playing VR games and experiment with development.

If you are poor, no. You won’t be able to afford it. And here you are my hug between poor people.

If you value comfort, then maybe. This headset is the top on the comfort side, but if you already a Rift, then you have already enough comfort and if you already own a Vive you may consider just spending $100 on a Deluxe Audio Strap.

If you are a VR professional, then yes. The super-comfort of the headset will allow you for longer and better sessions of VR development/testing. It can also help you in working better because it has integrated audio, so you don’t have to lose time handling two hardware devices. Furthermore having the “new thing” improves your external reputation and making your customers try your solutions with a comfortable and more good-looking headset may help you in signing more deals. Even for public demos, it is better for the above reasons (comfort, all-in-one, etc…).

If you want to show that you have the most recent hardware, of course, yes.

If you want to have the best VR experience possible at the moment, yes. High resolution, comfort, great audio, etc… that’s awesome.

If you have a VR arcade, yes yes yes. A comfortable headset, a great resolution, a big tracking area. What do you want more?

UPDATE: after this article, the price and various features of the Pro have been unveiled. So I advice you to read this article talking about the price of the Pro and my thoughts about it.

And that’s it for today… I hope you enjoyed my first-impressions review… if this is the case, share it with the other innovators and subscribe to my newsletter to sustain this VR magazine and to get to know when I’ll public the review of the HTC device that has excited me the most: The Focus!