Steam Frame Gets First SteamOS Update With Substantially Faster Charging

Valve has released SteamOS 0.3.0 for the Steam Frame, the headset's first system update since it launched on September 14. The changelog lists "substantially faster charging while unit is off / sleeping," which addresses a complaint that came up repeatedly in early reviews. The Verge tested the update and found the charging gains seem to go further than the changelog describes. Before the update, a depleted Steam Frame reportedly started charging at around 8 W and peaked at 27 W. Afterward, it starts at roughly 19 to 21 W and can reach 42 W while a game is running. Valve recommends a 45 W or faster USB-C charger, which is sold separately from the $1,059 headset.

The rest of the changelog also includes some important bits. The update improves controller tracking while haptics are active, improves stability and reliability under high load, and fixes a "garbled audio" microphone bug. The per-app Motion Smoothing "Force Always-On" setting was being ignored and should now work, and motion smoothing behavior in Half-Life: Alyx has been adjusted. For developers, Valve added Vulkan layer fixes and Mesa graphics performance work, and changed the Playable criteria to allow any resolution instead of requiring 1440p. Valve says the SteamOS update is available now for all users, but US and European purchase emails only began going out on September 18, so buyers may still have to wait a while.