HTC Vive Pro Eye Offers Native Eye Tracking

HTC had things to say and show this year at CES. Although the eyes were mainly focused on the new Vive Cosmos, a second virtual headset was also unveiled during the company's press conference.

HTC has unveiled the Vive Pro Eye, a new version of its virtual reality headset that it describes as "an evolution of the virtual reality space in business". Revealed at CES 2019, the great innovation announced by HTC for the Vive Pro Eye is, as its name suggests, Eye Tracking. A feature long awaited for virtual reality, and which will allow a significant improvement in rendering in games and experiences.

According HTC's speech, Vive Pro Eye natively integrates eye tracking and gives users "greater accessibility, eye-oriented menu navigation." This, in turn, eliminates the need to use controllers to navigate the user interface, it adds.

So HTC quickly tackled the subject of Vive Pro Eye as announced and expected visitors. Taking the foundations of its predecessor, it brings however an eye tracking function usually characteristic of high-end: Eye Tracking.

This function was only present on certain models not really accessible to the general public, such as VRGineers XTAL. With this breakthrough, HTC is seeking to regain market share in the field of high-end.

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It remains to be seen how this will translate into video games, but in its presentation, HTC said the new eye tracking technology would allow companies to create better training simulations, as well as improve resource utilization computer.

Since HTC is strongly targeting this new version of Vive in Business, it may take some time before the technology used in video games is used, if at all. For now, HTC has not rated the Vive Pro Eye yet. However, virtual reality enthusiasts will probably begin to tinker with it as soon as it is available and reveal some of the helmet game applications, which we are delighted.

Apart from the integration of this new feature, the features of the Vive Pro Eye remain identical to the standard Vive Pro. As a reminder, its resolution is 1440 x 1600 pixels per eye with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, and a field of view of 110 degrees.

This is the first official announcements made during HTC's presentation. The company then revealed Viveport Infinity, which focuses more directly on the gaming market. Viveport Infinity is a paid subscription service. It will offer unlimited access to a game catalog for a monthly fee to it's members. Again, pricing has not been confirmed yet, but the subscription service will be available from April 5th. 

So that the Vive Pro Eye comes with a new capacity allowing a foveal rendering, a dedicated OS Vive Reality System, and a subscription Viveport Infinity (real Netflix of the virtual reality), the Vive Cosmos comes at the same time to prevail as first VR headset compatible with Vive Reality.

All the details have not yet been revealed about this newcomer, but the brand has already announced that it had traded its external sensors against a positional tracking system and accelerometers. Including a full RGB screen and totally devoid of wire, according to the trailer broadcast, it seems adaptable on both PC and smartphone.