THERE WERE A few things people expected HTC to reveal today. A new flagship phone was expected which came in the form of the M9, a fitness band was also on the cards considering its partnership with Under Armour, but a Virtual Reality headset?
Yet that’s what HTC did with the launch of its virtual reality headset called Vive. That alone probably isn’t exciting in itself, but the major coup is who it’s partnered with.
Valve, the company behind Steam, the major online retailer dedicated to PC, Mac and Linux games, and games like Half-Life 2 and Portal – will form a partnership with HTC to bring this device and developer software to market.
The device will also come with wireless VR controllers, which come in a pair which both HTC and Valve believe are “simple and intuitive to use.” The controllers are part of a Full Room Scale 360 Degree Solution which allows you to walk around and explore your surroundings.
The company claims you won’t get sick wearing it which, if true, will mean you can spend a long time playing games or experiencing virtual reality.
HTC says the developer edition will be released by the end of Spring while a consumer version will be released by the end of the year.
That wasn’t the only device announced. A wearable tracker called Grip, which takes advantage of its partnership with Under Armour, will be able to track your activity as well as work as a notification screen for texts and calls.
More importantly, its latest flagship smartphone, the M9, was also announced. An upgrade of the M7 and M8, it runs on Android Lollipop, has a 3GB RAM, a 20MP camera and 32GB of storage.
It will include HTC Sense which will provide you with the relevant apps based on your location, a better camera experience with the image quality being said to be almost like photos from an SLR and image editing tools to get the best out of your photos.
The HTC One M9 will be available in Ireland from 31st March, and will be available to pre-order on select websites from 16th March.
Quinton O’Reilly is at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona all this week. Follow all the goings-on at @TheJournalTech.
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