HTC Vive Flow Review: Great Idea, Flawed Execution

Best Prices Today: HTC Vive Flow

The Vive logo has had an enchanting few years; in spite of massive pastime from customers within the early days of VR, the emblem has shifted extra in opposition to the B2B marketplace during the last few years with the likes of the Vive Pro and Vive Flow 3.  

That’s set to switch with the Vive Flow, a VR headset that isn’t actually a VR headset. Instead, HTC describes its newest headset as a couple of “immersive glasses”, wearing a sunglasses-like design and an excellent light-weight construct. Intrigued? Confused? All of the above? Great, then let me give an explanation for.

Design & construct

• Sunglasses-style design is exclusive
• Not front-heavy like traditional VR headsets
• Innovative lens focusing gadget superb for glasses-wearers
• Needs an exterior energy supply to serve as

The Vive Flow isn’t your bog-standard VR headset, and that’s most obvious from its design. It’s nearer in appearance to a couple of good glasses than a complete VR headset, wearing massive brightly colored reflective lenses that appearance virtually stylish – if no longer a little superhero-esque.

It’s no longer only for the manner both; there are many advantages that come from a decidedly extra streamlined design.

The most evident receive advantages is that it’s a lot more light-weight than choices, weighing in at simply 189g – the load of a mean smartphone – however there’s extra to it than that. The design method the headset doesn’t wrap across the peak or again of the top like different headsets, making it really feel extra relaxed when worn.

That’s complemented by way of a soft-touch face gasket that snaps into position by way of magnets, or if you need a extra open revel in, there’s additionally a nostril insert within the field.

That all equates to a headset that’s a lot much less front-heavy than choices, and that expands doable use – in idea, anyway.

The problem, for me no less than, is the inflexible fingers that grasp the headset into position. They’re styled like sun shades fingers however they’re longer, thicker and tighter on the rear, with a noticeable build-up of power at the again of the top after round half-hour of use.

Accentuating the uncomfortable fingers is a USB-C cable that runs from the best arm. What’s the cable for, you ask? It’s had to energy the headset. Yep, the headset doesn’t include a integrated battery – or one who’ll ultimate various seconds with out energy, anyway. How else may HTC make a headset that weighs simply 189g?

The excellent information is that it most effective wishes a 7.5W energy supply to serve as, because of this you’ll use your smartphone, a battery pack or nearly any USB-C port, even though it’s no longer as handy as a integrated battery.

The show housed inside is relatively spectacular, boasting a three.2K answer more or less break up at 1.6K in step with eye, with a mixture of a 100-degree box of view (FOV) and a 75Hz refresh fee.

It is available in at reasonably less than Meta’s standalone headset, however with a narrower box of view, there isn’t a discernible distinction in total high quality. It’s shiny, vivid and lots detailed for the VR reviews on be offering.

Where the Flow beats the Quest and nearly each different headset is within the lens division, with an intuitive focal point gadget that’s superb for glasses-wearers.

Rather than forcing glasses-wearers to put on the Vive Focus over their current glasses, the Flow gives a large guide focal point vary (from 0 – +6) that negates the desire for glasses completely. As anyone that wears glasses each day, it’s an enormous deal, and one thing I’d love to peer on different VR headsets in long run.

Setup & compatibility

• Only appropriate with a small collection of Android smartphones
• Straightforward setup procedure
• iPhone beef up coming someday at some point, however no phrase when

If there’s one sticking level for the Vive Flow, it’ll definitely be its compatibility.

HTC claims that the Vive Flow doesn’t desire a top-end smartphone to energy the headset, offering a £409/$425 Samsung Galaxy A52s together with the headset for evaluate, and that declare is in large part true – I did use the A52s for many VR reviews, and it ran simply high quality.

The downside is that the Vive Flow isn’t appropriate with all Android smartphones, and there’s no hard-and-fast rule about which handsets do and which don’t. HTC supplies an inventory of showed fashions on its website, however in comparison to the broader phone business, it’s a small fraction.

It’s no longer even assured on top-end smartphones, as I attempted the use of the Vive Flow with the likes of the Oppo Find X5 Pro and Asus ROG Phone 5 to determine that they don’t beef up all options and capability of the headset.

The advice the Vive Flow supplies when it tells you this all over setup? To use some other smartphone. Considering maximum customers gained’t have a couple of telephones laying round to make use of, it’s an important that you simply verify whether or not your phone is appropriate before you purchase.

