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Lenovo on Tuesday unveiled the world’s first virtual reality headset powered by Google’s Daydream platform, with the product being officially advertised as the “Mirage Solo with Daydream.” The company’s CES 2018 announcement confirmed numerous rumors about the gadget whose name has already been revealed as part of a previously uncovered trademark filing, with Lenovo claiming the offering will deliver what it deems is the “next generation” of VR experiences. Instead of relying on a tethered connection with a PC or a smartphone, the Mirage Solo with Daydream is entirely autonomous and powered by an integrated 4,000mAh battery rated for up to seven hours of use on a single charge.
In terms of pure specifications, Lenovo’s new offering is essentially a 2017 Android flagship; it comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chip, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of UFS-standard memory, in addition to boasting a 5.5-inch LCD panel with a QHD resolution of 2,560 by 1,440 pixels. The plastic display module found inside the Mirage Solo with Daydream has a refresh rate of 75Hz and a 110-degree field of view, with the latter feature being identical to ultra-premium VR offerings like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The refresh rate is approximately 15Hz lower compared to those two headsets, but still largely unprecedented in terms of untether head-mounted VR displays. The Mirage Solo with Daydream runs Android Nougat-based Daydream OS, sports a 3.5mm headphone jack, and features two microphones, as well as a microSD card with support for up to 256GB of additional storage space. The gadget’s tracking capabilities allow for six degrees of freedom captured by its cameras, whereas it also ships with a remote controller designed to be used in one hand that’s relatively similar to the one bundled with Google’s own Daydream View-series devices.
Besides Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi compatibility, the headset also boasts a gyroscope, accelerometer, P-Sensor, and a magnetometer, in addition to weighing 645g. Only the Moonlight White variant of the device seen in the gallery below has been announced so far and will start retailing in the second quarter of the year, priced at “under $400.” While not particularly light compared to its competitors, Lenovo’s offering is rather compact, measuring in at 204.01 x 269.5 x 179.86mm. The Chinese tech giant launched its first standalone Daydream-enabled headset alongside the Mirage Camera with Daydream designed to produce content suitable for viewing with the new VR solution which will also go on sale this spring.
