Review: The new Meta Quest 3 brings meaningful upgrades across the board, and it’s so close to bringing mixed reality to the masses.
Display
LCD with 2064 x 2208 pixels per eye, 120Hz refresh rate
Weight
515g
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2
RAM/Storage
8GB with 128GB or 512GB
Battery life
1-2 hours depending on use cases
Tracker/sensors
Six advanced camera sensors with high-res color mixed reality, two RGB camera with 18ppd
Controllers
126 grams each, powered by a single AA battery
By the time you’re reading this, I’ve spent a little more than a week with the Meta Quest 3, testing a combination of virtual and mixed reality experiences, including stationary-based titles like Out of Scale and Immersed and more mobile ones such as First Encounters and SEGA’s Samba de Amigo.
Out of all the experiences I tried during the week’s time, First Encounters, the preinstalled, starter-pack game was the most impressionable. But it was just that, a starter game, and I quickly forgot about it when I transitioned to all the other titles that Meta suggested I test the headset with, most of which were based in VR and not MR. That was a bit of a letdown for me, given Meta’s mixed-reality push with the Quest 3.
That said, the company says more games will be released over the coming weeks and months. Two that I’m particularly interested in checking out are Ghostbusters – Rise of the Ghost Lord and Lego Bricktales, both of which appear to truly leverage Quest 3’s mixed reality capabilities.
The new Touch Plus controllers do away with the sensor ring for a better handheld experience.
Lastly, I’m a full-time glasses wearer, with a prescription that’s fortunately not too severe to be a cause for concern when using VR headsets and their built-in lens adjustments. While my tester during my pre-Meta Connect briefing barely fit with my glasses on, I found a comfortable sweet spot with my at-home review unit and have been able to use the headset both with and without glasses. Meta is providing me with prescription VR lenses via Zenni Optical to test out, so I’ll update this review with my thoughts when they arrive.
Meta’s upgraded this year’s VR headset on virtually all fronts, including external hardware, material choices, and the processor.
