Pico 4 review: The best headset to (re)start VR without headaches on the cheap

ByteDance Pico 4: All bargains

The Pico 4 in a nutshell

The Pico 4 is a standalone or all-in-one VR headset. Almost, you can utilise it without having to affix it to a PC. The headset, prefer its controllers, will distinctly job wirelessly (although relationship to a PC wearing USB-C or Wi-Fi 6 is imaginable and also periodically important, particularly for comprehensive video games).

The 128 GB Pico 4 is priced at €429 and also €499 for the 256 GB iteration. It is inaccessible in the US, subsequently the € spending. Both are outfitted with 8 GB of RAM, and also you can locate it comfortably on Amazon.com. It is a linear rival of the Meta Comb 2, which is €50 supplementary pricey in Europe.

But, this is the last time I will distinctly supply a comparison with the Meta headset in this contemplate. I would distinctly prefer to welcome you to read our Meta Comb 2 contemplate by my associate Matt Zellmer that understands a hodgepodge supplementary about the expose than I carry out.

Of course, I’m a unbroken noob once it comes to anything VR. I shelter’t mulled any miscellaneous other current variations on the sector, and also I’m not a VR player at all. But, that’s all correct. It’s gamers prefer me that the Pico 4 is targeting.

Its price is seemingly sensible compared to the Meta Comb Pro and also HTC XR Elite which reprieve the €1,500 mark. But, its techie parameters supply it awfully budget courteous, in addition to its pancake lenses, the nice battery sprightliness in its integrated nature, and also the trustworthiness of its controller surveillance.

It’s truly a nice entry juncture if you want to (re)prelude your VR barbeque without having to reprieve the fiscal college and also without thieving also much shame.

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Arrangement & equipment

The Pico 4 is an all-in-one headset, gaining its first particular being the defuse of installment and also arrangement. There are no cables for you to plug in, gaining the experience 100% plug-and also-farce around.

What I suched as:

• Awfully simple installment process.
• Vastly user-courteous taking care of and also conventional manages, particularly if you have messed around with a arcade console at the awfully least once in your sprightliness.
• Meticulous interpupillary range (IPD) amend.

What I abhorred:

• Needed to entrust our documents to ByteDance.

In the comprehensive Pico 4 box, we seemingly locate the headset with the integrated 5,300 mAh battery within the strap situated at the earlier. We alike avail a spare frame for the visor, a pair of wireless controllers (which are powered by AA batteries), a charger, and also a USB-C cable. That’s it.

Just plunked on the headset, turn on the power wearing the correct switch on the visor, power upwards the controllers independently, and also you’re nice to go.

The first point to carry out is to diagnose the farce around gap. It’s awfully slight, truly. Just adhere to the instructions and also ‘draw’ a spiel upwards on the headway with the joysticks. The helmet is after that in “passthrough” mode, which lets you surf through your truly feel and also makes it viable for you to comfortably locate your means approximately.

You should after that affix to the Web wearing the poses. To carry out so, attend the Pico Lab poses to mobilize the 90 Hz refresh price (the default 72 Hz refresh price may boost the sensation of dizziness or kinetosis), and also affix to either your TikTok account (ByteDance) or your Pico account.

The helmet alike bargains clean amend of the interpupillary range to align the two “eyeglass” of the helmet to the core of your eyes. The amend bargains with from 58mm to 72mm with notches at every 5mm, while the revolving crown granted to readjust the strap is rather ergonomic.

In brief, it’s simple to venue, simple to configure, and also there is no last alert for tutorials or overviews to prelude the experience as shortly as you unbox the Pico 4.

Disparity & comfort designs

The Pico 4 is a awfully comfortable helmet to wear, also for long sessions. The cloth-lined visor won’t ingenuity to every guy, particularly if you sweat a hodgepodge. The helmet lets a miniscule also much light wearing wearing the sides as flawlessly, but such predicaments are correct away neglected once it is don approximately the head.

What I suched as:

• Nice weight distribution with the battery at the earlier.
• Cozy to wear.
• Ergonomic controllers.

What I abhorred:

• Zero 3.5 mm jack plug.
• The cloth lining of the visor takes in sweat comfortably.

All in all, the Pico 4 pointers the degrees at 586g, but I rediscovered it to be awfully light once don. Pico decided to solution the battery to the earlier, placing it correct on the strap to supply the weight distribution supplementary well harmonized.

I may have a cranial morphology cozy to that of a Giger Xenomorph, but the tailored strap acquainted itself flawlessly with my dome. I frequently have a priority whereby VR headsets solution upwards my head on its own, gaining the image broadly fuzzy. Through the Pico 4, it stuck approximately steadfastly in venue.

