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The Meta Quest 3 is a mixed reality headset that Meta says offer twice the graphics performance, 30% more pixels, a thinner design, and better visuals than any Quest device to date. It’s also Meta’s first true mixed reality headset rather than just a virtual reality device thanks to a depth sensor and a pair of front-facing cameras that allow for pass-through video, allowing you to view virtual items overlayed on real-world environments.
It’s not quite as impressive as the upcoming Apple Vision Pro headset with 12 cameras and 5 sensors. But it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than Apple’s $3500 headset. Meta Quest 3 is up for pre-order today for $500 and up, and it will be generally available starting October 10, 2023.
The starting price is for a model with 128GB of built-in storage, but you can also pick up a 512GB model for $650. Both models have 8GB of RAM.
The new headset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 system-on-a-chip, which Qualcomm says delivers 2.5X better graphics performance and an 8X improvement in AI performance.
Meta Quest 3 also features updated optics that includes dual 2064 x 2208 pixel displays that Meta says delivers a “4K+ Infinite Display” experience with 1218 pixels per inch. There’s support for 90 Hz refresh rates, and experimental support for 120 Hz.
Meta Quest 3 also has new pancake lenses, and the headset supports a 110 degree horizontal / 96 degree vertical field of view.
The headset weighs 515 grams and it comes with two handheld touch controllers and an 18W charger and USB cable.
The front-facing cameras are two 4MP RGB cameras and there’s support for hand tracking, allowing you to interact with apps and experiences using your hands as well as controllers.
Meta says the headset can be used as a standalone device, but you can also use a Meta Quest Link Cable or Air Link to connect to a PC for games and other experiences that require more processing power. And starting in December, you’ll be able to stream games over the internet from Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service. The Quest 3 supports WiFi 6E wireless data connections.
The company also teased an upcoming feature called “augments,” which it describes as “interactive, spatially aware virtual objects” that you can anchor to physical spaces. For example, you can put virtual art around your house that shows up when you look in that direction, or a weather forecast augment that lives by your window, or interactive music players or Instagram Reels placed around your living space.
The Meta Quest 3 should get up to 2.2 hours of battery life for “average usage,” or up to 2.9 hours for media playback, up to 2.4 hours of gaming time, or up to 1.5 hours when using productivity apps. It takes about 2.3 hours to recharge the headset using the included 18W adapter.
via Meta Blog
This might be interesting if it was not made by Facebook. There is no way I would let a company with their track record on privacy anywhere near my house, with cameras and shit.
Not even for 15$ loves you long time?
This is why I think EYEDAK’s vrAse 2 makes sense; you don’t end up having to rely on Facebook and you can upgrade it with the improved specs of a different phone whenever you like.
Praise be to Eydak, Son of Lothar?
Um I’m guessing this is referencing something that’s gone way over my head?
Thanks for that! I was not aware of these guys. And the approach does make a certain amount of sense. Though I am more inclined towards the “AR glasses” category where you do have your optics on your face/head but only the optics, and the compute, batteries, etc. are on a table, or in your pockets or whatever. Like the XReal glasses, but maybe wait for the next generation of that category of product.
Also, I find it almost impossible to not read that name as “vArse” :’)
Ha! Yeah that wouldn’t be the first time someone pointed that out 😂 I imagine there must be some Spanish derivation which has more to do with continuous improvement than it does with one’s posterior.
Clearly they don’t enjoy the best reputation – and they could definitely improve that by using any model #2 profits to refund those model #1 backers who requested refunds (bit like Purism with the Librem 5) – but they obviously did finally follow through on shipping their Kickstarter units to backers who still wanted them and now they have a product version that’s much more like their initial vision where you barely even need to rely on them shipping you anything; you could download (even modify/improve!) the CAD files and print them yourself.
Given the amount of RAM and camera and screen improvements going into the latest handsets, combined with an aversion to the abusive Facebook/Meta, the vrAse 2 kind of seems a no-brainer.
I’m not going to lie, the idea of leaving a zillion calendars and clocks and sensor displays all over my house, and carrying around a few video streams to watch (particularly my security cameras) while I’m doing other stuff, is genuinely appealing. And this thing is significantly cheaper than a very large monitor. And as the world keeps getting more complicated, people will eventually need to multitask like this just to keep up. I just can’t stomach the thought of going through Facebook to do it; odds are they’d take it all away when something I said to absolutely no one got too far away from what the TV says I should think. Because unlike Windows, this is still a luxury item, not something you can’t fit into society if you refuse to use, for now.