Oculus Quest 2

Please, anyone, desperately anyone, literally anyone, please, for the love of god, make a competing headset that doesn’t have this deep Facebook integration bullshit.<p>I do not want to see this become the Oasis.

$300 is a pretty big deal for pricing on a VR headset, that feels very different from $400 for wide adoption.<p>Seems like this is also the end of the road for Rift, the Quest 2 is lower cost, more pixels, and they mentioned 90 hz screens for PCVR games over Link.<p>EDIT - review units went out in advance, so 3rd party reviews are already up. Here&#x27;s one from Tested: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=_x6lux6f_6g" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=_x6lux6f_6g</a>

Getting torn to shreds in the Ars Technica review: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;2020&#x2F;09&#x2F;review-we-do-not-recommend-the-299-oculus-quest-2-as-your-next-vr-system&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;2020&#x2F;09&#x2F;review-we-do-not-reco...</a><p>Even excluding the hard requirement on a Facebook account it seems there were a lot of compromises made to get the price down.

We develop industrial training solutions using the rift S and quest. But the deep linking with FB, the battery downgrades on the quest, etc, all are going to push us away.<p>For PC-based training sims, we&#x27;ll probably get the HTC Vive. And the Pico for the quest equivalent.

It&#x27;s really great to see VR coming down in price and becoming more accessible... but it&#x27;s coming at the cost of quality, and it&#x27;s bringing the rest of VR down with it. As an example, Onward VR recently added support for Quest in its game. The process of doing so required a significant scale down in the quality of graphics, sound, and all kinds of things that were great about the game. Over night the game took a nose dive, and that&#x27;s not even mentioning the complete community change that came along with it.<p>EDIT: here&#x27;s a video with examples: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=TVgxk0ytTyI&amp;feature=emb_title" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=TVgxk0ytTyI&amp;feature=emb_titl...</a>

&gt; Quest 2 requires your Facebook account to login<p>That&#x27;s a strange barrier to entry. I haven&#x27;t had a FB in years, and have zero interest in going back, not even for some great hardware.

I was surprised that it was $100 less expensive than the Quest I bought last year. I ordered a Quest 2.<p>I have always enjoyed writing game software more than playing games. The Quest changed that, I use it every day. (I worked on VR at SAIC, games for Nintendo, and VR for Disney.)<p>I think FB priced this for huge adoption. I have totally loved the Star Wars Vader Immortal trilogy so I can’t wait for the Star Wars game. Other favorites are ping pong, racket ball, and some of the 3D art people post.

I&#x27;m really curious to see an engineering presentation on the Quest 2, how it utilizes the XR2 hardware, and what it adds on top. From my understanding, the XR2 is capable of doing all the tracking on its own. The previous gen of hardware was based on the 835, which did not have SLAM on-chip, and thus Oculus&#x27; tracking algorithms were the big value-add over the competition.<p>And originally, Oculus was behind the curve on hadware implementations. The Lenovo Mirage Solo was the first 6-DOF headset, a year prior to the Quest, also running the 835. The Vive Focus was in the middle of the two. So, if the XR2 is doing the heavy lifting, it would suggest a big roadblock for competitor devices has been lifted.<p>So how much of the Quest 2 is above and beyond the Qualcomm XR2 VR headset reference design minus Facebook&#x27;s services integrations?

Pretty scathing review on Ars:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;2020&#x2F;09&#x2F;review-we-do-not-recommend-the-299-oculus-quest-2-as-your-next-vr-system&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;2020&#x2F;09&#x2F;review-we-do-not-reco...</a>

As someone who only barely follows VR, what benefits would this have over the upcoming HP Reverb G2 besides price?<p>I was eying the HP Reverb G2 for high resolution, and for its Microsoft Flight Simulator support.<p>EDIT: ah I just found this: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;HPReverb&#x2F;comments&#x2F;it5jvj&#x2F;hp_reverb_g2_vs_oculus_quest_2&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;HPReverb&#x2F;comments&#x2F;it5jvj&#x2F;hp_reverb_...</a>

Genuine question - if this was the perfect AR&#x2F;VR device, would you use it even though it is a FB product? I have real concerns about privacy and the need to log in with FB credentials, but I am also very hopeful for devices that can continue to grow the market and help take it mainstream.

So, are there any sex games or is this going to be yet another walled kindergarten like we&#x27;re used to nowadays?

the whole mandatory facebook thing has made me want to sell my quest. Its a shame, I think its truely the best device out there. I was able to play have life alyx totally wirelessly and enjoy the full experience, and I dont think there is anything close out there to emulate this.

Battery doesn’t last as long as the old version (which didn’t exactly have fantastic battery life in the first place).<p>And you’ll soon HAVE to use your FB account with it.<p>Interesting they’ve killed the Rift S. So they’re all in on the Quest.

I wonder how the FB leadership team thinks about this whole FB&#x2F;Oculus integration. It is clear that they think adding a &quot;social&quot; component to Oculus is going to help the Quest gain traction.<p>But the question is, why does that &quot;social&quot; component have to be Facebook? With all the negative baggage a FB account carries with it, maybe the easier option would&#x27;ve been to let Oculus build its own social model, à la Play Station Network-style?

