HTC VIVE Flow is a lightweight set of VR glasses

Today, HTC is adding to their line of VR headsets with a more lightweight consumer version called the HTC VIVE Flow. As you can see, it's definitely designed to be more portable and HTC is touting it for media consumption as well as experiencing some wellness apps.

The design was leaked a while ago, but the VIVE Flow features an image of up to 3.2K resolution with screens that can refresh at 75Hz. The Flow uses LCD for the display and you'll have about a 100 degree field of view, which is slightly less than some of the more popular VR headsets out there.

As you can see, the flexible arms allow for bending on the hinges to accommodate various head sizes and each one houses a speaker for spatial audio. Of course, you can also pair it to a set of Bluetooth headphones should you want to use your own.

On one of the arms is a USB-C cable that you'll be able to use to attach say an extra battery to lengthen the running time of the HTC VIVE Flow. This should also allow you to connect to a PC as well.

There are two cameras on the front for what I assume would allow for hand tracking and HTC does say you can use the phone as a controller as well. We'll also have to see if there's support for some controller in the future.

Yes, one of the main uses is to pair the VIVE Flow with your phone to stream content to it, which with the slimmer lightweight design, would make the VIVE Flow easier to take out and about to use than say the HTC VIVE Focus 3.

A tube like carrying case is available for the VIVE Flow to let you take it with you and keep it protected.

Now, the prices is going to be $499, which for what you get does seem a little high. Compared to some other offerings in the mobile VR space, I can see some hesitancy in people choosing it. Although with the VIVE Flow, you are paying for a much lighter design as well as the VR functionality it provides.

Pre-orders are up now and those that do pre-order will get the case and 7 pieces of content to use with it.