California-based Pico Technology announced on April 19 that it is set to launch Pico Neo, a new stand-alone virtual reality headset for gaming and entertainment applications. Developed in partnership with Goertek, the device (approximately $300) will officially become available in June 2016 in China before it expands elsewhere, and preorders are now being accepted.
Pico Neo has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor for high performance and power efficiency. Its 2K stereoscopic rendering of 3D graphics is meant to provide the most realistic view possible to users. Pico Neo also has 360-degree HEVC video and an AMOLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate.
"We are confident that this product demonstrates a new level of 'mobile' VR HMD performance, leveraging the portability of smartphones and tablets, and the high performance of dedicated systems," said Henry Zhou, CEO of Pico. "The Snapdragon 820 processor provides leading computing, graphics, and connectivity performance, all crucial for truly immersive VR. Goertek provided its advanced optical solution, system integration and world class supply chain support. We believe that this new Pico dedicated product could be a milestone in VR HMD technology."
Pico will use Qualcomm Technologies' Snapdragon VR software development kit to continue to expand upon its work. The Snapdragon VR SDK gives developers access to advanced VR features of Snapdragon 820, including DSP sensor processing and GPU algorithms.
"We are excited to be working with Pico and Goertek on this new virtual reality headset," said Hugo Swart, senior director of product management at Qualcomm Technologies. "We're committed to delivering high performance yet power-efficient VR technologies with Snapdragon 820, and we're pleased to see it being used in untethered, mobile VR solutions like Pico Neo, that will significantly improve the user experience of immersive VR games, 360-degree VR videos and other types of interactive VR applications."
Pico is also creating a development kit to attract gaming developers to its platform. The company has engaged experts, including Archiact CEO Frank Shen, as it begins this initiative.
Pico Neo can be preordered on PicoVR.com. Here, consumers can also review all of the specs of the device, which include its 5000 mAh battery, 3.8-inch displays and 2D app compatibility.
