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The Meta Quest 3 is finally here after teasing us back in June, bringing a ton of new features and improvements to the table. The most significant one is probably the full-color passthrough, which lets you see what’s around you in real time, and also lets you enjoy some cool mixed-reality features. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Here are 10 things that are new with the Meta headset.
For the first time, you can experience mixed-reality features on the Quest 3. They are not as fancy as the Vision Pro, but they still let you do things like “watching immersive NBA games courtside or opening a portal to another dimension right from your couch.”
The Quest 3’s mixed-reality features are powered by two cameras on the front that give you a much clearer and colourful view of your surroundings – unlike the Quest 2’s black-and-white footage. Meta says that it now has “over 10x more pixels in Passthrough compared to Quest 2 and 3x more pixels compared to Quest Pro.”
With the addition of full-colour passthrough, Meta has also added the ability to quickly switch between immersive VR content and passthrough-facilitated AR experiences with a simple double-tap on the side of the headset.
The Meta Quest 3 is the world’s first device to feature the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform, which Meta says was developed in collaboration with Qualcomm. This chip boosts the graphic processing power of the Quest 3 to twice that of the Quest 2, delivering sharper details and faster loading times for games.
You can enjoy the improved graphics with over 100 new and upgraded titles that are coming to the headset by the end of 2023. More than half of these are brand-new apps, and the rest are existing titles that will get upgrades or MR features on the Meta Quest Store.
Meta Quest 3 can map your space automatically and recognize important elements like walls, furniture, and objects, so they can interact with the virtual world. This creates many new possibilities for fun experiences that let you stay connected to the world around you. For example, you can throw a virtual ball in a game and see it bounce off your real wall.
Additionally, Meta will introduce interactive, spatially aware digital objects called ‘augments’ starting next year. “Imagine hanging your favourite piece of art on an accent wall or a weather augment on your desk that alerts you before rain starts—and every time you put on your headset, these digital objects appear in the same places,” reads Meta’s press release.
The Meta Quest 3 boasts an enhanced 4K+ Infinite Display, which consists of two LCDs with pancake optics that deliver a stunning resolution of 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye. That’s a 30% increase in resolution compared to the previous model. The display also offers a wider field of view, about 15% more than the Meta Quest 2.
The improved pancake lens stack makes the Meta Quest 3 40% sleeker than the Meta Quest 2 in terms of optic profile. This sleeker design allows for a more comfortable fit and a better balance of weight distribution.
The Meta Quest’s Touch Plus controllers have gotten rid of the tracking ring and added TruTouch haptics, along with more ergonomic shapes. They also feature a lens distance adjustment wheel that lets you fine-tune the position of the lenses for optimal fit and clarity.
The speakers have also received a major upgrade this year with support for spatial audio and 40% louder audio range than the Quest 2. This means you can enjoy clearer and richer sound quality and bass performance.
Meta claims that the Quest 3 is easy to use and doesn’t require any wires or battery packs to function, unlike some other headsets (cough, Apple Vision Pro, cough). All you need is a smartphone to begin the setup process.
