This is what Oculus' new wireless prototype Rift is like

The 'Santa Cruz' prototype works and completely frees you from wires.
Oculus calls its new prototype, which aims to offer the wires-free portability of GearVR with the fidelity of the Rift, Santa Cruz. I wasn't allowed to take photos of the prototype, but you can imagine that it looks essentially the same as the current retail Rift. I did some slight modifications.

[ApocalypseShadow]

The level of cool is starting to go off the charts with companies looking to expand to the next level of VR which is untethered wireless VR. Be it oculus, gear or Google daydream. It makes sense though. If you remove the unnecessary components of a high end cellphone and just use what you need while adding other tech, you could see wireless being made.

And with the highest flash drives or memory cards holding 512 gigs to a terabyte now, you could have all your content onboard from downloading to the device or plugging it in.

Screens today are reaching quad HD or better on cell phones. In a few years, they all will be 4K or better. Headsets will match this level of clarity.

All the current VR headsets are still great as connected experiences. It is their success that will bring us to this next step. Necessity being that mother of invention. Awesome days ahead for VR and even AR.

[Errorist76]

So after an hour one will have to recharge it and it's going to be much heavier I suppose?!

[IanTH]

Given this quote: " Just imagine the guts of a high-end mobile phone strapped onto the back of the Rift, and you essentially get Santa Cruz", I assume not much heavier.

This is basically just Oculus' version of the GearVR. With Daydream and GearVR I'd imagine most consumers who want this kind of "wireless VR" will already have their needs met, and for cheaper. I'm not exactly sure who this is for, but I guess we'll find out if it can carve its niche out of the niche when Oculus gives us a proper look at it.