September 3rd, 2024: PICO, a XR company with independent innovation and R&D capabilities, has officially launched in Europe its first all-in-one Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) headset: PICO 4 Ultra. The launch marks a significant breakthrough in the field of MR technology for PICO, as PICO 4 Ultra delivers a richer and more personalized MR experience for its users.
High-performance hardware
PICO 4 Ultra is equipped with two 32-megapixel cameras and an iToF depth-sensing camera, making it possible to provide exceptional stereoscopic high-definition color passthrough experiences.
Built for multi-tasking
PICO 4 Ultra introduces the concept of a panoramic workspace. Allowing users to open and arrange multiple large virtual screens within a real-world space. This is designed to help users improve their efficiency, as multitasking becomes much more comfortable.
In addition to this, the device supports full-chain spatial video. From shooting to playing them back, users will experience a more vivid and diverse spatial-video experience.
Introducing Full-Body Motion Tracking
PICO has also unveiled its motion-capture accessory, PICO Motion Trackers. It is easily strapped on to users’ ankles to achieve full-body motion capture. They are lightweight, comfortable to wear, and when combined with PICO's proprietary multimodal fusion tracking solution, they deliver a highly accurate full-body motion capture with low latency. The PICO Motion Trackers are compatible with popular entertainment applications like VRChat and Tempo Club.
A comprehensive configuration for an all-new MR Experience
PICO 4 Ultra introduces multi-window operations on a panoramic workspace. Users are free to adjust the size and layout of their apps’ windows in a boundless virtual space, making multi-tasking so much smoother. Users can also switch between immersive and passthrough modes with a single click in the system navigation bar. PICO 4 Ultra also offers users a world-leading MR/VR app ecosystem, allowing them to enjoy an unparalleled audio-visual entertainment experience.
These features are all made possible by the device’s powerful MR capabilities, including its seven visual sensors. Four environmental tracking cameras, positioned around the body of the device, are used for SLAM spatial positioning. While two color cameras and one iToF depth-sensing camera are used for environmental perception and mapping the play space. The two 32-megapixel color cameras ensure the capture of high-definition raw images. After processing, high-definition images are displayed on the screen at 8 megapixels and 20.6 PPD. Additionally, PICO 4 Ultra optimizes edge distortion and overlay issues, resulting in a high-definition color passthrough image with low distortion. The iToF depth-sensing camera measures distances precisely, up to around 3 meters, at a wide angle of 60º. This is crucial for PICO 4 Ultra's ability to accurately perceive spatial distances.
PICO 4 Ultra can reconstruct a virtual environment that closely matches the real-world environment it is in, thanks to the combination of the hardware and PICO's proprietary environment perception algorithm. Together this forms the powerful MR perception capability of PICO 4 Ultra.
PICO 4 Ultra also features high-quality 4K+ super-sense displays with a rendering resolution of 1920x1920 at 90Hz. These displays have been color calibrated at the factory and offer 62% higher resolution than PICO 4. This additional screen resolution makes for clearer and more immersive visuals.
PICO 4 Ultra is powered by Snapdragon® XR2 Gen 2 platform and a large 12GB of memory. This provides the robust hardware needed to support MR experiences.
In terms of design, PICO 4 Ultra continues the classic balanced design approach, with the front main unit weighing 304g and the rear head cushion weighing 276g. This makes the total weight of the device around 580g, ensuring a super comfortable fit. A new ringless controller has been introduced for PICO 4 Ultra. By removing the light ring, the weight and height of the controller is reduced significantly. This improves grip comfort while retaining the broadband linear motor, so users can enjoy haptic feedback.
Optimised Spatial Video – revolutionizing the PICO Video Experience
In the digital entertainment era, spatial video is fast becoming the preferred way for users to capture moments in their lives. PICO 4 Ultra combines excellent hardware and software to enhance and support the spatial-video process and experience, from filming to playback.
PICO 4 Ultra uses two 32-megapixel RGB cameras for spatial-video recording. The lens layout replicates a bionic human eye. When shooting spatial videos, a certain distance is put between the lenses to simulate human binocular vision. Viewers are then presented 3D images with spatial depth.
It can shoot spatial videos at a maximum resolution of 2048x1536 at 60FPS. Meaning the action recorded for any dynamic subjects is smoother.
PICO 4 Ultra also breaks down barriers between device manufacturers. Spatial videos and photos shot by Apple devices are fully supported, including those captured by the iPhone 15 Pro series and Vision Pro. Users can watch this content on the PICO 4 Ultra by importing them into its photo gallery.
