The Windows Mixed Reality series of headsets hasn’t exactly taken the world – or the virtual reality (VR) industry – by storm but that doesn’t mean to say the hardware manufacturers involved aren’t continuing support. Today, during a press conference at IFA in Berlin, Germany, Acer announced the latest iteration of its headset, the OJO 500.
Aiming to improve on the previous 2017 headset, especially in the comfort department, the new Acer OJO 500 features a unique detachable design allowing the front lens unit to be removed for easy cleaning and storage.
“The Acer OJO 500 brings several significant new features to this class of Windows Mixed Reality headsets,” said Andrew Chuang, General Manager, Presence Computing, IT Products Business, Acer Inc in a statement. “We’ve improved the user experience with innovative visual and audio technologies and made the headset more comfortable and easier than ever to use.”
The device will be available with either a hard or soft head strap, with the latter being machine washable. Inside, there are two front-hinged 2.89-inch high-resolution liquid crystal displays (LCD) providing a wide 100-degree field of view (FOV), delivering 2880 x 1440 resolution. This is combined with a fast refresh rate of up to 90Hz. Still in place is the flipping mechanism, eliminating the need to remove the entire headset to answer the phone or converse with people in the room, and inside-out tracking and 6 degrees of freedom positional tracking from the front cameras.
On the audio side Acer has devised a couple of options, with the OJO 500 featuring an integrated audio system that uses a patented sound pipe design that directs sound from the built-in speakers toward the wearer’s ears. This allows users to hear audio without headphones – sounding very similar to the Oculus Go design. For those that require more privacy and deeper immersion, they can use the built-in earphones that come with the hard head strap, or their own earphones with the soft head strap.
The Acer OJO 500 will be available in North America in November, starting at $399 USD; and in Europe in November, starting at €499 EUR. There will be options for the WMR motion controllers but those prices haven’t been revealed yet. For further updates and info on the Acer OJO 500, keep reading VRFocus.