Everyone seems to be making a VR headset these days, some great, some not. One common theme among many is weight, as in the headset weighs quite a bit and can become tiresome to wear. There are a few reasons for this, including the tons of computing power built into the headset itself and the battery being stored in the headset, which the newcomer Cinego does neither of.
Cinego features a remote that handles most of the processing and battery housing so the headset can be lighter. In fact, the Cinego headset only weighs around 200 grams. This equates to around 7 ounces or less than half a pound. To put that into perspective, without cables the HTC Vive (similar resolution) weighs 555 grams and is not battery powered at all.
Now, the HTC Vive does more than Cinego as the Vive is a full-on virtual reality headset with tracking and all, but not everyone needs that. The Vive also requires a gaming computer to run, while Cinego is fully self-powered and self-contained. Cinego is designed for movie watching and web browsing, and as such, is built for just that.
With no tracking components built into the headset, you get two 1920×1080 screens (one for each eye) that together add up to a PPI of 3147. PPI (or Pixels Per Inch) relate to how dense, and therefore clear, the screen is. Apple’s iPhone X is 326 PPI, for reference. So, Cinego should have a crystal clear screen behind all of its magnifying glasses.
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Cinego also uses Sony M-OLED screens versus the normal LED screens that are used with most devices. This means that the screens should look brighter and more clear than normal screens, and will help make the viewing experience better overall. These screens are also 3D capable, so viewing 3D video games or movies is easy and done without any extra modules or glasses.
The remote for Cinego is super awesome and unique, I think. This remote has an HDMI input so you can plug any device into it and also houses the battery of the headset. This allows the headset to be lighter as talked about before, and also gives the ability to use any device with Cinego, and not just the included streaming apps. Cinego even uses the illustration of plugging in your Nintendo Switch and playing that way. In a simulated 800-inch at 66-feet away screen. Oh my, just thinking about that gives me the chills.
Starting at $499 on Indiegogo, Cinego is not the most budget-friendly headset out there, but it sure is among the lightest and has great quality from what we can see. I’m excited to see what Cinego has to offer, and so are many others. Already raising over 2,000% of its initial funding goal, Cinego finishes its Indiegogo campaign in just a few days. So, if you’re interested in picking one up, hurry before the price jumps up to an MSRP of $800. Delivery is estimated to be around March of 2018, so you don’t even have that long to wait.
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