I&#x27;m sure I&#x27;m deeply in the minority here, but I still wish PCVR (or a native headset&#x2F;driver) worked on Mac. My MBP&#x27;s graphics are beefy enough to handle the sort of games or experiences I&#x27;d want to enjoy in VR.<p>I had the DK2 when Mac was still supported, and even my old MacBook Air could drive it well enough to enable some pretty enjoyable experiences from third parties writing for it. The solar system tour in particular was a favorite of mine.<p>Granted, it&#x27;s not a hardcore gamer-friendly setup, but there was still a lot to enjoy, and even develop for.

This gets a really poor review from Ars Technica: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;2020&#x2F;09&#x2F;review-we-do-not-recommend-the-299-oculus-quest-2-as-your-next-vr-system&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;2020&#x2F;09&#x2F;review-we-do-not-reco...</a><p>The downgraded controllers and the awkward IPD adjustment system are the deal breakers for me.<p>From the review:<p>The takeaway: Bullet points for this review A better screen, both in pixel resolution and refresh rate.<p>90Hz, but when? Facebook isn&#x27;t clear about higher frame rate support.<p>More powerful wireless-VR hardware, which powers nifty under-the-hood tricks.<p>Less battery life. You&#x27;ll barely exceed two hours of gaming on a single charge.<p>A cheaper, flimsier headstrap. You can pay more for a nicer one.<p>A baffling change to the &quot;IPD&quot; slider. Only certain skulls need apply.<p>The controllers are the same... but worse. I&#x27;m a bit shocked by this one.<p>The F-word. Yeah, we&#x27;ll get into that.

There is one thing that will make me buy VR, it&#x27;s a full field of vision.<p>They say virtual reality, but they sell virtual binoculars...

I&#x27;m thinking of pre-ordering it for my family. I&#x27;m not going to use my personal FB account for this. I&#x27;m assuming one can open a new FB account just for this, right? Also, is it worth getting the 256GB for extra $100? Never had a VR device and not sure how many games&#x2F;apps you can have on 64G.

And <i>still</i> no support for multiple profiles on one device. The opposite, actually, since you have to link your FB profile.<p>I get it Facebook, you want me to buy one for each of my kids. That&#x27;s not going to happen, so all you&#x27;re doing is annoying me. :&#x2F;

Mandating to link Facebook account with this VR set screams red flags to me.

I worry that Quest-2 will be the death of VR as the next UX frontier.<p>VR tech is still a few years away from being &#x27;seamless&#x27;. Historically, such moonshot ideas have only worked when they develop as expensive hobbies for years, until the tech catches up and they can be offered at a reasonable price.<p>Facebook seems to want to skip that step. Give people a half-baked product before it is ready for the market.<p>It is a real shame, because all the tech needed for great VR getting better at a rapid pace in consumer products. Mobile processing, Tiny&#x2F;curved displays, high refresh rate accommodations, low latency throughout the stack, battery efficiency are all getting better FAST.<p>With a few killer games and apps for VR, we could have had a killer consumer VR headset in 2-3 years. I worry that the Quest 2&#x27;s half-bakedness will forever ruin the reputation of VR in the eyes of your average person.

I&#x27;m an Oculus CV1 owner and I still love it.<p>The next one I&#x27;m buying is the HP Reverb G2. The resolution is phenomenal: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QZvPnd_xTBs" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QZvPnd_xTBs</a> Consider it when you&#x27;re deciding on a headset.

I still don&#x27;t understand why Facebook management has allowed Instagram and WhatsApp to exist where they pretend your account is a separate entity to Facebook and just makes do with having it linked via shadow profile.<p>Yet with Oculus they&#x27;re being so hard and forcing it into the FB infrastructure at the most critical point in it&#x27;s lifespan. Most tech critics of it are all perfectly happy using Instagram, I just don&#x27;t understand why Oculus accounts couldn&#x27;t have just remained the same as that other than some executive being judged by some poorly thought out metrics and using this to meet them.

How do I bypass Facebook login and how do I use it on Linux?

I’m hoping the improved graphics specs and refresh rate help people (like me) who are sensitive to VR motion sickness.

The only thing strange on the VR front is I don&#x27;t understand why Facebook isn&#x27;t promoting the fitness aspect of VR? I&#x27;ve already lost 20lbs just from playing video games. It would definitely siphon some people away from peleton like products if they did a marketing push in this direction.<p>It would be great if there was a central VR game hub that kept track of fitness. I know YUR exists, but adoption isn&#x27;t widespread because it&#x27;s not built into the platform.

I&#x27;ve planned to buy Valve index and this announcement gave me a pause. But ultimately I&#x27;ll be sticking with Index for 120hz refresh rate (vs 90hz of Quest 2)

Price is too high, which has nothing to do with money. requires facebook login.

Can anyone comment how well the latest VR headsets work for people who wear spectacles?

Really sad that they are getting out of PC based VR. That said, my rift has been sitting in a corner for a year. I was really impressed from a technical perspective and felt the tech showed great promise. Good for HTC I guess.

