Steam frmae.
It finally arrived yesterday. Bought from komodo and shipped using forwarder. Total wallet damage is 5.2k inclusion of taxes and shipping fee. For some reasons, there's a high bump in price from steam machine to steam frame despite known to be 10usd diff. Might be the first steam frame in Malaysia but idk
Coming from Pico Neo 3 link headset, first impressions
UI/UX
First setup process is smooth, essentially i just follow the quick guide from official video and it works out.
Not hard to navigate and figure things out, downloading & streaming games are kinda straightforward especially if you're familiar with steamvr already.
I experienced a few bugs, like game/app was stuck for a bit when i tried to exit, but not really an issue .
Visuals
I'm too casual of a gamer to tell whether the resolution and FOV is better, despite coming from Pico 3 (comparable to Quest 2), the diff doesn't feel significant kinda like going from 120hz to 180hz, though I haven't change any of the setting, so the visual can be better.
Latency
So far using mixed link mode never experience any issues, and smooth ig, essentially the same experience with my Pico 3 using virtual desktop streaming with maxis wifi 7 router.
Headset Comfort
I didn't bought ergonomic kits, I planned to buy from third parties.
It's lighter but comfort wise not that much better pico 3, perhaps it's because pico 3 is fairly balanced already in weight with fair amount of cushion, maybe it will help with a strap otherwise it does feel like the headset is pushing against your cheeks
Oh and glasses absolutely sucks on this headset, the lenses are more protruding and easily pushes against my glasses, this cause my glasses nose pad to put on a high pressure inflicting pain. I suppose Pico 3 has enough space to fit my glasses well. I had to play without my glasses on, prescription lenses are a must, I will prob cope with contact lenses until i receive the prescription lenses.
Speaker/Mic
They sounds good to me, kinda like phone quality?
Controller
Ergonomic wise differ a lot from my Pico 3. For pico 3, it feels natural when holding it, it just aligns well with my hand/finger, but for Frame, I have to move my hand to reaches the thumbstick and trigger nicely, kinda the same situation i felt when i tried the steam controller, might be able to get used to this but idk. Though, putting the ergonomic side, it's a solid controller, I can play flat games just like with xbox controllers.
Eye & finger tracking
I don't know how to test on the eye tracking to see how well it works or improved the streaming. I already have a really good wireless experience with pico 3, so it's just more or less the same as if there's no eye tracking at all. But one of the main reason I got this headset is specifically for the eye tracking and finger tracking for VRchat. Tried to do a quick setup to make the eyes work on VRchat, flaky but gaze, eyelid, openness works (as u can see the demo in the third photo). I believe it gets better with proper calibration and software improvement. As for the finger tracking on the controller, it's hard to control by individual finger where sometimes it lifts 2 fingers instead of 1, but it kinda works enough without the controller strap.
SteamOS
I think this makes a good reason to get Steam Frame. I can legit ssh into it, do some stuffs, treat it like a raspberry pi. It has a strong chipset and 16gb ram, better than my pi and I can easily host some stuffs. I tried some random flat 2D games standalone from steam like idol showdown and rabbit & steel, they just works, haven't try 3D games tho. It's effectively a VR steam deck.
Battery
No comment on this because I haven't use it for long yet.
One notable downside
It heats up easily. I can legit feel the heat from the vent on my nose. Fan sounds can be heard at a distance. Sometimes it sounded like small jet engine like a gaming laptop. My pico 3 has no fan sound and only feel slightly warm, not sure why steam frame built differently for this aspect.
So far, is fair to say it's a premium headset, not worth for the price when u could buy 3 second hands quest 3, but for the niche features and improvement, it's reasonable. Btw, I'm looking for VRchat friends to play with, feel free to let me know if you wanna play together.
