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Journalism of Courage
Soon after Apple launched its first Mixed Reality headset – the Vision Pro, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reviewed it and said the “Quest 3 is the better product, despite being seven times less expensive.” With the Quest 3 offering a similar high-resolution pass-through feature and weighing 120 grams less than the Vision Pro, it may be true to a certain extent.
Now, Meta seems to be taking on the Vision Pro with a new UI update for the Quest 3 that will offer a personalized user interface. In a recent ‘Ask me anything’ live session on Instagram, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said he did not want to share many details about what the update will offer but said that the new personalized UI will let users pin windows so they can walk around and the windows follow you and anchor windows in real space. This means Meta Quest 3 users will be able to do chores, walk around, and pin a window to the wall, similar to the Vision Pro.
While the current version of Quest UI does let you do some of these things, Bosworth says the upcoming UI update will “make things feel really comfortable and clear.” During the AMA session, Meta CTO said the update will also improve the typing experience on the Quest headset, with users able to pin the virtual keyboard to a table and type with all their fingers.
Meta also seems to be working on the ability to interact and control nearby devices like smart lights, plugs, and other connected appliances, with Bosworth talking briefly about how casting and streaming will open new ways to consume content on Quest headsets. He went to confirm that the Quest 3 will also get a ‘lying down mode,’ a feature already available on the Quest 2 and the Quest Pro.
However, there is no information on when the upcoming Quest UI update will be available, but rumours have it that Meta will roll out the new mixed reality features sometime later this year, most likely when it announces the much-anticipated Quest Pro 2 headset, which is said to be more feature-packed than the Vision Pro.
Last month, Apple launched the Vision Pro in the United States. The ‘Spatial computer’, which runs on VisionOS has more than 600 apps at launch that were exclusively designed for the headset. While the Quest 3 requires wearers to use controllers to navigate around the user interface, the Vision Pro is hands-free as it uses a combination of hand and eye tracking.
