As the market for VR headsets continues to grow, the Meta Quest 3 is the latest and greatest to hit shelves. These features will help maximize your experience.
The Meta Quest 3 is the latest and potentially greatest VR headset from Meta, if not any manufacturer. This recent release improves almost everything VR enthusiasts loved about Meta’s previous Quest headsets and also fixes some of their flaws. Sure, battery life is worse than ever, but given all the new, more powerful technology under the hood, that issue could still count as an upgrade. Yet, for all of the improvements your average Meta Quest 3 user will encounter, even more enhancements are waiting off the beaten path.
Out of the box, the Meta Quest 3 provides a solid experience for most of its player base. The headset has plenty of games and exercise apps to keep users busy, but the vanilla settings might not be enough or even appropriate for all audiences. For example, some people might be more susceptible to motion sickness than the average gamer. Or perhaps they wear glasses. Or maybe someone is looking to save a few bucks on the Meta Quest store since the device costs as much as an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5. Plenty of accessories could help new buyers in many ways, but the Meta Quest 3 also includes its fair share of features to improve and tweak the user experience.
Here are some built-in designs that can help you get the most out of the Meta Quest 3.Controller’s standard AA batteries allow easy swapping for continuous play
Rechargeable batteries are the future of gaming. Nintendo Switch and PlayStation controllers use built-in batteries. However, Microsoft still builds controllers that can take AAs and optional rechargeables — the Elite Wireless series notwithstanding. The Meta Quest 3’s controllers can also run on either alkaline or lithium batteries, but while playing the Xbox Series X with a pair of AAs doesn’t make much sense, playing VR games with them does.
When you set up the Meta Quest 3’s free-floating controllers, you are provided several AA batteries, and for an extra $70, you can purchase a pair of rechargeable batteries built specifically for these peripherals. While that is a sizable price tag, especially given how much the Meta Quest 3 costs, it’s a reasonable investment since you will save money in the long run by recharging your controllers instead of relying on disposable AA batteries. That doesn’t mean, however, you should completely ignore the power of alkaline.
Unless you keep your controllers and their rechargeable batteries topped up, you might find them running out of juice before the Meta Quest 3 headset. When that happens, if you want to keep gaming, you need to pop and swap with some AAs. Due to the Meta Quest 3’s aversion to wires, you can only charge controller batteries with a recharging base (sold separately). This design flaw prevents you from charging the battery while using it – not even Xbox controllers share this limitation. To charge Meta Quest 3 batteries while playing, you have to buy a second pair of controllers, place the rechargeable batteries in them, and rest them on the dock. So long as you have enough spare AAs in storage, you won’t have to worry about running out of juice.Headset’s adjustment options can accommodate heads of multiple sizes
One size fits all. Many clothing manufacturers use that phrase to advertise that their products cater to customers of all shapes and sizes. That’s all well and good for hats and pants, but what about eyes? The Meta Quest 3 not only solves this problem, but lets viewers see the changes in real-time.
Most, if not all VR headsets allow owners to adjust lens positions to match the distance between their pupils (interpupillary distance, or IPD for short). However, you usually have to take the device off first. The Meta Quest 3’s lenses are controlled by an external scroll wheel. Gamers can spin the wheel while the headset is still strapped to their faces and see how much of a difference proper VR lens IPD can make. Alternatively, Meta Quest 3 owners can install a third-party smartphone app that measures their IPD and then use the Meta Quest 3 lens wheel.
While the IPD wheel accommodates eyes along the face’s x-axis, what about the z-axis? What about people who wear glasses? Well, the Meta Quest 3 was designed with this demographic in mind, as the headset comes standard with pancake lenses.
