Pimax is redesigning Portal View, the VR headset shell for its Portal handheld console.
Pimax is a China-based startup greatest identified for its 2017 Kickstarter for an ultra-wide area of view PC VR headset. This advanced right into a sprawling lineup that was marred by lengthy transport delays, inconsistent high quality, software program points, and customer support considerations. Regardless of the attractiveness of the sector of view, its three hottest fashions are utilized by lower than 0.3% of VR homeowners on Steam.
Portal and Portal View have been introduced in November, when Pimax launched a Kickstarter marketing campaign to crowdfund their growth. Portal has a 4K show and runs Android telephone video games, however with the good thing about energetic cooling for sustained efficiency and bodily controls in titles that assist them. It options the identical Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset utilized in Meta Quest 2 and Pico 4.
However as we identified when Portal Kickstarter launched, Pimax has a historical past of repeatedly lacking its transport targets whereas pitching new merchandise earlier than delivering on what it already promised. For instance, in Might it began transport Crystal, its new PC VR headset introduced properly earlier than Portal, 9 months late and with out key strengths like standalone mode and eye monitoring.
The Portal Kickstarter listed the transport month as January, however once we examined Portal View that month we discovered that location monitoring was barely useful and controller circumstances weren’t accessible, with Pimax utilizing Crystal controllers for the demo as an alternative.
In April, Pimax advised backers it had “finalized the {hardware},” that “mass manufacturing is beginning,” and that each the hand held and VR headset would ship later that month. However now, three months later, whereas the hand held is transport, the corporate is holding again the headset for a redesign.
Pimax says the unique design did not distribute weight properly sufficient to be comfy, and is “a bit weak if the person is difficult on the machine.”
The brand new design is impressed by different headphones. The corporate says two variations might be supplied, one with a battery pack within the rear and one with out.
Pimax says the redesigned headset must be “anticipated” to ship to its 600-plus backers within the third quarter, between July and September, however as at all times with Pimax, it sees this as a really imprecise goal somewhat than an estimate.
