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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.
Slight breeze in Dublin and it’s red alert. Actual storm 1 hour away from Galway and Mayo and last minute warning issued. You’d be forgiven to think that the west doesn’t matter.
@Kieran Campbell: Met Eireann have strict criteria that they follow when issuing any warnings for any location… Stop talking nonsense with your anti Dublin chip on your shoulder.
@Kieran Campbell: That is exactly what is in Dublin right now (9am), a slight breeze…
@Lar Meyler: you are joking. It scared the life out of me.
@Kieran Campbell: I totally agree with you and that lad David that replied to your comment is probably some city boy that doesn’t even know his next door neighbor never mind reading the weather forecast
@John gaughan: I say he does not whinge as much as the culchies
Follow the Midlands Weather Channel on Facebook – Cathal predicted this days ago and was surprised no warnings were being given. He’s spot on with his forecasts.
With everyone giving out about previous warnings, it’s hardly surprising that it came to back to bite. In fairness, the cinema should of stopped the movie and let those inside know there cars were about to be flooded once the water started coming up.
@Ich bin brendan: spot on. Fellas on here bleating on about warnings and snow flakes. No wonder Met Eireann didn’t issue one cause if they did and it flopped they’d be listening to it. Keyboard warriors aplenty to knock something.
@John Hayes: Nonsense – they have a warning system for a reason – if they cannot manage to do their ONE JOB they need to taken to task – w e pay enougb taxes for public services in this country to expect people to do their jobs – i honestly don’t get all these apologists – ya can’t blame them , what should they have done , it;s not that complicated – issuing an orange warning at 8pm when a storm hit a 9pm – go back and watch the met eireann forecast on the 6 news of you want to see EXACTLY what they were saying – this apologist stuff is nonsense – Irish people are far too soft on their expectations of what level of public services they should expect for the very very high taxes we pay to fund public services – Met Eireann are not beyond criticism FFS
@Dave Hammond: glad you got that off your chest Dave … nothing like a good rant. You surely have heard of the saying – it’s as unpredictable as the weather- which is what weather is UNPREDICTABLE even with technology. A warning at 8pm for 9pm is better than no warning at all in my eyes. Happy Christmas fella.
Some comments here are hilarious as per, hence why I pop in to see the usual suspects here who’d argue with their own shadow.
If there was warnings we’d have the usual that its ott and “there’s no need for warnings” and if we had a late warning/no warning it’s “where was the warning?”
Can’t win.
@Gavin Mckenna: sounds like you have a CV in with the Wet Office Gavin?!
@Gavin Mckenna: its not complicated Gavin – they have a warning system – the whole point is that a lot of people think they cannot use it correctly – and they are guilty of issuing too many yellow warnings to the point where people pay no attention anymore – imagine they had a yellow warning on yesterday – they issued an orange warning at 8pm for a storm that hit at 9 …..how on earth can you not think they need to be criticized and taken to task when they are not able to do the ONE JOB they are being funded for.
a bit late calling the Orange Warning at 9 wouldn’t you say, when it had already made landfall at 8.20pm in Galway and was already ferocious and almost at RED warnijng level!!!!
The Storm Never Bothered Me Anyway…
@Anthony Edward Healy: Came here for Frozen comments… was not disappointed.
Well, well that was some storm, no warnings, probably the worst storm in Cork since Ophelia. Met Eirean gave no warnings,this was coming, they only gave a status Orange for Cork when the storm was halfway through it looked worse than that.
A typical winter storm.Have to say life goes a lot easier when they are no warnings of storms.
Met Éireann needs a little room on this one, the weather warning was gave when it developed. The difference here is that the storm built late (Portugal only named it on Tuesday and it was not expected to be bad) , it came from an unusual source and took a big swing to the left allowing it to build. We don’t normally get big storms storms building in strength as they hit us. The ones we get warned about are massive things way out in the alantic that done look like they will reduce in strength as time and distance slows them down.
My question is were pre orange status indications and were they acted upon or observed on time.
One hour warning given at eight taking effect at nine if that was Dublin or the East coast they would be talking about it a month before
Car parks on the Seafront in Salthill regularly flood when there’s a storm. A sign to remind drvers of this would be good idea.
@Conall: plenty of those in situ, the pre warning didn’t give people a chance to cancel plans for cinema etc. Some newish hybrids still on the prom waiting to be towed.
Storm Elsewhere more like!!!
well i think they underestimated the strength in the North East, it was very severe Wednesday night, stuff blowing all over the place and very hazardous driving conditions
have your say