The reference viewfinder is manufactured by Acer and offers a resolution of 2160×2160 per eye.
Qualcomm is showing at CES a new reference design for PC virtual reality viewers with possibility of connection to mobiles via USB-C, which could well be the one that HTC is basing on to implement its recently announced Vive Cosmos, as published by RoadToVR, given that they already collaborated previously for the creation of the standalone Vive Focus. In this case, the manufacturer of the reference viewer they are showing is Acer, and on its side appear the words “Powered by Quanta”, name of a Taiwanese manufacturer of devices such as laptops and smartphones.
The reference device is committed to a headband-type fastening system with a folding front and includes attachable headphones that seem identical to those shown by Cosmos. As for the screens, mount two LCD 2160×2160 @ 90Hz, which could be the same Sharp screens with which Deus ‘ HMD Odin will be released this year. This resolution that exceeds that of Vive Pro (1440×1600), in addition to the RGB matrix associated with the LCDs, are able to offer the experience without screendoor of which HTC spoke when presenting Cosmos, so it could be this resolution chosen to achieve “its sharpest screens to date”.
The viewer is connected via USB-C to a Qualcomm MTP-8150, which is a reference smartphone based on the Snapdragon 855. The demo they are showing consists of the playback of NextVR 360º videos that are obtained through the connection with a 5G local network that they have mounted, being the MTP-8150 itself which is responsible for giving the power to the viewer and rendering and controlling everything necessary. It is possible that HTC is preparing a new terminal based on the 855 that is compatible with Cosmos, thus offering that commented option of becoming a mobile viewer. Such smartphone could arrive in the first half of this year, being a good time to learn more about Cosmos.
We do not know what resolution HTC will finally opt for or what other features it will have, but without a doubt everything mentioned above helps us to get an idea of what we can expect from this new range of viewers with the possibility of connecting to mobile phones. It should also be noted that Acer could have stopped the revision of its Windows MR viewer, the Acer EYE they announced in August last year, to offer a new device (or revision) with greater features.
