Meta presented its Quest Pro at Meta Connect on October 11 and we have some very important news.The new functions and changes made are considerably good, although it has a negative point that would be a fairly high price.
It’s here! One of the biggest bets for virtual reality is a reality. Meta Quest Pro VR it is considerably expensive, we cannot deny it, about $1,500. However, it offers new advanced features that greatly improve the experience in virtual reality and mixed reality. Ideal for remote work environments.
Everything you need to know about MetaQuest Pro VR
Release date and prices
Originally featured as Project Cambria, Meta Quest Pro could be viewed live from Meta Connect on October 11, 2022. Pre-orders opened immediately after the event.
To date, the Quest Pro becomes Meta’s most powerful VR headset to date; although this comes with a somewhat expensive price. We are talking about around $1,500, which would be almost four times what Quest 2 comes out.
A design designed for long sessions
As we all know, one of the biggest things in Mark Zuckerberg’s vision is the ability to work remotely. However, when we tested Meta’s Horizon Workrooms, we found the Quest 2 headset to be uncomfortable to wear for too long.
Meta knows very well about this inconvenience. And that’s why the Quest Pro features a new design with a curved rear battery, which is on the back of the strap. The idea is that the weight of the Quest Pro is distributed evenly. Although we still do not know how much the device weighs, since the company has not revealed it.
Quest Pro also makes use of a 40% slimmer optical stack. It’s a fancy way of saying that we have fairly compact lenses. So the headphones aren’t going to stick out too much and no, we’re not going to look like an astronaut.
Another important thing is that Quest Pro does not cover our eyes 100%. We can see a small gap around the display area, which is a good thing since we don’t feel pressure when wearing them. It also includes two light blockers that we can use to eliminate this gap.
We also find the controllers that have been redesigned to have a more ergonomic grip. Additionally, Meta includes a charging base with Quest Pro. The aforementioned base is compact, so it fits on a desk, which guarantees that it will always be within reach.
A major change to drivers
There’s no denying that the Oculus Quest’s controllers are highly advanced, but they also feel primitive. We are not talking about AA batteries. Actually, it is the tracking method that is behind.
The Oculus Touch controllers, as they’re called, make use of two IR rings to communicate with the headset. However, our headset needs to “see” these rings to know where the drivers are. So, if we put the controls on the back, for example, they “disappear”.
Quest Pro solves this problem with auto-tracking drivers. Meta’s founder comments: “It’s basically their own computers.” Because each of these have a Snapdragon 662 chipset. Because of this, the controllers can offer a 360-degree range of motion. We even find considerably improved touch and haptic sensors.
It is also capable of tracking our hands when we are not using the controllers. However, Meta did not specify how the device’s hardware manages to improve in this section.
Optimized for work
Considering its price, it is clear that Meta Quest Pro will provide considerably improved image quality. We still don’t know exactly what his resolution will be. However, it offers a 37% higher pixel density than the Quest 2. It also uses local dimming for 75% more contrast, which is something we’re quite interested in.
Thanks to the pixel density we can find two great advances. The first is that it allows us to view more spectacular graphics. Although, as Zuckerberg points out, what would be the readability of the text in virtual reality is also greatly improved. Something that is considerably important when using the transfer to see objects in the real world in virtual reality.
And precisely the transfer is another thing that will have a major update. Thanks to a set of high-resolution cameras, we can see everything with greater depth and quality.
We don’t yet know how app developers will be able to make use of this full color transfer feature. Perhaps it would be possible to see the desktop while working in VR, although this could provide similar experiences in various games as well.
The new functions are enabled thanks to a Snapdragon XR2+ processor, which includes 12 GB of RAM. According to the company, the new chipset is 50% more powerful than the Quest 2’s Snapdragon XR2 configuration and works with enormous efficiency, although they have not specified it yet.
For now, we just have to wait to see if all the improvements that Meta Quest Pro adds are really worth it.