Qualcomm VR820: Thinking about buying a VR headset? The HTC Vive costs $799, and the Oculus costs $599. Then you'll need a computer with a very powerful graphics card and plenty of RAM, just to power the headset you just bought. Then you'll need the software you plan to run on it.
After all this, how would you feel if there was a standalone virtual reality platform?
Qualcomm has the solution and it's called the VR820.
The Qualcomm VR820 uses the widely used Snapdragon 820 SoC to power an eyetracker, a six-axis motion sensor, and a pair of 1440 x 1440 pixel AMOLED displays.
The resolution is higher than that offered by the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, though it runs at a slower refresh rate (70Hz instead of 90Hz).
Qualcomm hopes that other manufacturers will use the VR820 as a starting point to create their own VR devices while saving on costs.
The VR820 will be available at the end of the year, with commercial devices following later in 2017.
Qualcomm says the cost will be similar to that of "higher-performance tablets," meaning between $300 and $500.
