My daughter sent an impassioned and persuasive text message recently that the best thing for her “living situation” would be that she get a Meta Quest 3.
She has expressed clearly that VR is her passion.
She explained the features that make it a solution for her needs, including:
- Wireless
- Passthrough Mode
- Streaming PCVR
- Meta Game Library
- Hand tracking
- Extreme portability
Being an extreme pushover (and making the agreement that this represents her Christmas this year*), I ordered her:
- Meta Quest 3 128GB
- Meta Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery
- Meta Quest 3 Carrying Case
They arrived in short order and she is quite happy (perhaps until the Quest 4 is released).
Thoughts on the Purchase
This is a lot more than I’d like to spend.
The fact that this base unit comes in at $500 for a 128GB and then the storage jump is to 512GB for another $150 isn’t stellar.
Thoughts on Set-up
It wasn’t terribly difficult to set up initially. Liz was able to pair with her phone and do basic setup and start using the headset pretty much right away.
For some reason the setup for Air Link was a little difficult.
Essentially the setup process would get as far as telling her to link on her headset but her PC would not show up on the list for her. The fix was, ultimately, to go the “Beta Settings” in the Oculus App and choose to “Reset the Oculus Software” (iirc). Once the application restarted it should up for her on the headset and she was good to go.
Thoughts on Pass Through Mode
I don’t know exactly what I expected but the harsh, surrealistic, lighting and extreme graininess that seems more like a looking at the world through the viewfinders of a couple of old 90’s era VGA digital cameras certainly wasn’t it.
I expect I’ll try some kind of mixed reality stuff at some point in the future.
Thoughts on the Resolution & Display Quality
The resolution and display quality is pretty solid compared to the HP Reverb G2 that is being replaced (handed “down” to me).
I haven’t much played with it but found that the desktop rendering is pretty crisp overall and I the resolution that I’ve seen so far is excellent.
It is, of course, in another universe when compared to the old PSVR headset that has been gathering dust for some time.
Thoughts on Productivity
The notion of “working” in a headset like this still seems somewhat unpleasant to me.
I find, however, the idea of having a virtual three screen display is pretty interesting. I’m not sure how long I could spend working in a virtual environment, however, especially given my historical BPPV and predisposition toward nausea.
Also there’s the limited battery life and discomfort at wearing something on your head for so long.
The Apple Vision Pro seems like a super cool concept but I can’t imagine wearing it for extended periods of time.
Final Thoughts
The promise a “Ready Player One”-like immersive experience is alluring. The idea of working virtually in the “metaverse” is enticing if also a little surrealistic.
The idea of VR has been tantalizingly omnipresent yet perpetually elusive since my childhood in the ‘80s
We’re still not there yet.
We’re obviously many years away from a future of realistic haptic suits and full sensory virtual reality.
But this is pretty cool device for sure.
Even though I still despise Meta.
* We had a really good conversation about how she’ll be earning her time in VR, how important it is to find balance, and that this is, indeed, the last thing she’ll beg for for some time. She’s still twelve, of course, but I think she’s being rather mature about it.