I&#x27;m going to buy a RTX 3080 and was looking for a cheap VR headset...

A good video review (Adam Savage&#x27;s Tested): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=_x6lux6f_6g" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=_x6lux6f_6g</a>

The Quest has a resolution of 1440 × 1600 per eye. So the 50% more pixels works out to 20% more scan lines (1920) and 27% more pixels&#x2F;line (1832). 90 Hz has potential perhaps via PC link.

I’m happy to be locked to a store when I use it as a gadget, but when I use it as a PC VR headset, am I really stuck with Oculus store still? Why can’t any title from Steam or wherever work?

Is it possible to use a VR headset as a daily-driver desktop environment? I&#x27;m interested in programming inside a VR desktop; not programming for VR, but putting on a VR headset and writing code in a text editor inside a VR environment. This is too nuanced for a search engine to return any meaningful results. I was never that interested in VR until this idea occurred to me, so I don&#x27;t know if the technology is there yet. Surely somebody must have tried this already?

I don&#x27;t know all the tradeoffs involved, but seems like a downgrade to go from the pure black of OLED to the backlight bleedthrough of LCD for a screen so close to the eyes.

But I need a facebook account to use one of these dont I ?

Really like the idea of not having to have a beefy PC off to the side. I&#x27;m an enthusiast, but also have a job, so the prospect of having to sort this aspect out represented a barrier to entry I wasn&#x27;t willing to address.<p>On the negative side, the look of the device is still pretty &quot;uncool&quot;. I think some lessons there could be learned from the PS4 VR.

I wonder about the CPU&amp;GPU performance of Quest 2. The biggest pain point of Quest 1 was low detail in the scenes in supported games, mainly due to low spec. I know it&#x27;s a compromise when you are not hooked with a cable to a PC, but I wish they could use Apple&#x27;s fastest ARM CPUs :)

I bought a rift S exactly one month ago. Disappointing to hear they are discontinuing it next year.

I am not sure if VR is really ready for prime time I have owned a cv1 and a oculus rift dev kit and after around a month I stop using it. it was fun playing games like eve railjack and fps but it doesn’t seem to grab me. VR still needs a killer app.

&gt; We’re going to focus on standalone VR headsets moving forward. We’ll no longer pursue PC-only hardware, with sales of Rift S ending in 2021. That said, the Rift Platform isn’t going anywhere.<p>Well, actually it is isn&#x27;t it?

Love my Quest but I basically only play Pavlov Shack, a game that requires sideloading and I am somewhat sure will not come to the official Quest store.<p>Will probably end up selling mine and getting another brand.

I love how they show people in the pictures who are in wide empty places with just a single tree behind and no furniture and nothing on the floor. Is this some kind of alien landscape?

It&#x27;s quite ironic that by attempting to force me to use a Facebook account, all they&#x27;ve accomplished is forcing me to exclusively pirate my VR titles.

This is pretty huge, although bummer with the Facebook deeplinking.<p>Much better resolution for just $300 including the controllers. That&#x27;s the price of a large monitor.

Is anyone making a similar standalone without forced FB ?

Did they say something about the FoV?<p>I have to admit, I would prefer more FoV instead of higher resolution.

Is is possible to quickly buy a quest 1 this month and be able to use an Occulus account?

&gt; Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ XR2 Platform offering higher AI capability<p>Now, having a CPU is considered AI?

Not going to buy a device run by the most abusive spying company to watch porn on.

Avoid avoid avoid. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;2020&#x2F;09&#x2F;review-we-do-not-recommend-the-299-oculus-quest-2-as-your-next-vr-system&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;2020&#x2F;09&#x2F;review-we-do-not-reco...</a>

The specs are really good for the price and clean design is aesthetically pleasing, but I won&#x27;t be able to enjoy it knowing that facebook is behind it.<p>I can wait for their competitors to catch up :)

Can I watch netflix in bed with this?

of course...right after I bought an oculus quest 1.

What is the FOV?

More like 3D TVs &quot;2&quot;.

Anyone who buys into the Facebook borg today has blood on their hands.<p>There&#x27;s no way to sugarcoat it, hand-wave about business units, make puppy dog eyes about such smart well meaning people...<p>The culture and company behavior is fundamentally compromised, irredeemable to all appearances, and is the bedrock of the contemporary severing of a significant number of people not only from the political mainstream, but from consensus reality.<p>It&#x27;s a shame they bought Oculus. That renders it a non-option.

Quest can&#x27;t do VR titles. It will always be a niche mobile game market that can&#x27;t give VR justice. If they would integrate h264 hardware decode and allowed the PC oculus software to stream to it, then we&#x27;d be in business.<p>Wireless VR is a big problem right now, it&#x27;s expensive, doesn&#x27;t work well, and for it&#x27;s price you might as well get better hardware.<p>Oculus should ship quest with a cheap little 5Ghz USB broadcaster that you can put into your gaming PC and the oculus software can then stream through. Everyone wants to be able to have no cords and tuck their PC into a corner, not drag it with them.