Correct, the only idiotic thing about VR is buying your hardware from Mark Zuckerberg. As the folks in the VR community here are already aware, I got my Steam Frame the other day and basically the only reason I’ve had to take it off my face since then is because the thing has a finite battery life.
It also has the valve factor. In a landscape that consumer electronics are anti consumer, it’s more alluring to buy something you might not need if it’s not enshitified.
For example, I don’t really need a steam controller but boy do I want one.
I don’t want to sound like too much of a fanboy, but I’ve owned every first-party device of theirs so far, even the old physical Steam Link, the OG Controller, and the Vive which I count as theirs, and they’ve consistently hit the sweet spot of what I want out of hardware:
No hostility to the user; very tinkerer friendly; a good balance of build quality, ergonomics, and features without going into diminishing returns; long-lasting software support (even the market failure of the Steam Link has recent firmware updates); forwarding wider Linux and gaming software ecosystems; etc.
At this point, I’m just grabbing them if I have even an occasional use case for them, and I don’t regret it one bit. My Frame comes in tomorrow, and I’m very excited.
It’s a good product that doesn’t request you to sell your soul to use it. It’s definitely expensive but for people who have that money and are into VR it’s the best thing ever.
Can you explain why you love it so much? I was going to give it away to my friend that did not win the lottery after only a day.
Battery life is terrible.
Interface outside of games is super unintuitive imnho. I still can’t figure out how to actually move the central window or right clock in desktop mode.
I also can’t figure out how to install apks. I want to install android plex.
And the game I had super high expectations for, the 11 table tennis is meh.
Overall my experience has been very sweaty and frustrating.
I’m genuinely curious if it really sucks or I’m just not the target audience. I really wanted to love it, but I find it not worth the money at all. Like $500 maybe would’ve been ok. To be clear, I’m very technical - both professionally and as a hobby.
You can move the main center window and the dashboard bar by grabbing the long skinny horizontal stripe beneath either them, same as moving any other floating window. Unless you hit “float in world” on the center window the dashboard/taskbar/clock will remain pinned to the bottom of it.
The inverse L shaped grab handle on the lower right of any window allows you to resize it. When you are holding it, pushing the analog stick forward or back will move it closer to you or farther away.
Word on the street is that you can use FrameDrop to put .apks (and other executables) into your Frame’s library. I haven’t had occasion to try it; my main interest in onboard software has been regular productivity-ish apps that run natively in Linux. I stream actual games from my desktop PC, which is approximately three million times more powerful than the Frame itself.
Correct, the only idiotic thing about VR is buying your hardware from Mark Zuckerberg. As the folks in the VR community here are already aware, I got my Steam Frame the other day and basically the only reason I’ve had to take it off my face since then is because the thing has a finite battery life.
It’s funny how people were comparing the Frame to Quest, saying it’s DOA because of the price, niche device only for a few enthusiasts.
Meanwhile, the Frame is flying off the shelves and the waitlist seems to be twice as long as the number of the units available. :(
It turns out there really is a market for a standalone capable wireless headset provided that it actually respects your privacy.
It also has the valve factor. In a landscape that consumer electronics are anti consumer, it’s more alluring to buy something you might not need if it’s not enshitified.
For example, I don’t really need a steam controller but boy do I want one.
I don’t want to sound like too much of a fanboy, but I’ve owned every first-party device of theirs so far, even the old physical Steam Link, the OG Controller, and the Vive which I count as theirs, and they’ve consistently hit the sweet spot of what I want out of hardware:
No hostility to the user; very tinkerer friendly; a good balance of build quality, ergonomics, and features without going into diminishing returns; long-lasting software support (even the market failure of the Steam Link has recent firmware updates); forwarding wider Linux and gaming software ecosystems; etc.
At this point, I’m just grabbing them if I have even an occasional use case for them, and I don’t regret it one bit. My Frame comes in tomorrow, and I’m very excited.
It’s a good product that doesn’t request you to sell your soul to use it. It’s definitely expensive but for people who have that money and are into VR it’s the best thing ever.
I found a Meta Quest 2 at a thrift store for 20 bucks. It needed a new face cushion so I ordered one online and a Meta Quest 3S showed up instead.
So, like, hopefully one day they’ll be CFW for it.
They shipped a whole ass headset when you ordered a face cushion? Damn dude, nice
Swappable battery back?
Can you explain why you love it so much? I was going to give it away to my friend that did not win the lottery after only a day.
Battery life is terrible. Interface outside of games is super unintuitive imnho. I still can’t figure out how to actually move the central window or right clock in desktop mode. I also can’t figure out how to install apks. I want to install android plex. And the game I had super high expectations for, the 11 table tennis is meh.
Overall my experience has been very sweaty and frustrating. I’m genuinely curious if it really sucks or I’m just not the target audience. I really wanted to love it, but I find it not worth the money at all. Like $500 maybe would’ve been ok. To be clear, I’m very technical - both professionally and as a hobby.
You can move the main center window and the dashboard bar by grabbing the long skinny horizontal stripe beneath either them, same as moving any other floating window. Unless you hit “float in world” on the center window the dashboard/taskbar/clock will remain pinned to the bottom of it.
The inverse L shaped grab handle on the lower right of any window allows you to resize it. When you are holding it, pushing the analog stick forward or back will move it closer to you or farther away.
Word on the street is that you can use FrameDrop to put .apks (and other executables) into your Frame’s library. I haven’t had occasion to try it; my main interest in onboard software has been regular productivity-ish apps that run natively in Linux. I stream actual games from my desktop PC, which is approximately three million times more powerful than the Frame itself.