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Oculus Quest: Is It Really A Breakthrough In The World Of VR Headset

Facebook-owned Oculus VR recently introduced a new version of VR headset “Oculus Quest”. It is expected to be a breakthrough in the world of VR headsets. In 2012, when the company introduced the original Oculus, it was fascinating at that time. There were so many things that made it unique and compelled users to use it for different purposes. First, it made users free from wire and allowed them to move freely while wearing the VR headset. Later in 2016, Oculus introduced Oculus Rift that was supposed to be Rift 2, Oculus said that it is an upgraded VR headset only. Then after, Oculus Go came to users in 2018.

Now in 2019, Oculus has introduced a standalone and highly ambitious VR headset i.e. Oculus Quest. Let’s see how it seems like an upgraded version of Oculus Headset series and how it is different from other Oculus headsets. We also see its popularity among users in context to the popularity of Hololens, Google Glass, and HTC Vive.

First of all, let us know about the Oculus quest in detail.

How Does Oculus Quest Look?

Oculus Quest

Quest is 4th headset in the series. It is designed to be more of a gaming device rather than just for viewing a movie. It is black in color and has three head straps that may feel little uneasy but is necessary to support the increased weight of Quest. There is a slider to adjust the distance between the lenses, and the headphones replaced with the invisible speakers.

What about the Processor and Other Features?

It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor from 2017 and comes in 64GB and 128GB variants. It comes with features like volume adjust key, power button and C-type USB charging port. The battery backup is lower than expected and lasts for two to three hours only. The body of Rift is thicker when compared with its predecessors. The massive improvement in this version is that it is completely wireless and one doesn’t need gaming PC for using it.

Quest Lets You See the Real World

Quest’s camera lets grainy monochrome video pass to your screen. Well, this feature is already available with some other headset as well such as HTC Vive but it offers some additional features as well. For instance, users can see the real world without taking off the device. In fact, users have an added advantage in mapping their play space. Usually, VR calibration is used to define the boundaries whereas while using Quest users can draw virtual lines on the floor as boundaries.

Quest’s Memory helps You in Setup

It comes with memory chip and can remember up to five spaces so you don’t have to repeat the setup again and again and makes you free for moving in the space. Right now, maximum play space limited to the quest is 25×25. So you cannot draw boundary lines beyond that.

What About Controllers

Controllers look little different from prior devices. It is consisting of a tracking strip. Well, the basic controllers have not changed much and still have dual triggers, analog stick, and face buttons. You may miss the capacitive touch panel.

Controllers’ motion is as accurate as the headset is. Users can move hands in any direction without any trouble. However, you may lose your tracking while playing a superfast game that involves hand movement in an odd direction.

Challenges and Issues That You May Face

One odd issue that you may face while using it is that the Touch controllers freeze sometimes. You have to reboot it by pulling out the batteries. Oculus said that it is aware of this problem and they will release a software fix with the launch.

Oculus Quest lacks the Switch-style mainstream appeal. It is as sophisticated as any VR headset available present today. VR is still socially awkward and clunky and Oculus hasn’t really made any effort in this area. The headset is heavy and might leave users with throbbing forehead after using it for some time. The 1600 x 1440 pixels per eye resolution is better than the Rift’s but the images are still grainy.

Social Impacts

It will shut out others around you. If you want to spend time alone then it will be good otherwise it will cut you off from your surroundings.

How Oculus Quest Is Different From Others?

The main difference between Rift S and the Quest is the addition of insight. It is oculus Quest which was introduced with insight for the first time. Rift S has 5 cameras, two of which are placed on the front, two on the corner, and the last one is on top of the headset. Quest has 4 cameras placed in each corner for wide angle view. Quest is wireless and Rift S is tethered with pc but you will need a computer for “arena-scale “ VR in Quest as well. When we talk about the technical specification then there are mere differences in both the models.

Oculus Quest and HTC Vive Focus Plus

This year, HTC also introduced a standalone, 6 DoF virtual reality headset HTC Vive. The two are very similar and based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 reference design. The prior version of Oculus was defeated by HTC in terms of wireless sensors. Now Oculus has recovered this feature in its Quest. With Oculus Quest, you will not be tangled in wires and you don’t have to be dependent on a pc.

The only difference between the two is the storage. While HTC’s Vive comes in only 32Gb variant, Quest comes in 64Gb and 128GB storage capacity. But the difference is that with Quest, the storage capacity is fixed but with Vive you can expand it with an external SD card reaching up to 2TB.

Oculus Quest and Hololens

HoloLens ( or Hololens 2, the second generation of HoloLens) is a pair of heavy but smart glass instead of being just a VR headset device such as Quest or HTC Vive. But its cost ($3000 for HoloLens and $3500 for HoloLens 2) makes it unreachable for consumer group and is limited for the commercial use. Oculus has a display, adjustable lens, integrated LTE, AMOLED display, support remote smartphone, and stereo speakers. Let’s compare both of them:

The Last Word

Though it plays less graphically and smaller rift games along with bigger games like The Climb, Robo Recall, Beat Saber, etc., still it cannot be counted as the best. So, you have to decide that investing $400 is how much worth for you.

Oculus also said that Quest and Rift S completed the first generation. Let’s see what the second generation might bring.

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