An ever-growing collection of MR apps and experiences
PICO 4 Ultra brings with it a world-leading collection of MR and VR apps to users. It’s currently compatible with over 20 MR apps and more than 778 VR apps. This includes 552 games, as well as many other apps that cover an enormous variety of audio-visual entertainment and productivity needs.
An excellent gaming ecosystem covers a full range of experiences from casual puzzle games to hardcore strategy games. It integrates with SteamVR, allowing users to migrate gaming content on their PCs to PICO 4 Ultra expanding the library to thousands of SteamVR titles. Users will enjoy ultra-clear game graphics at 3K resolution, thanks to AV1 CODEC support.
PICO connect has also been upgraded to reduce streaming latency by up to 30%, when paired with a Wi-Fi 7 router. It supports seamless cross-screen interconnectivity between a PC, Mac or smartphone. This allows users to switch between devices easily, share screens, and control them remotely. Meaning PICO 4 Ultra is transformed into a powerful multi-functional device for work, entertainment and gaming.
Also launching now: PICO Motion Trackers
Bringing Full-Body Immersive Experiences to the MR World
At the launch event, PICO Motion Trackers, the first motion capture accessory was also unveiled. By simply strapping trackers to their ankles, users can achieve full-body motion capture. It weighs in at only 38.5g (tracker and base combined) and can be used continuously for 25 hours before it needs charging. With ergonomic soft padding at the point of contact, it’s super comfortable to wear, even during intense activities like exercise or dancing.
PICO Motion Trackers automatically pair with a PICO headset every time it’s turned on. PICO’s calibration method, One-Glance Calibration, is the simplest in the industry. All users need to do is stand and look down at the device to successfully calibrate, allowing for super quick access.
Apart from being comfortable and easy to use, the PICO Motion Trackers also excel in its tracking capability. It uses an IMU and IR light-fusion tracking scheme with optical assistance for more precise and stable tracking. This is combined with a private transmission protocol for lower latency and stronger interference resistance. This, together with PICO's proprietary multimodal fusion tracking solution, ensures that tracking accuracy is high. Various actions performed in the real world are then fully synchronized with the virtual world.
The PICO Motion Trackers access a vast ecosystem of apps that support popular entertainment titles like VRChat and Tempo Club. It also unlocks a broader Steam gaming ecosystem via PC streaming. The PICO Motion Trackers are not only compatible with PICO 4 Ultra but also with previously launched models such as PICO 4, enabling existing users to enjoy a brand-new immersive MR experience with full-body tracking.
PICO 4 Ultra is available for sale from 20th September at Amazon, MediaMarkt, Elkjop, Argos, Very, Currys, Smartech, Grover, Otto, Bestware, Coolblue, XR Shop, FNAC and Digitech
PICO 4 Ultra weighs only around 580g and adopts a counter-balanced design from front-to-back to ensure optimum user comfort. It’s powered by the Snapdragon® XR2 Gen 2 platform and has a large 12GB of memory with 256GB of storage space. Laying a solid foundation of hardware for smooth MR experiences. Equipped with two 32-megapixel cameras and an iToF depth-sensing camera, it also provides an outstanding color passthrough experience. The vibration controller without a light ring is smaller and easier to grip. The inclusion of PICO Motion Trackers bring users an unprecedented full-body immersive experience.
PICO 4 Ultra's recommended retail price is £529 / €599, and the PICO Motion Trackers' recommended retail price is £79.00/€89.00
PICO 4 Ultra will be available for sales in Europe in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, UK, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
Pre-orders are open in the EU from 6th September until 19th September on e-commerce channels Amazon, MediaMarkt, Elkjop, Argos, Very, Currys, Coolblue, XR Shop, Bestware, Digitech, Galaxus and Otto. Customers who pre-order will also receive a free set of The PICO Motion Trackers and 4 games for free: Blade & Sorcery: Nomad, Infinite Inside, Let’s Get Fit VR and FootPool. Sales will begin on 20th September 2024, with offline availability starting also on 20th September in MediaMarkt and Elkjop stores.
PICO 4 Ultra Enterprise: Customizable options for Business Innovation
PICO is dedicated to driving digital transformation across industries, to empower different sectors with MR technology. On the hardware side, PICO offers products with a plethora of configurations and performance levels to meet the unique requirements of individual software developers and end-customers. On the software side, PICO provides a wholistic suite of developer tools enable world class content experiences in XR.
To this end, PICO has also launched ‘PICO 4 Ultra Enterprise’, a solution designed for key sectors such as XR healthcare industry, education, training and out-of-home entertainment. PICO 4 Ultra Enterprise will go on sale in September and will be available to business users in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, North America, Australia, and New Zealand through official sales channel partners.
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