I’ve watched a couple of reviewers bemoan about the mesh lining of the visor. Sure, silicone is much closer in stipulation of health because it doesn’t soak up sweat. Personally, I have a proneness to sweat a hodgepodge.

And also I’d rather have an absorbing item than plastic or leatherette with sweat surging down from my forehead. In any pod, you can comfortably locate silicone linings on Amazon.com for approximately €20 or €30.

Examine supply

In stipulation of finishing, we’re treated to nice don plastic without much refinement collared on out. But, the two-tone finishing is cosmetically nice to filter at. Its matte side lugs out the headway of the controllers a rather nice experience, transferring enough “headway”.

The controllers themselves are awfully ergonomic. There are two activates, two solution buttons, and also a joystick on each of them. The buttons are simple to headway, and also the hoops are phone enough to hinder the controllers from clashing once you solution your hands amongst a arcade.

Image & fierce amenity

One of the fulcra selling junctures of the Pico 4 is its iconic pancake lenses. They supply a resolution of 2160 x 2160 pixels per eye. I rediscovered the image amenity to be awfully nice in stipulation of sharpness. The LCD panels, singularly, have a proneness to be a miniscule also melancholy for my proneness at times, I would distinctly have suched as to have a miniscule miniscule supplementary contrast and also brightness.

What I suched as:

• Awfully sharp image and also purely the correct smoothness at 90 Hz.
• Zero God Rays authority.
• Passthrough is decent enough.
• The wide 105° sector of perceive.

What I abhorred:

• Lugs out not have a miniscule of brightness and also contrast.
• Grid brunts appear at periodically.
• 90 Hz refresh price is not varied on by default.

Hot cake lenses

The Pico 4 owns pancake lenses as reprehended to the Fresnel lenses in the Meta Comb 2. Each gradual technology owns its merits and also shortcomings.

Fresnel lenses wear’t dim the deal with as pancake lenses carry out. Hot cake lenses wear’t rot from the “God Rays” authority, which is hideous rays of light that appear once light hits the circular ridges of Fresnel lenses.

Hot cake lenses are alike supplementary phone and also necessitate less gap from the deal with, which means there is less last alert for software correction to border “pincushion” distortion (the exact same to lengthening the sides of a square).

In brief, pancake lenses are a much closer choice for most consumers mostly.

Awfully sharp image without any God Rays authority

As for the Pico 4, I rediscovered the image to be awfully sharp. The sector of perceive is alike rather large, with an FOV of 105° that owns limited distortions on the sides of the image.

I didn’t alert any God Rays authority throughout my utilise, which is wonderful. But, I did locate the deal with to be a wee miniscule also melancholy in picked predicaments. In some video games, I was a miniscule brief on contrast and also brightness, the image fingered a miniscule washed out.

Occasionally, I can alert a grid authority or “deal with door authority”. On grayscale coatings or in the menu contraption, it gawked as presumed you can surf through a thin grid setting indifferent the pixels. This was the exact same to sifting at the image wearing a deal with. It’s not noticeable at all, but it is well-known from time to time.

Passthrough rectify, but not optimum

The shade passthrough, which makes it viable for you to surf through your physical truly feel without dislodging the helmet wearing a 16 MP cam, jobs flawlessly. But, I rediscovered that the scope of noticeable basics does not correlate itself with fact 100%, in addition to a flawed depth. Almost, there is a kind of visual adjust once you want to hold something approximately you or once you tread.

For a quiet tread, it is not a priority at all. You can read the deal with of your smartphone rather comfortably also if I rediscovered the image to be a miniscule also loud at times.

Audio amenity is unbelievably nice

The Pico 4 amalgamates two microphones in the limited portion of the headset, placing it as cozy as imaginable to your mouth. I was able to satisfaction in multiplayer video games and also ask human beings if they were gaining utility of the mics by default. The ones that addressed positively rung intelligible and also pretty legible. The amenity is not tremendous however, but it is on the exact same level with what you avail once you talk on the phone.

The audio speakers situated in the arms of the headset are of nice amenity. Stereo fierce is binaural and also it beautifies the experience of immersion, particularly once you solution your head. The fierce rendering rung legible to me with a nice spatialization.

Regretfully, the Pico 4 does not have a 3.5 mm jack to affix it to a wired headset. But, you can affix a headset or wireless headphones, although this clouts the battery sprightliness of the headset.

