Byte's first VR headset is here: starting from 2,992 yuan, optical clarity increased by 86%, you can play without a controller

Alex from Ao Fei Si
Qubit | Public account QbitAI

ByteDance After spending 9 billion yuan to acquire PICO for more than a year, it finally launched its first VR headset .

This time, Byte has launched two VR products: PICO 4 and PICO 4 Pro, both of which will be sold to the global market.

As for the price, the overseas price of PICO 4 126GB is 429 Euros (about RMB 2,992) , and the overseas price of PICO 4 256GB is 499 Euros (about RMB 3,480).

Among them, PICO 4 is also PICO’s first consumer-grade VR headset released globally .

In other words, this product will compete directly with Meta's Quest 2 .

So--

What are the highlights of the PICO 4 series?

1. Adopt the most advanced optical technology

First, let’s talk about a technology that all newly released VR products this year are focusing on: Pancake .

The pancake here is not a pancake, but an optical technology that is receiving the most attention and anticipation in the VR industry . It is even called an "epoch-making solution."

Pancake uses the polarization characteristics of light to fold the light path and make the device thinner. In addition, it can also improve the screen clarity of the device, thereby greatly improving the ease of use and experience of VR devices and promoting the popularization of VR devices to consumers. Stride.

Both PICO 4 and PICO 4Pro adopt this Pancake solution.

Therefore, compared with its predecessor PICO Neo3, the optical clarity of PICO 4 has increased by nearly 86%, the volume has decreased by 43%, the thickness has also decreased by nearly 40% , and the weight is only 295 grams without straps and batteries.

PICO 4 features two fast 2.56-inch LCD screens with over 2K resolution for each eye.

Moreover, the PPI (Pixel Density Unit) has also been increased from 773 to 1200, making the images in VR more vivid and realistic.

In addition, the developers also optimized the FOV (field of view) of PICO 4 , increasing it from 98° to 105°.

2. Provide "color perspective" function

In terms of vision, PICO 4 has another major breakthrough, which is that it provides the "color perspective" function for the first time in the industry.

This means that users wearing this VR headset can still smoothly see the surrounding environment through the external camera, and it has been upgraded from black and white to colorful images.

3. Ring handle, motion tracker and balanced design

The appearance of the PICO4 handle has also changed significantly, this time adopting a star ring arc column design.

This is easier to control than the previous generation of controllers, reduces the chance of hand collisions, and this controller also has a vibration function.

In addition to the controller, PICO 4 also adds a motion tracker. By placing it on the leg, 3DoF spatial positioning can be achieved, allowing users to be more flexible in the virtual world.

Moreover, users can also put aside the controller and use the VR headset directly with their own hands, such as "playing guitar with bare hands" in the virtual world.

In addition, in order to make people more comfortable to wear, PICO 4 has also specially added a balancing design.

Compared with PICO 4, the PICO 4 Pro version has three more near-infrared cameras on the inside, which can support facial tracking, eye tracking and other functions.

4. Brand new PICO OS 5.0 system

While many hardware aspects have been significantly upgraded, the software has also been significantly improved:

PICO 4 is equipped with the PICO OS 5.0 operating system, which is also the largest version update of PICO OS to date.

In this operating system, there is a brand new UI design. Users can wake up the taskbar in any situation and select some basic functions. Its design is a bit like Apple's Home control center.

More than a year after acquiring PICO, Meta engineers were hired

PICO is a technology company engaged in VR technology and product research and development. In August last year, PICO issued an all-member letter disclosing the news that it had been acquired by Byte and would join its VR business line.

Wellsenn XR data shows that in the second quarter of this year, Pico Neo3 was the best-selling all-in-one VR device in China, and ranked second in global shipments.

In the more than a year since Byte acquired PICO, the team has 300 employees.

It is worth mentioning that in July this year, Jian Zhang, a former senior graphics engineer at Meta, tweeted that he had joined the ByteDance team.

Jian Zhang has been involved in the VR field since 2016 and has a decade of experience in game development. He is also one of the inventors of the rendering technology Application Spacewarp, which has improved the CPU and GPU performance of Meta's VR products by 70% when running games.

In addition to recruiting Jian Zhang, PICO has also opened more than 40 positions in the Bay Area, Seattle, San Diego and other places.

By the way, the China press conference of PICO 4 will also be held on September 27.

Press conference portal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNsq6FPLlDI
reference link:
[1]https://www.picoxr.com/global/products/pico4
[2]https://www.theverge .com/2022/9/22/23363565/bytedance-PICO-4-standalone-vr-headset-pricing-release-date-announce
[3]https://mixed-news.com/en/pico-4-all -you-need-to-know/
[4]https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1744444045295372220&wfr=spider&for=pc