New "Ultra" VR/MR Headset from Pico Comes to Europe
– 3 min read
Pico is launching its new all-in-one Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality headset Pico 4 Ultra in September in Europe. Compared to the Pico 4, the new model will not only improve performance and comfort, but will also significantly enhance Mixed Reality. At the same time, the international company is launching Pico Motion Trackers for full-body motion tracking.
Pico will launch its new all-in-one Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) headset Pico 4 Ultra on 20 September. It will be available in Germany at Amazon, Media Markt (including in-store), Saturn, Grover, Smartech, Otto, Coolblue, Bestware and Galaxus, in Austria at Media Markt and in Switzerland at digitec. Pre-orders from 6 to 19 September include the Pico Motion Trackers and four games (Blade & Sorcery: Nomad, Infinite Inside, Let's Get Fit VR and FootPool). Recommended retail price is 599 Euros, and the Motion Trackers will cost 89 Euros. The headset costs almost 50 Euros more than Meta Quest 3, the direct predecessor, currently has a price tag of 389 Euros.
Pico 4 Ultra is equipped with two 32-megapixel cameras and an iToF depth-sensing camera (up to about three metres around the user, at a wide angle of 60 degrees) for stereoscopic colour pass-through in Mixed Reality. The headset "introduces multi-window operations on a panoramic workspace. Users are free to adjust the size and layout of their apps' windows in a boundless virtual space, making multitasking so much smoother. Users can also switch between immersive and pass-through modes with a single click in the system navigation bar," the company says. In addition, the device supports "full-chain spatial video capture". Spatial videos and photos shot by Apple devices (iPhone 15 Pro series and Vision Pro) are fully supported. Furthermore: "Pico 4 Ultra can reconstruct a virtual environment that closely matches the real-world environment it is in, thanks to the combination of the hardware and Pico's proprietary environment perception algorithm."
The headset features "4K+ super-sense" displays with 2160x2160 per eye (Fast LCD) and a rendering resolution of 1920x1920 at 90Hz (PPI 1200). The system is equipped with a pancake lens with a 105-degree field of view - as with the previous model. "These displays have been color calibrated at the factory and offer 62 per cent higher resolution than Pico 4," the company says. It is powered by the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform, 12GB of LPDDR5 memory and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The same platform is used in the Meta Quest 3. Pico claims a 2.5x increase in GPU performance and a 20 per cent increase in CPU performance over the previous generation. The device weighs approximately 580g - with the front main unit weighing 304g and the rear head cushion weighing 276g. The battery capacity is 5700mAh, 400mAh more than its predecessor. Wi-Fi 7 is supported. A new ringless controller has been introduced for Pico 4 Ultra.
Pico 4 Ultra is currently compatible with over 70 MR apps and more than 900 VR apps, including 600 games. It integrates with SteamVR, allowing users to migrate game content from their PC to the headset. At the launch event, Pico Motion Trackers were also unveiled. "By simply strapping trackers to their ankles, users can achieve full-body motion capture. It weighs in at only 38.5g (tracker and base combined) and can be used continuously for 25 hours before it needs charging," Pico says. The Motion Trackers support entertainment titles like VRChat and Tempo Club too. They are not only compatible with Pico 4 Ultra but also with previously launched models such as Pico 4.
Last but not least, Pico will launch the Pico 4 Ultra Enterprise, designed for the XR healthcare industry, education, training and out-of-home entertainment. It will go on sale in September and will be available to business users in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, North America, Australia, and New Zealand through official sales channel partners.
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