Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

BARCELONA—Hot on the heels of announcing a substantial $799 (~£650) price for the Vive VR headset, HTC finally gave us a look at the consumer edition here at MWC. This is the same version of the Vive that will go out to customers when it ships in April, and while the differences are subtle, there are differences.

For starters, the HTC branding that adorned the controllers of the Vive Pre has been ditched in favour of a Vive logo, while the "Vive Pre" text on the headset has been removed leaving just the HTC logo. The headband design is largely the same, although there's now a cutout for keeping the Vive's many cables tidy. The Lighthouse tracking boxes have a glossy black finish on the front, while the I/O box—which contains HDMI and USB inputs—thankfully has a matte finish.

Now that the consumer version of the Vive is here, are you ready to stump up £650/$800 for the privilege of owning one? The market might just be willing to put up with the price—the Oculus Rift certainly hasn't suffered—although for us mere mortals with less than ideal bank balances, sacrifices may have to be made.