Meta Quest 3 Review

[Music] I'll cut straight to the chase the meta Quest 3 is the best Standalone consumer oriented VR headset you can get right now with a Slimmer design sharper display more powerful processor full color pass through for mixed reality gaming and better controllers the quest 3 is clearly a superior headset when compared to its three-year-old predecessor all those upgrades though don't come cheap you can order it today for $499 but Quest 3 and all of its current gen Tech easily justify the [Music] cost The Meta Quest 3 arrives in a deceptively small rather Spartan looking box but our reviewer Eric didn't mind because he'd rather not spend extra money on fancy packaging the contents include the headset itself a pre-installed foam facial interface two touch plus controllers with pre-installed wrist straps and ablea batteries an 18w power adapter and a USB type-c charging cable for the headset itself the quest 3 looks extremely similar to The Quest 2 meta claims that the quest 3 is 40% Slimmer but if you look at the fine print you'll see that the comparison excludes the facial interface which is thicker on the quest 3 there's no weight savings either unfortunately at 459 G which is actually 3 G heavier than the Quest 2 on a positive note the ergonomics have been improved the Quest 2 isn't the most comfortable headset for long gaming sessions because the facial interface is pressed against your temples and cheeks which isn't near nearly as comfortable as the psvr 2's Halo style head strap that rests on top of your head the quest 3 still mounts the same way as the two but it protrudes from your head by about an inch less than before which means it feels less front heavy the soft cloth headstrap has also been redesigned so that it's easier to adjust and it does a good job of keeping the headset firmly in place without applying too much pressure even during intense beat saer sessions if you want to swap it out for a more robust hard plastic alternative the elite strap will run you another 70 bucks the quest 3 now offers continuous ipd adjustment which ranges from 58 mm to 70 mm easily manipulated by a little rotary dial on the bottom of the visor the quest 3 also lets you adjust the depth of the facial interface or how far from your face the screen is if you wear glasses for VR you're going to appreciate that extra space the aggressively curved facial interface means that there's also a good amount of light spilling in from the nose Bridge the facial interface is lined with a foam padding that although comfortable will absorb your sweat like a sponge that's a sanitation issue because the padding isn't removable meta does sell a facial interface with an easier to clean silicone cover pre-attached but you'll have to Pony up another 30 bucks to get it stacking up here the quest 3 Sports dual 2064 X 2208 LCD displays which is 30% more pixel density and the Quest 2 and the result is as you'd expect improved visual Clarity you can see it most clearly with textual elements like in-game Huds menus and virtual browsers and with technically demanding games like Microsoft flight simulator when you're Tethered to your PC we're not quite living the dream yet since it could definitely be sharper as compared to a 4K PC monitor but it does look better than any comparable headset this new version also addresses one of our reviewers biggest issues with Quest 2's Optics which was its narrow Sweet Spot the center of the display was sharper than the edges and you had to wear your headset perfectly to get it Focus fortunately the quest 3 does a away with the Fresno lenses found in the Quest 2 and adopts the pancake lenses first seen in the quest Pro aside from being Slimmer the display boasts uniform edgo Edge Clarity and less lens glare other improvements to the Optics include a wider 120° field of view for better immersion which means less tunnel vision relative to the quest 2's 90° and 120 HZ support right at launch in fast moving games like beatsaber the ability to play at a higher frame rate really lends to ultra smooth motion without any stuttering the audio system on the quest 3 is similar to that found in the Quest 2 meaning it sits away from your ear that said it is not the same there's a lot less Distortion than before and the sound can be pumped up to a pretty deafening volume it just means that unlike over the that your headphones or earbuds people around you are going to hear a lot more of what's going on there's also a 3.5 mm audio jack so you can use wired earbuds or headphones for better noise isolation and spatial audio unfortunately wireless bluetooth headphones still don't work well because of the perceptible lag Eric drained out the battery multiple times during his testing and got anywhere between 1 hour and 58 minutes to 2 hours and 12 minutes on a single charge that's not not a very long amount of time but unfortunately a bigger battery pack would have meant an even heavier headset meta does sell a headstrap with a rearm mounted battery pack that doubles your total play time but a better idea would be to clip a USB battery pack to your belt if you don't want it weighing down your head it takes about 2 and 1 half hours to fully charge the quest 3 via USB type-c cable since it only draws up to 18 watts of power at maximum setup is easy and straightforward you're no longer required to create a Facebook account but do need a meta account which is effectively the same but doesn't come with a public page after charging your quest 3 for the first time you turn it on and follow the steps to get connected to the internet and download all the firmware updates you'll need to install the meta quest Quest app on your Apple or Android phone or tablet to pair your device but afterwards you're probably never going to need to use it again unless you want to live stream the view from inside the headset to a screen for others to watch from there the question 3 has you set up your choice of a stationary or room scale boundary which can be changed at any time if you choose the room scale option the headset will automatically map out the room as you walk around you can watch it happen in real time as little geometric shapes scale your floor walls ceiling and Furniture it's a good way of visually letting you know exactly which parts of your room haven't been mapped yet and the headset does a good job of handling reflective and transparent surfaces like sunlet Windows glass tabletops even a fish tank [Music] what sets the quest 3 and its predecessors apart from almost every other headset out there is its ability to play games on its own without relying on a PC or