Virtual Reality

[Lebowski]

I'd think anything that helps take the load off the mobile Hardware in the quest would be a useful addition, If it had eye tracking it could use the PSVR'2s tricks of lowering the texture quality of the things your not looking at freeing up power for other things, youd think Meta would want to throw every trick they could at this to squeeze as much power out of it as they can.

As for Quest being the base that Dev's work towards i don't see that being the case, first and foremost Steam seems to be where most stuff originates from. The quest had very few exclusive games and most of the stuff on it was on steam or rift store and ported over. Meta dont tend to do many exclusives they have said nothing coming in 2023 will be exclusive to the version 3. so it has that issue that next gen consoles have in that its last generation is kind of pulling it back in a lot of ways as anything released on the 3 has to work on the 2 as well.

[Neon Ignition]

If that remains the case then I can imagine it may back up a scenario I've been hoping for, where relying on the Quest 3 for PCVR negates the need to get future headsets for the most part

[MartyG]

Mine has turned up, but I can't pair it because Quest 3 isn't listed in the phone app :/

Edit - okay, managed to pair it after a lot of hassle, installed the app on a different phone and it showed up, but then wouldn't let me put the pair code in, even though Quest 3 was showing as available in the app. Switched back to the Pixel 7 and I was able to put the code in. Thought I might need to do a factory reset for a moment already.

So, first impressions, the IQ is an absolutely massive leap over Quest 2. The IQ isn't quite as good as Quest Pro, but the lenses are on par with it. All the rest of the setup was fine, it picked up all the owned apps and prompts to install them, set up the bounds, and away you go. The AR stuff works quite a bit better than I was expecting, but the pass through is still pretty wonky. It's better than Quest Pro, but you still get the camera warping, and pass thru resolution whilst is enough to see stuff, it's still pretty low resolution - you're not going to mistake it for real life. I shall try a few games and see how they are.

Comfort-wise, it's not bad, definitely better than Quest 2, but a third-party strap will definitely improve balance a lot, so I will get an boboVR M3 as soon as I can. It's certainly adequate, but not exceptional.

[Asura]

I'm still working so I've plugged mine in to charge.
[MENTION=42]MartyG[/MENTION], do you know - can you use the Quest Pro charger with it? I have the charger that came with the stand-alone Touch Pro Controllers, and I want to use that if possible.

[MartyG]

Doesn't look like it, that has four contact points two either side, Quest 3 only has 3 and right next to each other. There are no charging contacts on the controllers at all as they use 1 AA battery.

[Asura]

Doesn't look like it, that has four contact points two either side, Quest 3 only has 3 and right next to each other. There are no charging contacts on the controllers at all as they use 1 AA battery.

Oh no, no - sorry, I didn't explain.

The Pro Controllers came with a charger, with 4 parts - a USB wall plug, a cable to attach it to the "puck" that charges the pro controllers, the puck itself, then a smaller cable you can attach to the puck and plug into a headset (USB-C). So I could charge my Pro controllers on the puck, and charge the Quest 2 from the little cable that came off it.

When I got it, I boxed up my Quest 2 controller and just used this.

I'm gonna use the Pro Controllers with my Quest 3, charging them is fine. I'm just figuring out if I can charge my headset off this little charger too. I've got it routed to a shelf with cable ties etc. so ideally I want to keep doing it this way.

[MartyG]

I can't see why, if it's USB-C, it wouldn't work, if it's providing enough wattage; I'm not using the wall plug that came with it as I have a 60W USB-C charger. I thought you were talking about the dock.

[Lebowski]

Wow that dock is expensive £129!!! for a charging solution.

Meta really like to overcharge for accessories, £40 for some hand straps, £70 for a case for it, £50 for a head strap or £40 for the silicone face interface.

If you where to buy all the extras plus the 512gb model your coming up to nearly a grand

[Neon Ignition]

I glanced at the dock when it came up for order but as it doesn't even come with a plug it's basically £130 for a piece of plastic and 2 rechargeable batteries for the controllers.

[Asura]

Okay, just had a very quick go.

First thing - immediately - I'm absolutely thrilled by the jump in IPD, FoV and lens clarity. I tried the Q2 just after and it's hard to explain; it's just better in every conceivable way. Sharper, brighter... It feels like going from having to wear a pair of binoculars to getting to wear one of those wide-view scuba masks; sure, the FoV still has places to go but the improvement is incredible.

Second thing; the AR tracking quality is fantastic. Things are totally "locked" to their real-world location. Even if I shake my head, I can't seem to break it. I've used AR applications on all sorts of platforms; 3DS, iPhones, specialist stuff at installations and theme parks and what-have-you... This is better than all of them. It's a genuine watershed. I'd argue that for AR/MR, this is like... All prior versions are Mp3 players and this is an iPod.

The new controllers feel great too. I mean they feel just like the Pro Controllers. I'm gonna use them for a few days before I make the switch, to see how much I notice the difference.

[MartyG]

Tracking isn't good enough for expert Beat Saber, at least not wireless on Steam, too much lag. It might be better on the native app, but lighthouse tracking still remains the pinnacle as far as expert mode is concerned.

I don't have any issues with the controllers outside of this, expert is an extreme test and I didn't really expect them to be on par, the controllers are very good, feel nice in the hands, and track well in normal situations. Beat Saber over wifi also adds another layer to the process, so that doesn't help. Might try it over USB-C later.

PCVR with the Quest 3 though, fantastic. I think this will become my go-to headset for that task (well, Beat Saber notwithstanding).

[Neon Ignition]

I'm still patiently watching my phone. 2 deliveries away and I finish work in 28 minutes.... come on DPD

PCVR wise I think I'll finally try Return to Rapture first

[Neon Ignition]

I charged the headset last night and spent till 1am on it


Working out why I couldn't get past the app pairing screen. Turns out the Quest 3 has issues with Xperia phones, I eventually managed to get it through a workaround and it's up and running now. With the full battery down to 67% (which feels faster to drop than Q2) I only had time for 1 level of Pistol Whip. Tracking seems solid, the picture is much clearer, I'm really interested to see how PCVR titles look through it. My avatar randomly seems to have a bosom that I can't rid of... so accurate then, The passthrough video is a marked improvement over the Quest 2's, nowhere near clear to the point where I'd fancy using it outside of being able to walk around the house without colliding into things though. Going to get the PC side of things set up for it tonight but the immediate vibe is that if this is Meta Quest, Quest 2 was like a prototype to what this thing is.

[MartyG]

You can run the Quest 3 indefinitely tethered, which is good if you're using it in flight sims (which you'll want to do as the clarity is that good).

Played quite a few different PC games via Virtual Desktop yesterday, watched a film via Big Screen, and ended with Vampire Survivors on a huge virtual screen. So several hours with the default strap - it's certainly usable for longer periods, and it didn't create the VR mark of shame around the face, so it's well-balanced weight-wise - a halo strap will take it to another level though.

I'm definitely impressed with the upgrade over Quest 2.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, the visor foam feels comfortable. I feel like the pressure is greater on my right hand cheek but I'm 100% that's just me and I need to reposition it more. The new strap holds it very firmly in place, I tend to do around an hour at a time for VR so I'm really not sure whether to get a new strap for this one or stick with the default one. When I'm wearing it the only 'gap' is around my nose where I can see the light/floor fairly easily because of how loosely it fits around the nose bridge but it sounds like that's a common thing for Quest 3. Around the eyes etc the fit doesn't let any external light in though