Pico has just announced today its new headset: the Pico 4. It is the first real consumer-oriented HMD released by Pico on the market with wide availability, after the Pico Neo 3 Link has been used to test the waters in limited beta quantities. And since Pico is owned by Bytedance, this is the device with which Bytedance is throwing down the gauntlet to Meta, proposing a device which is sleek, super-affordable, and with a big content catalog. It so challenges Meta Quest 2 exactly on all its strongest points, including (very surprisingly) also the price. Discover with me the Pico 4 and realize why it is the first real Quest competitor!

Specifications

Let’s start from the specifications of the new device:

• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, 8 Cores 64 bit, 2.84GHz
• RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X, 2133MHz
• Storage: 128GB/256GB, UFS 3.0
• Display
  • Type: 2.56″ x2 LCD display
  • Resolution: 4,320 x 2,160 (2,160 x 2,160 per eye)
  • PPI: 1200
  • Refresh rate: 72Hz / 90Hz
• Field of view (FOV): 105° Diagonal
• IPD: Support stepless adjustment with a range of 62～72mm
• Audio:
  • Speaker: 360° surrounding stereo speakers, supporting 3D spatial sound
  • Microphone: Dual Mic up to 30dB noise reduction and 50dB echo cancellation
• Cameras: Fisheye Cameras x 4, 16MP RGB Camera x 1
• Controllers
  • Type: 6DoF broadband haptic motion controller x 2
  • Buttons: Joystick / Trigger / Grip / Menu / Capture / Home / X/Y (Left hand) / A/B (Right hand)
  • Motor: Broadband Motor, 50~500Hz, can support up to 2.8G vibration
• Battery
  • Headset: 5300mAh, which lasts about 2.5~3 hours in active use
  • Controllers: Two AA batteries, which last about 80 hours in active use
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, USB-C
• Weight: 295g (without straps), 586g (with straps)
• Operating system: Pico OS

Design

Launch video of Pico 4

Design-wise, the Pico 3 looks very sleek. It is the first headset that implements the ski-goggles design and it looks incredibly polished from the available images and video. All the parts seem curated, including the headband. Thanks to the use of pancake lenses, it is also quite small, so it looks more natural than a shoebox when you see it on the face of someone. According to the company, “the case is just 35.8mm at its thinnest” thanks to the pancake lenses technology. I have also appreciated that Pico kept its tradition of making bicolor headsets, and so it is mostly white, but it has still a black face.

On the cons side, I expected it to be even smaller, while from the images we have, it just looks like a smaller and cooler Quest 2… but it still seems bulkier than something like the Huawei VR glasses. Anyway, don’t misunderstand me… it is very small and lightweight.

I have to say it also reminds me a bit of the pancake headset just announced by Skyworth, but this doesn’t surprise me much, because in China many headsets have similarities because …….

Source: https://skarredghost.com/2022/09/22/pico-4-price-release-funds/