Best Lenovo Mirage Solo Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

“Autonomous” virtual reality is slowly developing: after the very convincing Oculus Go , here is the Lenovo Mirage Solo, a headset that aims to be very immersive thanks to its two front cameras. Will he succeed in convincing by relying on the Google Daydream software part?

Presentation

The Mirage Solo is a new autonomous virtual reality headset: like the Oculus Go, it does not require a PC or smartphone to operate. It incorporates a Snapdragon 835 SoC, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB for storage. However, it has the particularity of operating with two internal cameras which offer a certain freedom of movement. Lenovo ‘s promise: to be able to move fairly freely in virtual reality, as one could do on more high – end headsets, like the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift . It is also the first independent headset to work with the Google Daydream ecosystem. 

The Mirage Solo is offered at a price of € 399, for the moment only on the Lenovo site.

Best Lenovo Mirage Solo Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream, Standalone VR Headset with Worldsense Body Tracking. Ultra-Crisp QHD Display, Smartly Designed Mobile Headset

2. Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream, Standalone VR Headset with Worldsense Body Tracking. Ultra-Crisp QHD Display, Smartly Designed Mobile Headset (Renewed)

3. Lenovo Mirage Solo VR Headset and VR-Ready Photo and Video Camera Bundle with Daydream

Ergonomics

For its first independent virtual reality headset, Lenovo will seek its inspiration from the competition and broadly resume the design of the PlayStation VR. Sony headphones have inspired many other models and Lenovo is not the first to opt for this format. If we can blame the Chinese manufacturer for a certain lack of originality, it must be admitted that the Mirage Solo is a helmet comfortable to wear and easy to put on, even if everything is not optimal. It is thus enough to loosen the ring by means of the wheel located at the back to wedge it correctly around the skull, the large front part at the level of the forehead offering good stability. As on the Sony headphones, however, it takes a few seconds to move the entire headset to position the lenses correctly in front of the eyes and thus enjoy a clear image.

A button located below the front part is also used to adjust the distance between the eyes and the helmet, which in particular makes it possible to block the daylight which could appear under the nose. Once all the adjustments have been made, the Lenovo Mirage Solo becomes comfortable to wear, despite a fairly high weight of 645 grams; for comparison, the Oculus Go weighs 467 grams. The width of the helmet is also sufficient so that those who wear glasses are not penalized.

Image quality

The Mirage Solo incorporates a single 5.5 inch (14 cm) LCD screen. It displays a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 px (resolution of 538 ppi) with a refresh rate of 75 Hz. The field of vision (FOV) is 110 °. A data sheet substantially similar to that of the Oculus Go, which however has a lower refresh rate a bit (72 Hz). The helmet uses Fresnel lenses and delivers a very convincing rendering. The grid effect remains very limited, the texts are easy to read and chromatic aberrations almost absent. During rapid movements, however, we noted a slight deformation of the objects, but which is not very annoying. 

The image quality of the Lenovo Mirage Solo is therefore a big highlight, a cut above most headsets on the market.

User experience

We now come to the heart of what makes the Lenovo Mirage Solo so interesting. You will no doubt have noticed in the photos above: the helmet has two cameras on its front panel whose role is to “capture” the external environment as well as the position of the controller in space. A “tracking inside out” system, which takes into account our movements. As on a Rift or a Vive, you can lower yourself, approach your gaze towards an object, and even take a few steps forward and to the sides. On paper, a good argument in favor of this helmet and a first for an autonomous helmet intended for the general public.

In practice, it is a little more complicated: yes, the system works, but it remains limited and lacks precision. This will allow you to take two or even three steps in one direction, but no more. Quickly, the image darkens and you are kindly asked to return to the play area. It is fortunately possible to define a new movement surface very simply, via a long press on the “home” button on the remote control . Note also that it is a priori possible to deactivate the limitation of the movement zone, by going to the “developers” options of the helmet. 

These are well hidden, since you have to go to the settings, then “system” and click 7 times on “build number”. You will then have access to a whole bunch of new options. However, on our test version, we were unable to find the parameter concerning the movement limit. It may depend on the version of Android installed on the headset. Anyway, as you can see on the UploadVR video below, blowing up the movement limit brings a real surplus of freedom.

CONCLUSION

This new autonomous virtual reality headset is very convincing in many aspects, but disappoints on essential points. Offering very good image quality and comfortable to use. It is also the only one in its category to offer real freedom of movement. But the latter remains very relative and too often imprecise. We also point to the Google Draydream ecosystem, which clearly lacks maturity, as well as a catalog of games and applications that is still too poor. In short, mixed results for the Lenovo Mirage Solo which, by its fairly high price, is reserved for a niche which absolutely wants a more immersive autonomous headset than an Oculus Go.

Related

1. Best Razer Raiju Ultimate Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020
2. Best PlayStation Classic Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020
3. Best Raiju Tournament Edition Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020