Immersed Announces ‘Visor’ Compact Productivity Headset With 4K OLED Microdisplays
Immersed, the startup behind the virtual screens app, just announced an ultra high-end headset focused on remote work productivity.
Immersed currently offers a free Meta Quest, Vive Focus 3, and Pico 4 app that shows your PC monitors in VR and lets you spawn entirely virtual extra monitors, for up to 5 monitors in total.
The startup says it sees users spending 40-50 hours per week in Immersed, and claims it’s the “most used spatial computing software worldwide”.
But generalized standalone headsets like Quest and Pico are relatively heavy, have much lower angular resolution than real monitors, and run heavy system software that lengthens the time between putting on the headset and being in your virtual productivity space. So Immersed is now building its own headset, called Visor, specifically designed for its remote work use case.
Visor is the result of a “strategic collaboration” with Intel, Qualcomm, and an “undisclosed AR/VR tech giant” that will be revealed later this year. It supports Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Immersed claims the headset is built for “all day” comfort, is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and weighs less than a typical smartphone.
The immediate comparison many will be making is to the $1000 Bigscreen Beyond, another ultra compact headset being released by a startup that originally just made VR software. Like Beyond, Visor will also have custom built lens distance to match the buyer’s interpupillary distance.
But Visor is a much more ambitious device. While Bigscreen Beyond is tethered to a PC and requires SteamVR Tracking base stations, Visor has an onboard chipset and battery to support a wireless mode, and has integrated inside-out tracking from Qualcomm.
Visor also has “4K” OLED microdisplays per eye, whereas Beyond has 2.5K OLED microdisplays, and Visor has “HD” color passthrough to see the real world.
However, Visor is also more limited in scope. While Beyond is a general use SteamVR headset, Visor is specifically designed for using Immersed’s productivity software. This tailored hardware-software approach means your virtual workspace will be ready within “seconds” of your PC booting, Immersed claims.
Visor is slated for release some time in 2024. Invitations to pre-order will be sent out later this year, with registration available now. Immersed isn’t announcing a price yet, but says it will be less than the $3500 Apple Vision Pro.