![]() This connects a top-of-head strap and two straps leading to the headset's left- and right-hand sides. Instead of employing a typical "halo" strap design, meant as much to shift support and weight to the back of your head as to allow a variety of hairstyles through, Oculus has opted for an uncomfortable split-strap design. AdvertisementĪn awkward photo of this strap on the author's head. It's the first of many curious changes between Quest headset generations. Having a wider pad on top of the controller to rest my thumb doesn't alleviate the issue. As a result, I've felt them slip out of my grip much more often than with Quest 1. Worse, Quest 2 has removed the grippy, cross-grain texture found in Quest 1 controllers, while making the controllers slightly heavier (151g for the new controllers, versus 129g for Quest 1's controllers). So this downgrade in sensor points checks out. But I can safely say that after an hour going back and forth between Quest 1 and 2, the number of lost swipes on the newer hardware was higher. It's hard to perfectly measure VR controller detection without access to verbose data logs (which I've used to diagnose issues with SteamVR in the past). I went back to compare tricky "expert" Beat Saber levels on both Quest 1 and Quest 2, and sure enough, the older controller is noticeably more accurate. What got the battery drain down further? This is when Facebook reps claimed that Quest 2's controllers have fewer infrared sensor points: "We're able to find computer vision algorithms tuned to achieve the same tracking in fewer LEDs, thus less power," a Facebook representative told Ars Technica. The original Oculus Quest controllers didn't last very long, but they only required one AA battery and were far more efficient than, say, the HTC Vive Cosmos controllers. ![]() Not so fast.įacebook reps mentioned that the controllers were redesigned with an emphasis on increased battery life and comfort, which I found curious. You may glance at these and think you're in for identical performance compared to other "Oculus Touch" controllers. ![]() Quest 2's pair of hand-tracked controllers include the same array of buttons, triggers, and joysticks as the first version, along with the same "halo" construction to hold their infrared sensors. (Like the first model, Quest 2 supports optional connections to PCs for their higher-end games, as well.) Strap it onto your face, map out a "playing space" inside your home using your hands, and Quest 2's internal hardware will do all of the 3D rendering. Unlike most other VR headsets, the Quest line does not require connections to a PC or console. Those piled up to the point where Facebook will need to launch a Quest "2+" revision before I'm ready to recommend this headset. It seemed like every single day that I tested this device in the pre-release period, I discovered some new corner-cutting issue that wasn't worth the savings. If that's where you land, you'll eventually find a different bummer about Oculus Quest 2: how desperate Facebook is to get the price down to that magical $299 number. Or maybe in spite of all of the bad news, you'd make a deal with the Mephi-zuck-eles for a higher-performing, "all-in-one" Oculus Quest that's now powered by a Snapdragon 865-equivalent SoC with more RAM, more pixels, and a higher refresh rate. I've already written to my home state's Attorney General.)īut let's say you already bought into Oculus hardware or software in the past, or you've made your peace with the company's Facebookening. (Or, quite honestly, redirect that comment-writing energy to your state or country's regulators. I also encourage you to move comments about that specific opinion to my August op-ed about the development. If that's the beginning and the end of this review for you, I do not blame you. Attachment of a social media account and its massive Web of personally identifying data (as accumulated by everything from service log-ins to average Web-browsing cookies) to computing hardware (VR headsets, phones, computers, TVs, etc) is quite frankly an irresponsible move on Facebook's part. Let me be blunt: that is a terrible idea. Part of that comes from Facebook's aggressive policy about making Facebook social media accounts (whose terms of service revolve around a "real name" policy) mandatory to use new Oculus VR headsets, including the Quest 2. That's one hell of a price for cutting-edge VR. I received it earlier this month, along with news that this would be Oculus's cheapest "all-in-one" VR system yet: starting at $299 and shipping on October 13. The long-rumored (and recently leaked) Oculus Quest 2 is here, in my home, on my face.
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