Lenovo Unveils New Standalone VR Headset for Education

Undeterred by the death of Google Daydeam and the subsequent discontinuation of its consumer-focused standalone headset, Mirage Solo, Lenovo announced its building a new 3DOF standalone for educational purposes.

With the so-called ‘Lenovo VR Classroom 2’, the company is offering up a complete package to educators, which includes hardware, content, device management, training, and support—all of it intended for middle and high school students.

The company says in its education-focused site that the headset will help teachers and administrators “easily integrate virtual reality lessons and field trips into their curriculum, leading to inspiration and meaningful learning outcomes.”

As for the hardware itself, Lenovo seems to be going a bit retro in the tracking department, as both the headset and single controller are 3DOF, which not only will keep students sitting at their desks due to the lack of room-scale tracking, but will also likely lower the overall cost of the hardware.

Lenovo says it will include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 running an Android-based OS, 1,920×2,160 per lens resolution display clocked at 75Hz, and an integrated 4,200 mAh battery charged via USB type-C. The field of view is said to be 110-degrees, which is more or less standard at this point; overall it basically sounds like a slightly beefier Oculus Go.

According to a press release, Lenovo VR Classroom 2 will launch sometime in Spring 2020.

Deflated Daydream ambitions notwithstanding, the Chinese tech giant is garnering itself a name in VR/AR product design and manufacturing. It recently partnered with Facebook to create Oculus Rift S, the inside-out tracked hardware refresh of the company’s PC VR headset, unveiled a new prototype AR headset for business travelers, and partnered with Finnish headset creator Varjo to certify a line of Lenovo workstations for Varjo’s super high-resolution commercial VR headsets.

SOURCE:Paper.li