It does look pretty amazing to be honest …
Valve is clearly betting on the second way with the Index, its first VR hardware. It crams in just about every feature you’d expect from a high-end headset, including some truly transformative finger-sensing controllers.
It’s too bad the entire Index package costs $999, putting it out of reach for most people. But maybe that’s the point. It’s a boundary-pushing headset meant to keep the VR industry from getting stale.
As you’d expect, there’s a ton of high-end tech inside the Index. It features two RGB LCDs each running at 1,440 by 1,600 pixels instead of the lower-resolution OLED panels on first-gen headsets. Valve says its LCDs feature 50 percent more subpixels, which means they’ll look even sharper than an OLED panel at the same resolution. The new displays can also run at 120Hz or 144Hz.
Pros
- Excellent image quality
- Realistic presence
- Incredibly comfortable headset
- Finger-tracking controllers add a new level of immersion
- Very stable motion and space tracking
Cons
- Priced only for pros
- Inconvenient wired connection
- External sensors are a pain to set up
Summary
The Valve Index has almost everything we want in a next-generation PC VR headset. It delivers excellent image quality, believable VR presence and it has a revolutionary pair of motion tracking controllers. It’s just too bad it’s so expensive, but hopefully its innovations will spur on cheaper competition.
Source: Engadget
