Mobile chip maker Qualcomm revealed Snapdragon VR820, a reference design for an untethered Android-based virtual reality headset powered by the company's Snapdragon processors.
The Snapdragon VR820 is based on the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and built upon the Snapdragon VR Software Development Kit (SDK), and is designed to help developers create the hardware, software, and content needed to create immersive VR experiences.
The Snapdragon VR820 includes an array of advanced features that help create those immersive experiences: integrated eye tracking with two cameras, motion to photon latency less than 18ms, dual front-facing cameras for six degrees of freedom (6DOF) and see-through applications, four microphones, gyro, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, all of which are hosted in an untethered headset.
This reference design is meant for hardware manufacturers who'd be able to use to build their own custom virtual reality or augmented reality headsets. It will be released before the end of the year and Qualcomm expects "the first commercial devices based on the platform expected to be available shortly thereafter."
This may well be a game changer for virtual reality. If hardware manufacturers endorsed Qualcomm's reference design, the virtual reality headsets market would be more like the mobile market where consumers have a wide range of compatible devices to choose from.
