Design Packed: into a pair of glasses that weigh just 189g; Not enough room for a big battery; Features a sharp 3.2K display with 75Hz refresh rate.
This wearable is far lighter and smaller than even the most portable VR headset, weighing just 189g which HTC proudly claims is just as light as a chocolate bar. It really was a delight being able to easily slot these glasses on my face rather than have to strap on a big headset that applies uncomfortable weight to my neck. HTC has also built in adjustable diopter dials, which means most people won’t need to wear glasses here, ensuring the Flow can sit flush against your face.
An active cooling system helps to pull warm air away from your face, which is an important inclusion.
The glasses have their own battery cell built in, but with HTC hesitant to reveal the battery life, I’m concerned they won’t last very long independently. HTC will at least offer a portable 10,000mAh power bank as a separate accessory that can plug into the glasses – even while you’re using them – to push the stamina up to 5 hours. But that will drive up the cost even further, despite an already expensive price point.
HTC claims display features a 3.2K resolution and a 75Hz refresh rate. The screen certainly looked great, with images being presented with sharp detail and bold colours.
The screen even has a 100-degree field of view, creating an impressively immersive experience once the glasses are sitting at the top of your nose.
You even get 3D spatial sound being blasted out of the glasses. Of course, if you don’t want to disturb people in your vicinity, you can connect the Flow up to your own Bluetooth headphones instead.
Performance: Needs to be connected to a smartphone to function;
Limited to basic apps and games; Aimed at lifestyle rather than gaming.
There’s an obvious issue with the Vive Flow though, as the compact design means you can’t fit a powerful chip inside like you can with the Oculus Quest. This means it needs to wirelessly connect to your smartphone in order to function. Limited to the power of your phone, you won’t be able to play VR classics like Superhot VR and Beat Saber.
To be fair to HTC though, it isn’t positioning the Vive Flow as a rival to the Oculus Quest. In fact, it’s not even considering it as a gaming platform. Instead, HTC is championing fitness and wellbeing apps as the main use case of the Vive Flow.
Even better, the Vive Flow can mirror content on your phone. So if you want to watch YouTube, Tik Tok or even your Instagram feed, then it should all be good to go. I’m particularly keen to see the likes of Xbox Game Pass and GeForce Now running on the Vive Flow; HTC confirmed that this is possible, but unfortunately didn’t have it set up for me to try out at the hands-on event.
However, there’s a big fly in the ointment for phone mirroring, as only certain smartphones are supported: iPhones are a no go, and so are Android handsets that don’t support HDCP 2.2. HTC tells me that this rules out OnePlus and Xiaomi phones. This means you really need to double check whether your handset supports phone mirroring before committing to a purchase, otherwise you’re arguably missing out on the Flow’s best feature.
The Vive Flow does not come with any controllers, instead using your smartphone to navigate through menus. It’s a smart design choice by Vive, especially since it’s pitching these VR glasses as something you can use on the go.
You can make selections with your phone by pointing and clicking, while even swiping down on your phone screen to scroll through menus. Tapping the top of your phone screen will also bring up the settings tab so you can easily jump back to the homescreen.
Of course, it’s not as intuitive as an actual VR controller like the Oculus Touch or the Vive wand, but it does the job competently for lifestyle apps.
The Vive Flow is an impressive technological feat, seeing all the specs required for virtual reality boiled down into a pair of glasses that are comfortable to wear for long stretches of time. VR glasses are destined to replace the clunky headsets, and this looks to be our first glimpse of such technology.
