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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.

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[-] artyom@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago

Everyone keeps evaluating this device as a standalone headset. Valve claims it is a "streaming-first" headset. Can we not get an according review? What's the battery life like while streaming?

[-] MoogleMaestro@lemmy.zip 1 points 17 minutes ago

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.

[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 11 points 2 days ago

Gamers Nexus has a pretty comprehensive review that covers both streaming and standalone play. Battery life is not particularly favorable but overall the sentiment is positive.

[-] artyom@piefed.social -5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Sure, as usual his video is over an hour long, is full of unnecessary testing, and goes off on various unrelated tangents. And I have to wait several weeks for the written version.

[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It's timestamped, skip to what you care about?

Edit: Here, I'll save you even that amount of effort. Battery Life Benchmarks (4 minutes, 30 seconds)

[-] Vodulas@beehaw.org 22 points 2 days ago

"This review is not comprehensive enough"

Handed review that is more comprehensive

"This review is too comprehensive and also I have to wait for an extra thing they do as a bonus"

Quite the take

[-] artyom@piefed.social -1 points 2 days ago

Im being blocked by YouTube again...

[-] BlameTheAntifa@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago

Several reviews have mentioned that battery life is about an hour and a half. External batteries have to be the same class you would use for a laptop because the headset draws over 30W peak.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago

Yeah several reviews talk about battery life when running games locally but not when streaming, that was my entire point.

this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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