A brief summary with tech specifications
There are generally 3 types of VR headsets in the current market.
- The Headsets that attaches a mobile phone in front
- The All-in-one headsets that do not have to connect to PC all the time
- PC VR (Headsets that connect to PC all the time)
Let’s have a quick at each of them with some basic analysis and comparison:
The Headsets that attaches a mobile phone in front
The performance of this type of Headsets mainly depends on the phone attached to it at the front, to handle processing, display of content, audio, etc. There is normally no interaction tools like controllers. What they offer is mainly 2 folds: (1) the 2 optical glasses that adjust the lights for visualization and (2) the box, cover and band that ties everything together to your head.
- Google Cardboard: It is probably the most famous due to its extremely cheap price. You can feel free to give it a try if you are brand new to the VR world since it only costs you a few Dollars. Apparently, it offers the worst VR experience in almost all aspects but you can see it as just a cheap toy.
- Some other options for example BNext, Sumsung Gear and VIFE offers better experience than Google Cardboard with more comfortable materials and designs which cost around 30–50 dollars.
This type of VR headsets was popular a few years ago and is quite an outdated solution in current market because the experience is really poor comparing to other VR headsets. I recommend to directly skip this type of headsets unless there is an urgent need of use with a tight budget.
The All-in-one headsets
All-in-one headsets are getting more and more popular mainly due to two folds. (1) With advancement in processor technology, small chips on VR headsets can do much more than before to handle many tasks such as games with low complexity and normal video visualization smoothly without the reliance on computation power of PC. (2) The flexibility it offers without the necessity to connect to PC all the time.
I will list down some technical specification for 2 of the popular all in one headsets here:
More technical details can be found here for Oculus Quest 2 and here for Pico Neo 3. Please note that Oculus did not officially mention the FoV. I found it from other sources from the internet.
Pico Neo 3 needs to be ordered for business use, so there is lack of transparency on pricing from official web site. But based on information from internet, it is much higher price than Oculus Quest 2. Since they have almost exactly the same tech specs, Oculus Quest 2 which has better price and better eco-system is apparently a better option at the moment. But I am positive about Pico product’s future since they recently got invested by ByteDance by a large amount.
If you purchased Oculus Quest 2, you can refer to my previous articles https://medium.com/@kungfups/how-to-connect-vr-headset-to-pc-with-or-without-cable-streaming-e96b57c96467 and https://medium.com/@kungfups/vr-casting-and-mixed-reality-with-oculus-quest-2-6d7ead32fa24 for more usage information.
PC VR (Headsets that connect to PC all the time)
PC VR has been there since the very beginning. They offer good computational power which all-in-one VRs do not.
The following are some popular examples of PC VR with their specification links. Different from all-in-one VR, the additional thing to pay attention to before purchasing PC VR is the requirement for PC. Since many of them offer PC tests in their websites, it is a good idea to try it out before you make the order.
I only have limited time when searching for these information, so apologies if I missed something. If time allows in the future, I will keep this updated and include more products:
The following are links to their technical specification details.
- HTC Vive: Details
- HP Reverb G2: Details
- Samsung Odyssey VR: Details
- Sony PS VR: Details
- Pimax 8k: Details
- Valve Index: Details
There are more choices in PC VR and there are more differentiations in the hardware offered. Purchase decision depends more on your determination and budget I guess.
Hope this helps and enjoy your toy!
