XRSpace, a start-up founded and led by former HTC head Peter Chou, plans to launch a new virtual reality headset, dubbed Mova, later this year. Mova utilizes AI and computer vision technology to create a new experience through 5G. XRspace is an end-to-end social VR platform comprising hardware, software, content, and services.
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“In 2002, we had a 2.5G data network and the first smartphone – O2 XDA – started coming out. We are now entering into a 5G era. 5G is a new network architecture and we need to create a new experience as we did in 2002,” said Chou.
Moreover, he said his company’s mission is to “bring people together through the power of 5G XR, surpassing the limited experience of smartphones today and the goal is to take XR to the masses by redefining how people connect, socialize, and collaborate by simplifying the hardware and user experience,” reports TechRadarPro.
Mova doesn’t have Zoom video conferencing. Instead, it offers full body avatars of you and your friends that can move from your living room couch to a live basketball game or a board room. It all takes place in the virtual world called Manova. You use your hands as the controllers, and there’s even a 5G version of the headset.
“There’s a certain amount of Zoom fatigue, and therefore, people are kind of saying what else could we do to have a more immersive, inclusive, collaborative platform,” said Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight. “The timing couldn’t be better.”
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Chou hopes that users would stick to the same “digital self” when meeting with families and friends, or when joining meetings and lessons. But users can make their avatar look bizarre. “We don’t prohibit that.”
Pricing and Availability
XRSpace said it’s opening registrations for an early-access developer kit that includes the headset and SDKs, while the consumer version of the product will be made available starting in the third quarter of 2020 with an expected retail price of $599.
