Alcatel shows off standalone Vision VR headset with smartphone innards

At IFA 2016, Alcatel presented an interesting take on the VR goggles concept. The Alcatel Vision is a standalone headset that doesn't need to be connected to a smartphone or computer to deliver the immersive goods. Rather, it features a pair of 3.8-inch 1080p resolution AMOLED screens for each eye and is powered by an octa-core chip with 3GB of RAM, not unlike what you'd find in most modern day smartphones.

There are 32GB of storage on-board the device, and connectivity options include Bluetooth, LTE, and Wi-Fi. The 3000mAh battery packed in it is good for up to three hours of gaming, which isn't fantastic, but it's nice for a start. The goggles feature 120 degrees of vision.

While the hardware does look promising, the issue is what kind of content you can expect to find for the headset. To help themselves out, Alcatel has teamed up with Jaunt VR, Magic Interactive Entertainment, and Fraunhofer to deliver pre-loaded content. There are also two optional 360 cameras that plug into your smartphone and snip 360-degree photos and videos.

At launch, the Vision might cost up to $600, which is certainly a lot to ask for, especially when Alcatel is associated with affordable devices. But this is new and rather ambitious technology, so the company's premium pricing makes sense at this stage. Alas, there's no launch date announced yet.