While virtual reality (VR) news this week looked to be centred around Oculus VR, HTC and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2016, as surprise announcement has come from graphics chip manufacturer AMD and Sulon Technologies Inc. The companies have revealed a brand new untethered head-mounted display (HMD) called the Sulon Q.
The Sulon Q is a completely wireless all-in-one headset, meaning all the PC processing components are built into the HMD, unlike PC-based devices like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It’s powered by an reported four core AMD FX-8800P processor with a Radeon R7 graphics card, running a 110 degree field-of-view (FoV) 2560×1440 OLED display. The device is also expected to house 8 GB DDR3L RAM and a 256 GB solid state hard drive (SSD).
And the Sulon Q isn’t just for VR its also been designed around augmented reality (AR) as well. Using what the company call a Spatial Processing Unit its described as: ‘an innovative mixed reality spatial computer that provides real-time environment mapping and tracking from the inside outward, dynamic virtualization for VR/AR fusion, and gesture recognition.’ The gesture recognition is another important part to note as it should allow full hand sensing capabilities so users might not need a controller.
“Sulon is the latest example of how AMD is helping to broaden the VR ecosystem, providing powerful graphics and computing hardware and innovative LiquidVR technologies to deliver an experience like nothing else,” said Daryl Sartain, director, virtual reality, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “The Sulon Q headset is unique in the industry, representing incredibly sophisticated technology that’s simple and intuitive to use, and a great showcase for what companies can do with Radeon technologies to deliver an exceptional VR experience.”
Other details haven’t been mentioned yet such as the battery specs (to be truly untethered) and the weight of the Sulon Q. With all the processing done on board its likely to be some what heavier than tethered rivals Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
VRFocus will continue to follow the latest updates on the Sulon Q, reporting back a further announcements.
