Conclusion below, but full read is highly recommended:
#The Frame
The Steam Frame is not for everyone; I’d argue VR isn’t generally. But despite taking far longer than it should have to materialize and costing more than I’d like, the Steam Frame is one of the most exciting pieces of hardware I’ve seen in the space in years, one that gave me that same feeling of optimism that the Index did so years ago. The Frame builds on the work done by its competitors in the years since the Index and solves so many friction points I’d had to actually engaging with VR as a medium at all. It is a device that is doing massive amounts of hard work to unify several different use cases into a single open platform, and, despite its individual parts being less novel, that unity is game changing. It is hardware whose importance may ultimately eclipse its remit, one with potentially massive consequences for PC gaming, but on its own terms it hits the sweet spot that I’ve yearned for so much from a successor. I only pray we do not have to wait another seven years for more.
My understanding is that the battery life is pretty poor even when only streaming. 1:45 to 2 hours is the estimate I’ve heard.
This admittedly sounds pretty bad as it means you’ll likely need to be plugged in, which kind of defeats the point of a wireless headset. I imagine there’ll be some last minute attempt to eek out more battery life wins, but considering the brightness and refresh needs for VR, it might not be possible to get much more out of it.
I’ll probably just get another battery and keep it plugged in and in my pocket a la Apple Vision