The PICO 4 is a stand-alone virtual reality headset that is not exorbitantly expensive. Currently, it has plenty of apps to choose from and lasts long enough before needing to be plugged back in for more juice.
In short, a VR or virtual reality headset is a gadget that you wear on your head to cut yourself off from the real world and drift your visual and auditory senses into a virtual world instead. There are plenty of things you can do in a virtual world, such as playing games, watching YouTube, watching 360-degree videos, exercising, virtually socialising with other people and doing creative work digitally.
When you first turn on the PICO 4, you'll be greeted by a string of cute and intuitive tutorials on how to operate and have fun with the device.
The head and hand controller tracking are fast and responsive. I experienced no lag between when I waved my hands or turned my head to what I saw in the virtual reality world.
The built-in open-ear stereo speakers are loud for indoor use, but not loud enough to fight all external noise.
The app library on the native PICO store is a little expensive. There are free apps, yes, but the good ones are not free and may cost around 600 baht.
These are the games I would recommend to new PICO 4 owners: Richie's Plank (party), Moss (adventure), Blaston (rhythm), Eleven Table Tennis (sports), LesMills Body Combat (fitness), After The Fall (shooting), Song In The Smoke (adventure), Pistalwhip (shooting & rhythm), Creed (boxing), Rampage (shooting), Mutrix (rhythm), Little Cities (simulation), Walkabout Mini Golf (sports) and Puzzling Places (puzzle).
I played a roller-coaster game on this headset and felt a little squeamish after about 15 minutes of intensely going up and down in the air (virtually).
Besides games, the PICO 4 also has exclusive VR content featuring top artists such as Megan Thee Stallion, (G)I-DLE, AKB48 and Calvin Harris.
You can also cast what you see in this headset to your phone, TV or browser without any additional apps, via WI-FI or USB. This lets your friends see how you are doing in the virtual world in real-time. But casting from your PC to the headset requires you to connect using the SteamVR app on your PC to PICO 4's built-in streaming app.
This headset is sleek, lightweight and provides exceptional comfort. Weighing in at 295g, the PICO 4's head-mounted display unit delivers incredible 4K+ visuals with two 2.56-inch, 2160x2160 displays running at up to 90Hz refresh rate, while the 5,300mAh battery at the rear creates a design that makes the headset well balanced. You may run the battery dry after around 2 hours of continuous use, which may not be as long as you like but it is likely you will need to "exit" the VR world due to "real world" needs and chores anyway. The proprietary pancake optical lens offers a wider field of view at 105 degrees, while motorised Inter-Pupillary Distance adjustments make the PICO 4 a great match for most people.
Embedded inside this gadget is a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset, paired with 8GB of RAM, allowing this headset to run most VR titles on the market now.
Do use the provided nose flap to ensure immersion and prevent light leakage. It's an easy process that involves removing the faceplate and placing the flap into position.
Allowing you to define your safe space is a really good idea. The headset also has a passthrough mode for you to see the real world using its cameras. This will be triggered automatically when you go beyond your defined safe space to prevent you from hitting a wall or by double tapping the side of the headset, which is useful when you need to quickly see things in the real world or read a text message on your phone.
For people who are sensitive to personal data security, this gadget may make you cringe a little due to the fact that the company that makes it is owned by ByteDance, which also owns TikTok.
You can choose from the basic version with 128GB storage for 13,990 baht, or the 256GB variant for 15,990 baht. Games and apps can be purchased and downloaded through the PICO VR app which is available for free download on the App Store and Google Play.
SPECS
- Weight: 295g
- Display: Two 2.56-inch (2160x2160 per eye) pancake lenses, 1200PPI, 72 or 90Hz
- Audio: Dual stereo speakers and microphones
- Chipset: Qualcomm XR2 (2.84GHz)
- RAM: 8GB
- Storage: 128, 256GB
- Battery: 5,300mAh
- OS: PICO OS 5.0 (based on Android)
- Connections: Controllers x2, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, USB-C, Virtual Desktop
- Price: 13,990 baht (128GB) or 15,990 baht (256GB)
