A Unique VR Experience at CES 2016: Hands-on with the HTC Vive

I had the opportunity to try out the latest iteration of the HTC Vive, and I must say, it was an experience unlike any other VR headset I've tried before. As someone who's been around VR headsets for a while, including Google Cardboard and Gear VR, I was excited to see how the Vive would stack up.

The first thing that struck me about the Vive was its comfort level. I had expected it to be similar to the previous version, but this updated model is slightly smaller and more comfortable to wear. The demo we were given showed off some impressive graphics and a level of immersion that I hadn't experienced before. Graphically, the Vive looks far superior to anything I've seen in other VR headsets, including Cardboard and Gear VR.

But what really took me out of the experience was when I started to feel like I was actually there. The demo we were given featured an underwater environment, complete with fish swimming around me. At first, I didn't think much of it, but as I looked closer, I realized just how realistic it all was. A giant blue whale even appeared in front of me, stopping right in its tracks and looking straight at me. It was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

The only drawback to the experience was when the cord would hit my leg, which took me out of the zone. The Vive is still a wired headset, so you have to be mindful of your surroundings. But overall, I was blown away by the level of immersion and realism that the Vive offers. It's clear that HTC has put a lot of effort into creating an experience that feels like you're really there.

The Demo Room Experience

We were limited to a two-minute demo in our test room, which is just five square feet in size. While this was a significant limitation compared to what I'd seen in other VR headsets, it still gave me a taste of what the Vive is capable of. The grid that appeared when we stepped too far from the center of the room did take me out of the experience a bit, but it's clear that HTC is working on ways to mitigate this issue.

The demo itself was impressive, with smooth movement and no lag or glitches. I could move my head in any direction, and the graphics looked stunning. While I didn't get to see as much of the Vive's capabilities as I would have liked, I'm excited to see what other experiences are available for consumers.

A VR Experience Like No Other

As someone who's experienced a lot of different VR headsets, I can confidently say that the HTC Vive is something special. It's not just a novelty – it's a truly immersive experience that feels like you're really there. While it has its limitations, particularly in terms of mobility, the Vive is still an incredible achievement.

