The future of his company is being bet on. He spent $10 billion on Reality Labs so far this year, after changing his name to Meta. Even in the face of pressure to reduce the investment and focus on the core advertising business, Reality Labs was not cut very hard.
The new virtual reality headset is under a lot of pressure. It is meant to host meetings, replace big monitors, and create a more lasting sense of connection to other people in virtual reality. Meta has seen modest success with its game console, but the start of a new generation of computers is a product called the Quest Pro.
There is a problem with the Quest Pro. It's a device seemingly launched without a plan or purpose, highlighting the drawbacks of virtual reality without making good use of its strengths. We might see a plan for where Meta is going, but right now it is not a good place to be. The metaverse is in trouble if Meta continues to linger there for a long time.
There is a high-end alternative to the Quest 2 called the Meta Quest Pro. Mixed reality with a full-color video feed and face tracking via inward-facing cameras are new features of the self-contained virtual reality headset. Meta thinks of the Quest Pro as a virtual office where people can meet up with co-workers and choose between full virtual and augmented reality.
Meta is tailoring the Quest Pro to an audience that can afford a more expensive headset, starting with its looks. There is a piece of black plastic called the Quest Pro. Instead of the cloth straps, it has a black plastic halo that sits around your head and tightens with a wheel at the back, similar to the original PSVR. The headset is heavier than the Quest 2, but it has redistributed its weight so that it is less front heavy.
I liked the design after a demo session of Quest Pro. The headset fits better than the default strap system, which sometimes felt like it was slipping off. I don't have a way to get my long hair out.
The first demo of the Quest Pro made it difficult to use. It puts a lot of weight on my upper forehead and sometimes leaves a numb and tingling strip on my head. It feels better if I keep the fit loose, but the headset is less stable during high-intensity activities. The Quest 2 has an over-the-head strap for balance and is 100 grams lighter than the Quest Pro.
I had trouble using the Quest Pro long enough to wear it out, even though the battery doesn't last as long.
Meta has made tradeoffs. It gives you a peripheral view of the real world outside of your headset because the face mask is shallow. If you want to block out more light, you can snap on a pair of magnetic silicone wings that act like blinders or a separate $49 mask that shuts out virtually all light. The headset in its default state made me nauseated because of the visual clash of real and virtual worlds. A colleague and boss of mine had the same problems. I had no problem putting the blinders on, but I think some people won't reach that point because they'll feel motion-sick.
Meta promised one to two hours of battery life for the Quest Pro, compared to the two to three hours for the Quest 2. I could get more than two hours out of the battery in a session, which was longer than I anticipated. I couldn't wear the headset for that long without taking a break.
There are a few small quibbles. I put the headset to sleep when I try to adjust its fit because the power button is on the bottom of the Quest Pro. The volume rocker is not easy to press. You can adjust the focus wheel and lens distance with the help of the fit adjustment software. It requires things that aren't actually possible, like moving the depth wheel farther than it can turn, and it's incredibly sensitive.
The controllers are connected to the charging ports.
The controllers have the same layout.
There are rare bright points in the industrial design. The old controllers used half-moon bands that were tracked by cameras. The controllers come with built-in cameras that work on their own. The old Quest controller was excellent, and I have only noticed one real difference with the new ones: they sometimes take a few seconds to calibrate. If you put your hands together, the controllers won't hit each other awkwardly.
Meta has replaced the controllers' AA batteries with built-in rechargeable cells, which you can set on a charging dock that's included with the headset while you're not using them It's possible to charge the headset with a cable. It can be difficult to fit the headset and controllers onto the dock's magnetic ports, but once you get used to it, it saves you a lot of trouble. The dock makes it easy to keep the batteries charged, even though they don't last as long as disposable batteries. Hand tracking can be used for the main interface and some apps.
You can buy a pair of Pro controllers for $299 if you want to pair them with the Quest 2. It is hard to say that the Quest Pro is a simple upgrade.
It's true that the specifications are higher. The only difference between the Quest Pro and the non-plus XR2 is that the non-plus XR2 has 6 gigabytes of memory instead of 12. It isn't likely that you'll get big exclusive games on the Quest Pro, which isn't meant for gaming The fit of the headset made it difficult to play games. The screen is one of the most important elements of the game.
The Quest Pro has the same resolution of 1800 x 1920 as the Quest 2. I couldn't tell the difference between the two devices, but in theory, it provides better contrast and a higher density per eye. The images look good but the text is fuzzy. The field of view is similar to the Quest 2 in that it is horizontal and vertical.
The price difference between the old headset and the new one is too much for the average user. The Quest 3 will likely include internal upgrades that will be cheaper than the Pro. The face tracking and color passthrough video is what sets the Quest Pro apart from the Quest 2, but Meta doesn't know what they're good for.
