For the past few years, HTC and Valve's virtual reality efforts, which produced the HTC Vive two years ago, have seemed hugely interchangeable. But Valve's SteamVR platform isn't limited to one manufacturer. Earlier this week, LG and Valve announced a highly competitive headset with many of the Vive's features, however, a few design tweaks.

LG's SteamVR: Development Kit

Currently, LG's headset is just a development or a prototype kit, which the company said will be going out to developers in the next couple of weeks. This means that its design isn't final yet, although it seems far from a rough first effort. LG's headset is a near carbon copy of HTC's VR headset, the Vive, in a number of ways. The similarities aren't surprising given LG's hardware is built to meet Valve's standards, and Valve and HTC have been VR fellows for a few years already. The LG SteamVR headset taps into the same Lighthouse tracking system as the Vive, so when you're in a VR world, you have the same room scale sensing technology to accompany you.

LG's SteamVR: Specifications

The headset uses a single 3.64-inch LG screen with 2560 x 1440 resolution, or 1280 x 1440 pixels. That's the same resolution as the Gear VR, and slightly more than the Rift or Vive, which both has 1080 x 1200. Its field of view is comparable to the Rift and Vive's 110 degrees. It's tracked with the same laser lighthouses as the Vive, and uses almost the same controller. According to a source, there are no built-in headphones and also, it's a little bit heavy. But it's only just a prototype after all. LG has said it's open to changing the design as it receives more feedbacks from the users. LG's SteamVR headset is an alternative for the excellent HTC Vive with an awesome flip up, great graphics, responsive controllers, and the flip-up visor is a welcome feature.