Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro headset pushes the boundaries on headset resolution and camera quality for AR and VR, but some headsets are already looking beyond Apple’s headset. Varjo, a Finnish tech startup, has a new industrial mixed-reality headset for PCs that promises even higher headset resolution, and a multifocal passthrough camera that Varjo claims makes mixed reality and actual reality feel indistinguishable. But before you get too excited, the Varjo XR-4, available in December, is for industrial use.
I haven’t tried the Varjo XR-4 yet, but based on my previous experiences with Varjo headsets, I have little reason to doubt the claims. Earlier headsets have been jaw-dropping and demonstrated many of the “retina level” display quality and high-end passthrough camera-based mixed reality features Apple is now shooting for with Vision Pro. Varjo’s hardware is also a component of OpenBCI’s sensor-studded Galea headset.
Varjo’s new headset isn’t standalone and requires tethering to a powerful PC to make its software work. However, the newest Varjo XR-4 makes that process easier than before. The new headset finally has its own packed-in controllers co-developed by Razer, and the lidar-equipped headset’s outer cameras can now do all full motion 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) tracking without needing any external Steam VR base stations like the previous versions.