Passthrough video displays a live video feed of the real world through a headset, it's a bit different from virtual reality and augmented reality. Right now, it offers a wider field of view and virtual objects that look completely solid rather than being a little bit translucent. Virtual big-screen monitors that sit in front of your face are possible thanks to that.
Meta's virtual office plans were ruined by the weight and graininess of the Quest pro.
Meta's color passthrough doesn't match the real world. There is fuzzy video in the display. In low light, washed out or flickery, and sometimes luridly saturated in between, the feed is murky. It's almost impossible to read phone or computer screens in the real world. It's a good system for dipping into the physical world while you have a conversation or get a cup of coffee, but it's not much more useful than the Quest 2's black-and-white pass through.
The depth sensor was supposed to give the headset some situational awareness. The idea was scrapped because it would further limit the headset's capabilities. A painting tool is one of the augmented reality apps on the Quest Pro. There is a room setup tool that is separate from the guardian system that marks your free space in a room.
The camera features on the inward side are better. The face tracking seemed to think that my eyes were closed most of the time, even though I wasn't biting my lip. This isn't an example of computer vision's persistent problems reading non-white faces because I'm a white woman. It adds a new level of verisimilitude to virtual interactions when it works. On top of the head and hand motion that virtual reality headsets already enable, you can see when someone smiles or looks quizzical.
Foveated rendering, which lets apps display virtual objects in more detail, is enabled by eye tracking. Since the Quest is still running on a mobile platform, it is a promising feature.
The current usage is limited. The game Red Matter 2 is one of the confirmed apps that uses foveated rendering but is still held back by the fundamental graininess. In the Meta social platform, face tracking is useful in the Worlds and Workrooms areas. Worlds and Workrooms are available for both the Quest 2 and the Quest Pro. It's one of the worst apps I've used.
The Meta account system will be connected to the overall Quest platform in 2022. If you want to avoid setting up an extra password, you can log into your Meta account via Facebook.
This setup is supposed to add seamless social integration. Workrooms is an example of a palimpsest that doesn't do things you would expect. Workrooms doesn't use your existing Facebook or Meta social network in the way that it's built for meetings with colleagues It requires you to sign in with a separate web app before you can enter the meeting.
Meta might find a place in the commercial virtual reality market.
The Workrooms experience is a matter of luck from there. It is possible that the invite will reach your colleagues, or that you will have to send them manually, which may or may not allow them in. Sometimes you can enter the virtual room after a long loading screen, and sometimes you can't. The prize for winning is a fancy meeting when you spin a roulette wheel.
The personal office component of workrooms is simpler. The feature allows you to install remote desktop software on your Mac or PC and then project your real computer inside the headset on up to three virtual large screens. The hardware is not ready for a full-time job. It is too heavy to be comfortable and its screen makes text fuzzy. I swore I would use the headset as a full-time computing device during this review, but I only used it for a day before scaling back.
Every smart device has a set of terms and conditions that you have to agree to before you can use it. It is not possible for us to read and analyze all of them. Since these are agreements most people don't read and can't negotiate, we're going to start counting how many times you have to agree to use the device.
You must have a Meta account to use the Metaquest Pro. There are policies related to that.
Supplemental privacy policy was added to the meta terms of service.
The mandatory agreements for the Quest Pro are listed here.
There are health and safety warnings.
There are things that can be agreed to.
Eye and face tracking is included in some apps.
There are five mandatory agreements and one optional agreement.
Workrooms is part of the meta quest pro strategy Buying a headset for virtual reality is one of the only things skeptics talk about. The growth of remote work has led to the development of virtual meetings. Meta is blowing a lot of money on the idea of getting your average office worker to use a headset in enterprise virtual reality.
A deal with Microsoft might help attract that audience. It is comparable to enterprise headsets like the Vive Focus 3 and cheaper than the Varjo professional lineup. The headset doesn't include some useful features that you'd find in options like the Vive Focus, and I don't think the Quest Pro's extra features will be that much of a draw.
Meta has always made compromises with its headsets, despite the fact that consumer virtual reality is still in its infancy. It usually offers something that is beyond their reach. There was no motion controllers or tracking setup, but the games highlighted the sheer wonder of looking around in a virtual world. The first Quest had limited graphical power, but it offered a catalog of experiences that worked well with motion controllers Nothing else on the market matched these options.
The Quest Pro doesn't have that kind of management. Meta is promoting it for uses that its hardware can't make enjoyable, offering technically innovative features without doing a good job of showing them. The earlier Meta headsets felt like magic. The Quest Pro feels like a job.
Amelia Krales is a photographer.
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