Capability & surveillance

The Pico 4 incorporates a Snapdragon XR2 SoC and also 8GB of RAM. The headset maintains Bluetooth 5.1 and also WiFi 6 connectivity. For surveillance, it amalgamates 4 cameras and also a 6DOF contraption with head, eye, and also also hand surveillance (the last is ineffective at the minute).

What I suched as:

• Winsome hand surveillance
• Head surveillance is purely as effective
• Conveniently tailored and also adaptable playing gap

What I abhorred:

• Hand surveillance is not mature enough and also underutilized.

The surveillance functionality of the Pico 4 is clean. You can manually diagnose the playing gap with a emission trace. We can alike opt for wonderful surveillance that adjusts to our activities. The helmet uncannily ‘understands’ whether you are stomaching or sitting. You can alike shut down the surveillance to purely rest on your bed and also utilise the Pico 4 as a titan civilian deal with.

Also the most abrupt activities are duplicated in a liquid and also meticulous manner. Immersion is unbroken once you takeoff a arcade, and also you can tread and also gesticulate honestly in the arcade gap without any jerks. In some video games, the gameplay mechanics necessitate innumerable carefulness, and also the Pico 4’s controllers never stopped working me.

I predominantly messed around an FPS defined Breachers, which is a kind of Rainbow Six Siege-panache arcade for those that come to be aware. I owned no priority lining up my weapon with my gaining every physical effort angle. Refilling my weapons was alike structured and also the controllers didn’t bump into each miscellaneous other.

I alike granted the Digital Desktop computer prayer a hodgepodge, which makes it viable for you to “caster” your PC to the Pico 4. It’s nice for tailing YouTube videos, movies, and also TV hodgepodge on Netflix and also… flawlessly, that’s about it. This app bargains a head surveillance mode so that the deal with content aligns with your head activities. The head surveillance kneaded awfully flawlessly there also.

Regretfully, I did not test out the Pico 4 by playing Steam video games and also fastening it to a PC. My laptop computer is not forceful enough to rushed Fifty percent Exuberance: Alyx successfully, but I can vouch that the wireless linkage wearing Wi-Fi 6 kneaded awfully flawlessly.

I rediscovered its hand surveillance to be iffy at times. Pico debated that it is still speculative and also you will distinctly have to unlock the programmer recourses to permit it (Settings > Basic > About > Software schedule iteration > click 8 times on the last points).

I shelter’t rediscovered any compatible prayer with hand surveillance, so I believe we have to defer for Pico/ByteDance to construct this gradual technology further.

Viewer interface

The Pico 4 runs on Pico OS 5, which is based on Android 10. The interface can be persistent as rudimentary if we pined to be unforgiving or minimalist if we were supplementary large. The poses are rather limited but is supplementary than enough to cover the bare requireds. It is alike a plus juncture that navigating is rather user-courteous.

What I suched as:

• Clear and also simple-to-peruse interface
• Exhilarating emission and also paid video games in the indigenous magazine

What I abhorred:

• Not enough exclusives compared to Meta
• Cannot readjust the headset wearing the Pico VR app

On the domicile deal with, we have a toolbar being composed of seven widgets. Your Pico account, Discovery tab (arcade references, explanation, etc.), store front, close friends list, document supervisor, app, arcade magazine, and also poses can be accessed underneath.

The Pico 4 alike jobs with the Pico VR app, which is granted for emission on Android and also iOS. It will distinctly vastly (basically, singular) serve as a internet site to supply your arcade and also app procurements. In any pod, for the first procurement, you will distinctly have to undergo the app to have a negotiation strategy. Later, you can procurement video games correct wearing the headset.

I believe it’s a uneasiness that you can’t access the Pico 4’s poses wearing the Pico VR app. You can juggle a couple of points, prefer files, wireless linkage with the PC, and also deal with schedule. But that’s about all, which is a miniscule of a uneasiness.

Unresponsive from that, the Pico 4 owns some funky services. I’m referring to double-tapping on the correct side of the headset, whereby implementing so makes it viable for you to switch to passthrough mode on-the-fly. The automatic “wake upwards” function is alike awfully funky and also makes it viable for you to takeoff the headset and also resume what you were implementing as shortly as you wear it.

As for the Pico store front, I believe it’s pretty flawlessly-stocked for currently. Of course, there are a couple of Meta exclusives absent out on, but there is a hodgepodge to opt from as flawlessly in stipulation of emission video games.

I rediscovered its paid video games to be a tad pricey, selling for approximately €30 on power. Put on’t avail me wrong, there are some hot titles there as flawlessly.

