Qualcomm VR820 – High-End, Cord-Free VR Headsets Are finally coming to Reality

For an instance “I was into it, sitting in the cockpit”, the F-16 fighter jet was shooting like a bullet with a speed of Mach 2 — but then the next moment i realized, a bulky black virtual-reality headset strapped onto my face. And it had a cable running down my back to connect it to a PC. Ah.. that sucks !
Mobile chip-maker, Qualcomm is coming up with limited demo VR820 design that anticipate the kind of device without cables which will make virtual reality much more widely used.

Samsung’s Gear VR or Google’s Cardboard gives a virtual reality experience without cables but are unable to track head position in space and limits the exploration capabilities. You can turn your head to look around, but your view doesn’t change if you stand up or lean forward.

High performance headsets like Facebook Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are able to track head position giving a more realistic experience but they require to be tethered to a powerful PC along with a position hardware.

Qualcomm’s design intends to eschew the cables seen in the leading virtual-reality devices in the the market today.It’s equipped with internal motion sensors and a camera to look out from device and tracking your head position. However a self contained device can’t match the power of a gaming PC, putting some complex graphics off limits. But it will be interesting to see how Qualcomm’s device comes to matching the accuracy of the position tracking of the Rift or Vive. Qualcomm says it can support rich 3-D games and experiences.

Qualcomm won’t sell headsets. It is offering its designs to hardware companies in the hope they will build their own versions, boosting chip sales.

Intel is also trying to race in VR space. It unvieled its all-inone headset design this summer with similar strategy, the device is till unavailable to public. All-in-one headsets of various kinds are already on the market in China.

Accordingly MIT Tech Review,

Hugo Swart, a senior director of product management at Qualcomm, says headsets built to his company’s plans should be similar in price to a high-end tablet. That would make them $500 or under, much less than the $1,400 or more for an Oculus Rift and compatible PC.