I'm glad I got to try out the Vive at Pep Com, and I'm excited to see what other VR experiences are available for consumers. With CES 2016 just getting underway, we can expect even more exciting announcements from HTC and other companies in the industry. Stay tuned for our coverage of all things Android and beyond!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up guys lon here from android authority and we're here at Pep calm at CES 2016 and i'm here with jimmy our junior editor on the site and we just got to try out the HTC vive for the very first time here at CES alright so we both got to try out the HTC vive for the very first time tonight here at Pep calm at CES 2016 and I've tried a ton of other VR headsets before but I've never got a chance to try the vibe but I don't know about you what had what other VR headsets have you tried and how does that experience compared to what you experience tonight with the HTC vive so i've tried google cardboard a couple of different headsets in the past and they were good you know especially for how cheap you know google is bringing the headsets to people but you know the vibe is just on a whole different level it's so amazing i'm talking about the the updated model a little bit it's you know issues e says that it's it's a slightly smaller headset a little bit more comfortable and of course i don't have you know I i I've never tried out the first generation vive you know before but this one you know it was very comfortable it was a surreal experience almost at least for the demo that we had it's definitely smaller than the first version because I remember watching like the videos of it and it looked ginormous and like the previous video so it definitely is a little bit smaller and this is actually more of like a consumer-grade version of it because it was actually hooked up to a consumer desktop the demo that we got to do we only have to do one demo so they didn't show off a whole lot of different things but the one that we got to do was like an underwater one and there was like a ton of fish and it was actually like really cool because at first I didn't really think too much of it I was like this is kind of like any other VR that I've tried before but graphically it looks way better than anything I've experienced in terms of like cardboard or gear VR it looks way better and it wasn't until that I saw like a giant whale like basically in on my face that it was like this is insane it felt so real the only thing it took me out of it was when the cord like would hit my leg because it's still not a it's still a wired experience so that kind of brought me out of the experience but overall like this is probably the best VR experience that I've had the pleasure of trying out yeah yeah no I completely agree yeah the the area that we had to try out this demo you know is only like a two-minute yeah two minute long demo or something and we only had about you know five square feet of movement around around us and yeah you know so when you when you step too far you would run into like this this imaginary grid would show up in front of you and yeah of course that took me out of the experience because you know I was underwater and then a grid would just show up and I couldn't go past it yeah that that kind of like did the same thing for me too but at the same time I kind of like that the grid showed up because it lets you know that you're hitting the boundary and you're not like running into a table and hitting your knee or something like that yeah yeah absolutely i mean you know i know why it's there I know why you know why why that that imaginary boundary is there but still you know obviously it's it's it's going to be a much better experience you know if you have a full room to demo if you have you know at least you know you can walk in a couple different directions for you know a couple couple more feet than we were able to but yeah you know overall overall it was it was just incredible i'm i'm incredibly scared of open water and i was my hands got really sweaty right whatever right when i tried on the headset because yeah was it was pretty pretty realistic did you did you have the the whale like move across in front of your face to you on yours yeah yeah the there was a giant there was a giant blue whale that just came came right up and stopped and and kind of dat you and oh yeah it was pretty terrifying but it was a good experience I'm glad I did it yeah it was definitely lot of fun like I was jealous of like all the people that got to try it like from thing was mobile world congress because i didn't get a chance to try it when i was there so i was i wanted to know what it was like so I'm glad I got a chance to try here at Pep com I know you're pretty stoked about it too because it was it was an awesome experience though definitely a lot of fun but we just wanted to give you guys sort of our quick reactions of the HTC vive here at Pep calm so there's definitely a lot more to come here at CES 2016 it hasn't even really started yet so stay tuned for the rest of our coverage and as always check at the website as well because we are your source for all things android Ohwhat's up guys lon here from android authority and we're here at Pep calm at CES 2016 and i'm here with jimmy our junior editor on the site and we just got to try out the HTC vive for the very first time here at CES alright so we both got to try out the HTC vive for the very first time tonight here at Pep calm at CES 2016 and I've tried a ton of other VR headsets before but I've never got a chance to try the vibe but I don't know about you what had what other VR headsets have you tried and how does that experience compared to what you experience tonight with the HTC vive so i've tried google cardboard a couple of different headsets in the past and they were good you know especially for how cheap you know google is bringing the headsets to people but you know the vibe is just on a whole different level it's so amazing i'm talking about the the updated model a little bit it's you know issues e says that it's it's a slightly smaller headset a little bit more comfortable and of course i don't have you know I i I've never tried out the first generation vive you know before but this one you know it was very comfortable it was a surreal experience almost at least for the demo that we had it's definitely smaller than the first version because I remember watching like the videos of it and it looked ginormous and like the previous video so it definitely is a little bit smaller and this is actually more of like a consumer-grade version of it because it was actually hooked up to a consumer desktop the demo that we got to do we only have to do one demo so they didn't show off a whole lot of different things but the one that we got to do was like an underwater one and there was like a ton of fish and it was actually like really cool because at first I didn't really think too much of it I was like this is kind of like any other VR that I've tried before but graphically it looks way better than anything I've experienced in terms of like cardboard or gear VR it looks way better and it wasn't until that I saw like a giant whale like basically in on my face that it was like this is insane it felt so real the only thing it took me out of it was when the cord like would hit my leg because it's still not a it's still a wired experience so that kind of brought me out of the experience but overall like this is probably the best VR experience that I've had the pleasure of trying out yeah yeah no I completely agree yeah the the area that we had to try out this demo you know is only like a two-minute yeah two minute long demo or something and we only had about you know five square feet of movement around around us and yeah you know so when you when you step too far you would run into like this this imaginary grid would show up in front of you and yeah of course that took me out of the experience because you know I was underwater and then a grid would just show up and I couldn't go past it yeah that that kind of like did the same thing for me too but at the same time I kind of like that the grid showed up because it lets you know that you're hitting the boundary and you're not like running into a table and hitting your knee or something like that yeah yeah absolutely i mean you know i know why it's there I know why you know why why that that imaginary boundary is there but still you know obviously it's it's it's going to be a much better experience you know if you have a full room to demo if you have you know at least you know you can walk in a couple different directions for you know a couple couple more feet than we were able to but yeah you know overall overall it was it was just incredible i'm i'm incredibly scared of open water and i was my hands got really sweaty right whatever right when i tried on the headset because yeah was it was pretty pretty realistic did you did you have the the whale like move across in front of your face to you on yours yeah yeah the there was a giant there was a giant blue whale that just came came right up and stopped and and kind of dat you and oh yeah it was pretty terrifying but it was a good experience I'm glad I did it yeah it was definitely lot of fun like I was jealous of like all the people that got to try it like from thing was mobile world congress because i didn't get a chance to try it when i was there so i was i wanted to know what it was like so I'm glad I got a chance to try here at Pep com I know you're pretty stoked about it too because it was it was an awesome experience though definitely a lot of fun but we just wanted to give you guys sort of our quick reactions of the HTC vive here at Pep calm so there's definitely a lot more to come here at CES 2016 it hasn't even really started yet so stay tuned for the rest of our coverage and as always check at the website as well because we are your source for all things android Oh\n"