The Quest 3: Preliminary Impressions and Pre-order Predictions for the XR2 Gen 2 Dual-Core Holographic Virtual Reality

In terms of what you can do with the Quest 3, Meta seems to still see it as primarily a gaming device. Everything from the Quest 2 is playable on the new headset, and games like Roblox, Assassin’s Creed Nexus, and Asgard’s Wrath 2 are coming to the new device as well. The device is also being marketed as a fitness and wellbeing device, which has been a big hit thanks to apps like Supernatural. And of course, Meta has Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms and a huge dream about the metaverse future of everything, but the Quest 3 launch seems to be focused on the more current possibilities.

We’ll let you know after we fully tested the Quest 3, how well it does outside a highlycurated demo space. You can check out the initial impressions and place a pre-order for the upcoming virtual reality headset.

The official announcement filled out the device’s spec sheet in a big way. Meta says the graphics performance of the Quest 3 will double compared to the Quest 2 and will be much better than the Quest Pro, which only runs a last-gen chip. The cheapest Quest 3 comes with 128GB of internal storage, and for $649.99, you get 512GB. Meta says the battery life is “about the same as Quest 2,” which means somewhere between 90 minutes and three hours, depending on what you’re doing.

The most important hardware change is the cameras, which delivers vastly improved passthrough video. According toQualcomm the XR2 Gen 2 has an average passthrough time of just 12 milliseconds, just as good as the Vision Pro from Apple but it is not certain whether it depends on image resolution. In either mode, you will see your real-world surroundings and any game or content you look at in what it calls a blended mode.

This isn’t full holographic augmented reality yet, but it’s a step in the right direction. To switch between modes, you can use the controller or just tap two of your fingers together twice; this double-tap gesture is also core to the Vision Pro and seems to be the agreed-upon way to operate a headset.

The Quest 3: An Updated Virtual Reality Headset and an Updated Ray-Ban Smart Glass for the Future of Head-mounted Computers

The headset is a little heavier than the previous model, which is why it is a little smaller. Meta says it’s been redesigned to be more comfortable to wear, but we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

The Quest 3’s Touch Plus controllers, as expected, do away with the large tracking ring in favor of infrared sensors that track your position. The Quest 3 supports hand tracking, so you can ditch the controllers if you so desire, and they have improved responsiveness, which should make it easier for you to get more feel in your games.

Today Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed full details about two new hardware products: an updated virtual reality Quest headset and a new set of Meta-powered smart glasses made by Ray-Ban. The announcement came at the start of the conference.

The Quest 3 is Meta’s newest virtual reality headset. The Quest3 covers the wearer’s face and eyes like a pair of ski goggles. This has been one of the biggest barriers to adoption because most people don’t want to invest in a face computer because it would restrict their vision. But this newest Quest—a tech device borne from Meta’s acquisition of Oculus nearly a decade ago—relies more on mixed reality, suggesting that the future of head-mounted computers might actually involve seeing the real world a little bit more.

“The physical world around us is amazing. One of life’s great joys is being able to go outside and explore,” he said. This digital world is being built by our industry. People say, ‘The digital world isn’t the real world,’ but we really think the real world is a combination of the physical world we inhabit and the digital world we’re building.”