The Pico 4 from ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is expected to receive at least three exciting new features in 2023. At MWC 2023 we were able to test the leg trackers as well as the improved RGB pass-through mode and our first impressions .
Pico 4: New leg trackers with lots of possibilities
Thanks to the controllers and four 6DoF inside-out cameras, the Pico 4 can track your hands, among other things. But the headset will soon feature leg tracking. We had the opportunity to test prototypes of Pico’s new leg trackers at MWC.
As of now, neither the release date nor the name of these leg trackers have been set but the design, except for the large stickers of course, is largely final according to the manufacturer.
This is what the Pico 4’s small and lightweight leg tracker looks like / © NextPit
The principle is simple, just attach the trackers to your two legs. It’s not only great for avatars, but also offers some cool applications. At the MWC, we tested a fitness app in which you had to cut blocks in the Beat Saber style on the one hand, and on the other hand jump with your legs on the incoming blocks.
The Pico 4 leg trackers snap into place in seconds / © NextPit
Not only does the game require a new dimension of body control, but it also makes you sweat. In any case, virtual reality and mixed reality offer enormous potential for fitness applications. According to a Pico spokesperson, leg trackers could also be attached to arms, for example, to improve accuracy.
Improved RGB pass-through for mixed reality applications
In the next three to six months, the Pico 4 will also benefit from an improved RGB passthrough mode. The VR headset will mix the image captured by the built-in RGB camera with virtual content. During the demo at MWC, for example, the demo room was largely highly visible.
If until now, this was only possible in 2D and in poor quality, a notable improvement was noted during this grip. A wall was virtually “broken” and monsters and dragons appeared in the room.
The main challenge for the Pico 4 is that it only has a single 16MP RGB camera on the front, located between the user’s eyes for Passthrough mode. And this single camera only sees in 2D. Pico 4 therefore relies on algorithms to calculate a depth in the image information and seamlessly combine the camera image with the virtual content.
Considering its affordable price, the Pico 4 offers a decent Passthrough feature / © NextPit
For distant objects, this actually works very well. However, for close objects, spatial perception is noticeably reduced. This is noticeable, for example, when one wants to enter objects from “real” reality using the Passthrough function. In this case, the hands quickly get lost in the void.
The HTC Vive XR Elite, which admittedly costs about three times as much, fares significantly better. Not only is the depth perception excellent thanks to the dedicated depth camera, but the image quality is also significantly better.
Printed text remains difficult to read via the Pico 4’s Passthrough feature. With the HTC Vive XR Elite, in particular, I was able to grab my smartphone off the table and write and read WhatsApp messages without issue. Nevertheless, the improved mixed reality function brings in my eyes a considerable added value to the Pico 4 and is a real asset.
Pico 4: Other new features to come
In the coming months, the Pico 4 should receive another particularly interesting function for content creators. Thanks to the smartphone app, it will now be possible to accurately determine the positional relationship between the smartphone and the VR user.
This in turn will allow for a better mixed reality capture feature. If you film yourself with your smartphone, the application will transport you in the video to the virtual world you are browsing.
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Green screen (Chroma Keying) is supposed to work best, but the Pico spokesperson pointed out in an interview with us that it’s optional. The previously mentioned algorithms for distinguishing foreground from background should work accurately enough to detach the player from their gaming environment.
What do you think of the Pico 4’s new features? Were you waiting for the improved Passthrough feature?