Oh, and in case you’ve were given an iPhone, you’re totally out of good fortune – for now, anyway. HTC has teased that iPhone beef up is at the manner, however there’s no phrase when that may well be.

Once you’ve showed you’ve were given a appropriate smartphone, the setup is a breeze. Simply obtain the Vive app from Google Play and observe the on-screen directions.

It’ll take you throughout the preliminary login procedure, can help you alter focal point, check whether or not your phone is absolutely appropriate with its phone mirroring mode, and it’ll display you learn how to use the controls too.

The entire procedure shouldn’t take longer than 5 mins or so, and you then’re unfastened to discover the Vive Flow’s digital international.

The Vive Flow revel in

• Uses smartphone as a controller with on-screen controls
• VR revel in is nearer to first-gen VR headsets than 2022 pageant
• Phone mirroring is excellent for gazing motion pictures, however no longer enjoying video games

At the center of the Vive Flow is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR1 chipset, which got here out long ago in 2018 and is beautiful underpowered in comparison to the upgraded XR2 chipset discovered within the likes of the standalone Meta Quest 2 and HTC’s personal Vive Focus 3.

For that reason why, the VR revel in isn’t slightly as high-end as Meta’s possibility, operating a customized model of Android with beef up for 2 primary purposes; immersive VR reviews and the power to replicate your phone’s show just about.

It’s the latter that’s maximum fascinating for customers, however there’s so much to unpack first.

Tracking

Firstly, two embedded cameras fixed within the lenses of the sunglasses-style VR headset allow positional monitoring in an area of as much as 4m x 4m.

It’s a identical gadget to the Quest 2 and HP Reverb G2, however with a long way fewer cameras than choices, the Vive Flow’s positional monitoring can occasionally really feel floaty and extra corresponding to a fundamental 3DoF smartphone VR viewer than a ‘correct’ VR headset.

It has even misplaced monitoring totally infrequently, inflicting an error to pop up on display till monitoring is resumed.

It’s debatable that the related nature of the headset method it’s higher fitted to sit-down reviews, and this doesn’t affect the full revel in too a lot, however the hit-and-miss monitoring method you gained’t really feel relaxed getting up and shifting round in VR despite the fact that you sought after to.

Controller

You would possibly’ve spotted that I’ve but to say the controller used with the Vive Flow, and that’s as a result of there isn’t one. Instead, you engage with the digital international the use of your related smartphone as a controller.

The concept turns out forged, particularly whilst you believe that almost all use circumstances for the Vive Flow are whilst you’re travelling, because it method you don’t wish to raise round an extra controller in addition to the headset, your phone and probably a battery pack too.

However, the implementation is a long way from superb.

Once arrange for your smartphone, the digital controller UI will have to seem on-screen whilst you put the Vive Flow on. Activate it by way of conserving two hands on-screen and disable it by way of swiping down from the highest of your show.

The smartphone controller necessarily supplies a laser pointer and 4 buttons – System Menu, Select, Trigger (which is interchangeable with Select relying at the app, confusingly) and App Menu. The downside is that you simply’re dressed in a VR headset and you’ll’t really feel the other buttons on a flat touchscreen, so mispresses are annoyingly not unusual.

The larger factor is that, and not using a devoted controller, the gadget is restricted to the use of the gyroscope of your phone to trace its place, and that implies it doesn’t supply true 1:1 monitoring.

Your phone may well be in a single position in VR and some other in the actual international, making for a disjointed, floaty revel in, additional annoyed by way of awkward UI placements that occasionally make it tough to navigate throughout digital menus with no need to awkwardly perspective your controller.

Essentially, it’s extra in keeping with the 3DoF controller of the Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream, headsets that have been introduced long ago in 2016, and will actually detract from the VR revel in – particularly in devoted VR apps.

HTC claims that hand monitoring is coming, however as with iPhone beef up, there’s no phrase as to when to be expecting it.

VR apps

You can get entry to HTC’s Viveport VR storefront from inside the headset, permitting you to put in a spread of VR apps. But, in case you’re picturing titles like Beat Saber and Resident Evil 4, you’ll most likely be disenchanted.

Instead, the providing is extra corresponding to that of early VR audience like Google Cardboard and Gear VR, with fundamental look-and-shoot video games, on-wheels VR reviews and different simplistic VR apps.