console meta provided several games to try out including somad Amiga which is a rhythm based game where you're shaking Maracas to the beat of the music demio battles a d andd style isometric turnbas strategy game and Islander a simple yet receptively addictive City Builder our reviewer also tried a couple of his own games that he brought over from his Quest 2 like pistol whip and Robo recall unplug all of them ran flawlessly with zero frame rate dips the quest 3 is equipped with a snap dragon xr2 Gen 2 chip that's up to 50% more powerful than the one found in the Quest 2 but games that are already released won't be able to take advantage of the extra resources unless the developer releases an optimization update most games won't have one ready at launch but one exception is red matter 2 the developer vertical robot has already released a quest 3 patch that includes 4K textures Dynamic resolution scaling anistropic filtering Dynamic shadows and more Eric compared the game post patched on the quest 3 and pre patched on the Quest 2 said the difference is Stark the game exudes more polish than ever before because the in-game models from the space station environments to all of the equipment you manipulate during the game look so much more sharp and detailed even when you walk right up to them and the new Dynamic Shadows at another level of realism the only time Eric noticed any sort of performance hiccups was during the transition scenes when the game was loading in the next playable area red matter 2 is a testament to what developers can do with the more powerful hardware and we hope more High Caliber games will be updated in the near future of course you'll have have to keep your expectations in check this is still a mobile device after all and it can't keep up with a high powered PC or a PlayStation 5 when it comes to the details but really that's okay while the quest 3's games might be limited to relatively lower poly models and lower res textures they still offer super interactive gameplay and VR mechanics that you can't experience with a traditional game on a TV or a monitor simply put many of these games are exceptionally fun to play and there's a very good chance you'll find find something you like because Quest 3 is fully backwards compatible with the more than 500 games already available for the Quest 2 you won't have to Reby anything you already own on the other hand it's a real shame that meta didn't invest in any more compelling launch lineup for the quest 3 backwards compatibility a wonderful perk but even one fresh new game that showcases all the improvements that the quest 3 has to offer seems like a no-brainer but there's nothing new and flashy here it's a small constellation that the quest store will have a category of games that are certified to be quote better on Quest 3 and take advantage of the enhanced specs to be fair there are a couple of high-profile games coming out later this year Assassin's Creed Nexus VR will be available on November 16th and asgard's wrath 2 will be released on December 15th so it's not a total desert out there new to the quest 3 are two 4 megapixel RGB cameras and a depth sensor embedded into the front of the visor that allow for the much touted full color pass through feature which you'll see while on the quest 3 home screen and in some mixed reality enabled games and can be swapped to by tapping twice on the side of the headband the clarity is a vast improvement over the quest 2's monochrome muddiness in good lighting conditions the image is bright and clear with accurate true- to life colors the litmus test is text Clarity and the image was just barely sharp enough for our reviewer to read and send messages on his phone or browse the internet on his PC it's definitely not the same resolution as in VR mode and there is plenty of room for improvement but it's still 10 times sharper meta says than the quest 2's pass through mode currently there aren't very many games that make use of the past through Tech though for the review meta only provided a single mixed reality game first encounters but it left a very strong impression colorful triple- likee creatures burst out of your walls and ceilings and it's your job to capture them all it's more of a tech demo than an actual game but it was a strong showing of the potential of mixed reality gaming the quest 3 didn't an excellent job mapping out the room Eric was playing in allowing its tribles to jump around on his furniture making the cracks in the walls really look like portals into another dimension most importantly the pass through quality didn't detract from the experience at all Eric said he was never really a big fan of AR gaming before but the quest 3 just might have made him a convert finally you can't talk about the quest 3's gaming performance without covering the new touch plus controllers the most obvious change is that the quest 3s controllers have done away with the bulky IR Rings we've seen on every previous Oculus and Quest controller from an ergonomic standpoint this was the right move without the Rings they're the lightest VR controllers ever made no longer top heavy and feel balanced in the hand but what about tracking Precision which was the purpose of those Rings the new controllers use a combination of infrared LEDs the cameras on the visor itself and AI hand tracking technology that according to meta is more accurate than the IR only tracking on the quest two controllers Eric put that to the test with several hours of Expert Plus songs on beat saer and was unable to replicate any of the tracking problems experienced on the Quest 2 not once did he miss a note due to what felt like controller ER eror the quest 3 continues meta's Legacy of offering a costeffective headset that doesn't require an expensive gaming PC but can still benefit from one if you have it the quest 3 goes even further by offering us a ticket to mixed reality gaming with a full color pass through mode that's sharp enough to read things in the world around you the lightest and most precisely tracked controllers available and more sir this with a smile whether you're upgrading from its predecessor or this is your first foray into the world of VR the quest 3 is well worth the $200 generational price increase setting a new standard for VR and mixed reality [Music] gaming for more check out our review of the psvr2 and for everything else keep it right here on IGN

Channel: IGN

Views: 492,366

Keywords: Meta Quest 3, tech, IGN, IGN tech, VR, VR gaming, Quest, Meta, Oculus

Id: iM7aUi0Tork

Length: 13min 59sec (839 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 09 2023