logo Emad Elsaid
😎 Meta Quest 2
Friday 23 December 2022
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Devices VR

  • 😎 Also known as Oculus Quest 2
  • First device to rent from Grover
  • Second VR I try after PS4 VR

Specs

  • 256GB of storage
  • 3 Positions for Interpupillary Distance (IPD)

General impression

  • Nice design
  • Contact on the face was comfortable for short periods
  • Longer periods can leave pressure points marks on the cheeks
  • Image is clear and the latency is very low
  • It’s impressive to set it up for the first time. dialogs and menus float in front of your face
  • The controllers are very responsive to movement
  • Didn’t experience heating, even when it heats up I notice only when I take it off my face in my palms not on the face
  • It’s heavy on the front side, I guess that was solved for the Pro version making it a more balanced
  • Without my glasses I noticed some text glowing the further it is from the center of the screen
  • I added the raiser that comes with it to help keep my glasses while using it
  • With my glasses the glowing is reduced but still not very sharp

Standalone

  • The device works for around 2 to 2:30 hours on battery
  • Controllers uses 1 AA battery each
  • Device turns off after 15 seconds of inactivity and turn on when you put it on your face
  • Device will turn off screen after you take it off your face and putting it on again will reset you position in whatever app you’re using
  • The Desktop equivelant in VR is a room, default room for me was a place on open area, sandy and mountains and other places (Villas) far away. You get to change it from different presets.
  • You can’t move in that space (teleportation) you have to move in real space to move yourself in VR space (the PC version had teleportation)
  • I choose a space station place and I felt very comfortable there. although the graphics are not very realistic but it was a beautiful experience to sit in a space station looking on a planet and other spaceships are moving around.
  • Until I get to move in the place and look out of the window to find that the planet is clipped from under that window (I guess it’s an optimization)
  • controlling where windows will appear and move the home bar around still doesn’t feel natural but better experience than the PC experience with the Quest app
  • TV app and Youtube 360 videos are very impressive I get to experience a video of sky diving, and another about Coral reefs.
  • I didn’t experience nausea or dizziness.
  • The only app that made me dizzy is an app of roller coasters. After the tutorial I felt very dizzy. won’t try it again.
  • Tried VR Chat. very weird place.
  • You can turn on hand guestures so you get to use fingers to click on buttons or scroll in menus

Screenshots

With PC

  • I was able to install Quest app on PC (windows version only)
  • The app can pair with the device over Wifi or with a Cable (I only tried it over Wifi)
  • Pairing introduces a speaker in the system to switch audio to the headset
  • The standalone software get replaced by another experience rendered from the PC so I get dropped in a different space and different menus. it’s like the device has an OS that gets nullified by the desktop app replacing everything with a feed rendered from my PC over WIFI
  • The resolution is lower than the standalone experience
  • the latency is a bit noticeable especially when another device is using WIFI for youtube for example. frames are droped and interactions sometimes doesn’t register.
  • Tried Elite Dangerous in VR mode. was impressive to sit in a spaceship and look around, very different gaming experience
  • Got dizzy and nauseous after 30 minutes of gameplay
  • I get to cast the PC screen to VR space and control the mouse with VR controllers. I don’t feel it’s practical yet.
  • I guess I’ll stick to the stand-alone experience.

Bundle

  • After activating the device I received an email from Meta to claim a free version of Beat saber
  • Played couple levels I loved it. although I wasn’t interested in trying it out but after I did, I guess that’s my favorite app so far

Applications

I had a good experience with many applications and games:

  • Standalone
    1. Beat Saber: well-known game, I wasn’t interested in it but after trying it I really liked it.
    2. Meta Quest TV: inlcudes many good videos. I enjoyed some videos about the Petra in Jordan, and other sky diving videos
    3. Meta Animation player: includes some nice scenes.
    4. First Steps for Quest 2: that’s like a tutorial for using the device but it’s really enojyable
    5. the world beyond: That’s available only when you turn on the experimental feature in setting to map your room walls/windows/doors/couch
    6. Immersed: it’s nice to drop by the “immersed Coffee” sometimes there are people there chatting.
  • PC
    • Quest app: a must have to get your device recognized, and IT’S WINDOWS ONLY 😞
    • SteamVR: it includes many rooms to set as home (way more than what meta offers) and higher definitions and that’s understandable as the PC renders them not the headset.
      • Tip: look for Star Trek environment. there are 2 of them and another 2 Holodeck rooms 😃

Take aways

  • It feels good to be in a 3D space looking around
  • High refresh rate and low latency is very important for me personally to not get nausea.
  • I still can’t use it to code in VR
  • Graphics is still not realisting although it’s good enough to feel good
  • I’m skeptic after it’s practicality right now. but I expect in couple of years this should catch up to the PC graphics realism.

Backlinks

See Also