Valve’s much-anticipated index VR headset will begin shipping late June, with preorders starting tomorrow. $499 is the price just for the headset, without the new controllers and base stations.
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Valve revealed the Index last month without a notice; promising to “upgrade your experience,” the VR headset was confirmed to be bundled with the new Valve-designed “Knuckles” controllers and the SteamVR 2.0 base stations, with availability planned for June 15. All that was missing was the price, which was to be revealed on May 1 – alongside the opening of preorders.
Just a day early, Valve today announced everything there is to know about the Index. It’s designed and developed in-house by Valve – not in partnership with HTC.
Index uses two custom-built 1440×1600 panels, providing the same resolution as the Vive Pro. However, the Vive Pro relies on AMOLED panels with PenTile subpixels, while the Index is using LCD panels with full RGB subpixels. As a result, the Index loses out on the true blacks that AMOLED can produce, but the subpixel arrangement helps reduce the infamous screen-door-effect. Also, while the Vive and Vive Pro both have a 90Hz refresh rate, the Index pushes it to 120Hz with an experimental mode going even further at 144Hz.
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Valve claims that the Index will comfortably fit 95% of adult heads as it offers not just adjustment for inter-pupillary distance (IPD), but also lens-eye distance, the rear strap, and the top strap.
