During the Intel Developer Forum 2016 (IDF 2016), Intel has pulled a rather big surprise by unveiling the Project Alloy, a virtual reality (VR) platform.

During its IDF 2016 keynote, Intel's CEO, Brian Krzanich, unveiled the new Intel Project Alloy platform, a un-tethered VR device based on dual Intel RealSense cameras. While it does need a PC for data transmission, it does not use it for processing power, which makes the Project Alloy quite interesting.

Intel's Project Alloy can monitor location and position of the objects around the user and has five-finger recognition that allow the use of hands, something that Intel needs for a combination of virtual reality and augmented reality (AR).

While we do not have precise specifications, there is an unknown SoC inside the Project Alloy and it has good weight distribution, which is quite important for a VR headset.

The Project Alloy is marketed as a VR + AR platform, or some sort of "mixed reality", which has to be much more powerful than Cherry Trail-based Holo-Lens from Microsoft. The demo during IDF 2016 was quite interesting.

Intel's Project Alloy will need a Windows PC with Windows Holographic Platform, which is coming to Windows 10 sometime next year, which also means that Project Alloy will be limited to Windows 10 OS. The V1 version of the device will be available to partners in December so we can expect some first consumer devices in the second half of 2017.





Source: Intel.com.