Navigation was rather a nice gathering. The fact that the front trigger is the all-impartial switch is a miniscule counter-user-courteous, particularly once you are granted to playing on a console. It took me a while to discourage importuning the A or B buttons to exonerate something.

In brief, the singular dilemma of the Pico 4, for currently, is its magazine of unique video games. The fitter vowed that it will distinctly gain supplementary titles over time. In any pod, you can always access your Steam arcade hodgepodge if the indigenous magazine is inadequate for your pc gaming ultimatums.

Battery sprightliness & charging pace

The Pico 4 owns a 5,300 mAh battery that makes it viable for the headset to be granted repetitively for 2.5 hours. The controllers rushed on two AA batteries and also the battery sprightliness seems long term.

What I suched as:

• Winsome controller battery sprightliness
• Can be granted while charging
• USB-C cable and also charger forced

What I abhorred:

• Slow charging pace
• The 2.5-hour battery sprightliness seems a miniscule brief theorizing the battery capacity

In actual utilise, I’ve always been able to attain supplementary than two hours of utilise. I believe by attaching it to a PC, the battery sprightliness will distinctly be slashed because of filming.

One can claim that 2.5 hours is not awfully long. Bear in psyche that it is not that much longer lasting than the Meta Comb 2 either, which owns a steeply smaller sized battery, but it’s supplementary than enough for a long arcade session that will distinctly supply you woozy or sweat.

I alike suched as the fact that you can still utilise the headset while it’s charging wearing USB-C. Perfectly, head flexibility will distinctly after that be a miniscule of a aggravation but it’s still a nice point.

As for the 20-watt wired charging pace, it is ethically slow-gliding-gliding. It takes a nice two hours for a comprehensive recharge. The headset owns a miniscule LED on the correct side that substantiates the current battery level. You can alike weigh the charging prominence wearing the headset or the Pico VR app.

As for the controllers, they have a much longer battery sprightliness. The AA batteries that power them can last a awfully long time. I’ve been gaining utility of the headset for two weeks currently and also still shelter’t owned to adjust the controllers’ batteries.

Technical documents

	Technical documents
Gizmo
Image
Monitor and also optics	2160 x 2160 pixels per eye 72/90 Hz refresh price 105° sector of perceive Hot cake lenses 58 – 72 mm (IPD)
Dimensions	195 x 106 x 255-310 mm (W x H x D)
Weight	295 g (without battery) 586 g (with battery)
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1 7 nm framework width Octa-Core Best. 3.2 GHz Adreno 650 GPU
Memory	8 GB RAM 128/256 GB storage
Expandable retrospect	None
Camera/surveillance	4x 6DoF cameras 1x 16 MP RGB cam Eye surveillance Head surveillance Hand surveillance
Battery/Battery sprightliness	5,300 mAh 2.5 hours of battery sprightliness 20W recharge
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.1
Tough	Stereo audio speakers Binaural fierce 4 microphones
Other	USB Type-C connector Zero jack Air Web linkage relationship to PC Web linkage cable relationship to PC (USB-C to USB-A) RGB Passthrough
Viewer interface/OS	Pico OS 5 based on Android 10
Price	€429

Culmination

The Pico 4 is, in my opinion, the faultless entry juncture into the planet of VR. For connected fact implementations, I rediscovered the gradual technology to be not mature enough at the minute, nor the hand surveillance enough for real-planet maximized fact implementations.

But if you are sifting for a VR headset that is sensible in stipulation of price and also obtainable in stipulation of utilise, the Pico 4 is an clean choice. Image amenity is top notch and also the headset is awfully comfortable to wear. Monitoring is purely clean and also never violates the immersion in the arcade.

Affiliate supply

I am badly theorizing ordering one. I truly suched as the plug-and also-farce around and also aggravation-emission experience. I purely hope that the arcade magazine will distinctly grow over time.

The Pico truly grossed me want to farce around VR video games once again. I believe gaining utility of the headset as a civilian brandish can alike locate plenty of pertinent implementations in day-to-day sprightliness. In any pod, I truly feel prefer I’m itching to farce around some video games. I’d also claim it’s a unvarying numbness.

What carry out you believe of the Pico 4 in stipulation of merit for coinage coinage? Can it combine you with VR prefer it did for me? Implement you believe it is much closer than the Meta Comb 2?

To dive deeper into the scene, weigh out our Meta Comb Pro contemplate, the most proceeded and also priciest VR headset on the sector. You can alike weigh our HTC Elite XR heads-on, a luxurious choice for a VR/XR headset.

ByteDance Pico 4

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