There are a couple of exceptions to the guideline, with (the aptly named) Flow providing a novel strategy to meditate whilst holding your eyes open, and the artwork genre of Curious Alice supplies a in fact distinctive revel in (despite the fact that gameplay is somewhat fundamental) nevertheless it’s for sure restricted in comparison to Meta’s providing.

The different downside is that the getting older Snapdragon XR1 chipset within the headset can occasionally fight to energy the reviews to be had on Viveport, with some suffering to take care of a good 75fps (the commonly appeared minimal for VR with out inducing movement illness and discomfort).

The caveat to all that is that it has the possible to make stronger over the years, nevertheless it wishes extra content material explicit to the Vive Flow and its distinctive functions. More meditation apps like Flow, and less first-gen VR video games, please!

Phone mirroring

While the library of standalone VR apps leaves a lot to be desired, the primary draw of the Vive Flow for lots of would be the talent to replicate your phone’s show inside the headset on a big, curved 100in show.

HTC opted to make use of Miracast mirroring era rather than the use of the USB-C cable to replicate any related show, basically as a result of Miracast means that you can engage together with your smartphone show whilst in VR. It’s additionally by the way some of the large obstacles with smartphone compatibility discussed previous, however howdy, if it really works it really works!

Using the smartphone controller, you’ll scroll via Instagram, TikTookay and another app you might have put in for your smartphone. It’s absolutely appropriate with apps that use DRM like Disney+ and Netflix, permitting you to revel in a cinema-esque large display revel in anyplace you’re.

It additionally brings added perks in comparison to local VR opposite numbers for the likes of Netflix, having the ability to browse for what you need to observe out of doors of the headset and save content material in the community for offline playback – if it’s for your phone, it’s at the headset, able to make use of.

The backless design of the glasses additionally method it’s more uncomplicated to put again and revel in an episode of Stranger Things on Netflix than maximum different headsets.

But, in a operating theme for the Vive Flow, there’s a caveat to the phone mirroring functions.

While Miracast no doubt has VR-focused advantages over the use of easy USB-C show mirroring that isn’t interactive, it additionally method there’s a slight show lag. It’s not up to a 2d, however that extend method you’ll’t reliably play video games – native or cloud-based – at the Vive Flow.

That’s an actual disgrace too, taking into account simply how massive that digital show is.

It additionally implies that you’ll’t replicate, say, a USB-C-connected computer, increasing the Vive Flow’s functions from leisure to paintings.

It’s price declaring that the Nreal Air AR glasses do use USB-C connectivity for show mirroring, and whilst you’ll’t engage with it in the similar manner because the Vive Flow, the low latency, nice show high quality and the power to play cloud video games like Red Dead Redemption 2 on a digital show is an actual deal with.

If that’s extra your factor, possibly Nreal’s possibility is best fitted to you – and it’s a little bit less expensive too.

Price

The Vive Flow is available in at a not-insignificant £499/$499, making it a troublesome promote when in comparison to the bulkier, but additionally far more succesful £299/$299 Meta Quest 2. Even the Nreal Air glasses, with lagless mirroring and AR functions, prices much less in the United Kingdom at £399.

If you’re tempted, you’ll acquire the Vive Flow from the Vive web site in addition to outlets like Amazon (albeit at a top rate) with a unfastened protecting case and a unfastened Viveport Infinity trial to sweeten the deal.

To see how the Vive Flow compares to the contest, check out our collection of the most efficient VR headsets.

Verdict

The concept at the back of the Vive Flow is forged; be offering an entertainment-focused digital revel in that doesn’t want the graphical grunt of the Meta Quest 2, saving on total weight and bulk for a extra relaxed come across.

The talent to replicate your phone’s show is a smart contact, permitting you to move from the likes of Netflix and Disney+ onto a curved 100in show in a digital house and not using a cable – even though you’ll nonetheless wish to plug the headset’s USB-C cable into one thing to present it energy, missing an inner battery.

The downside is that the core VR revel in is extra corresponding to that of a first-gen VR headset than one thing to be had in 2022, whilst the phone controller is a good suggestion with a slightly mistaken execution.

Couple that with spotty Android phone beef up, a excessive ticket and mirroring lag that makes enjoying video games unattainable and it’s a beautiful tough promote, with Nreal Air providing a greater mirroring revel in and the Quest 2 providing a greater VR revel in, each at a less expensive worth level than Vive’s possibility.