The latest iteration of Sony’s head-mounted display is somewhat obscured, deep at the back of the company’s IFA 2013 booth, but that didn’t stop me from paying it a curious visit. I’d never previously gotten the chance to experience this strange contraption for myself, and having recently taken a magical ride inside the Oculus Rift, I was keen to see what Sony had to offer as competition. Alas, my experience is best described as mixed.
Sony’s HMZ-T3 continues a proud tradition of awkward head furniture
Has Sony improved its outlandish headgear to the point where normal humans can start caring?
Has Sony improved its outlandish headgear to the point where normal humans can start caring?
Reaching the milestone of a third-generation product should mean the HMZ-T3 has the benefits of a couple years’ of evolution and, indeed, the latest model has been subjected to a range of small nips, tucks, and improvements. You now have a pocketable battery pack, which tethers to the HMZ and helps lighten the load on your head. It can accept Wireless HD transmissions — which are then piped to the headset — or you can even plug in your smartphone via an MHL cable. In spite of the octopus-like arrangement of head-gripping gear, there are no actual headphones built into the HMZ, so you’ll need a second cable, preferably jacked into a high-quality pair of over-the-ear headphones.
It's prettier on the inside
Once you negotiate your way inside the HMZ-T3’s tentacles, you’re faced with two 720p OLED displays, one for each eye, and are provided with a set of adjustments to get the picture perfectly focused. I had a great deal of difficulty achieving that, however. Things weren’t much helped by the 3D content that was playing back, but in the rare moments where I could get focused in properly, the picture was crisp and pleasingly saturated. The HMZ-T3 can play back both 2D and 3D video, so things might be a bit easier with more conventional content.
The two big problems of the original and second-gen HMZ sets remain unfortunately unresolved. Comfort was issue number one, and the T3 model still rests too heavily on your nose, leaving marks after just a few minutes’ wear. The other trouble arises when you look at the price tag, which is an eye-watering £1,299 in the UK, €1,299 in the rest of Europe, or a somewhat more palatable ¥100,000 in Japan. Both markets should get the HMZ-T3 in October.
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