© Meta
At the beginning of October, Mark Zuckerberg presented his new toys designed to land before your eyes. On the program, the Orion project (mixed reality glasses that make the Vision Pro look old-fashioned), new Rayban glasses and the Quest 3S, the latest virtual reality headset designed to democratize the technology.
< p>Last week, Meta invited us to London to discover these new products, with the exception of the very confidential Orion project (sob). While waiting to learn a little more about Rayban glasses , check out our first review of the Quest 3S, the most affordable virtual reality headset on the market.
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Like the Quest 3, the 3S does not have the noble materials (aluminum, steel, etc.) of the Vision Pro. And for good reason, it costs ten times less. Meta opts for a matte light gray plastic that looks great and also has the advantage of not weighing on the neck.
With its 515 g on the scale, the Quest 3S is light and comfortable (for a VR headset). A significant asset for those who would like to immerse themselves, for example, in a Lord of the Rings marathon.
Another good point: the original straps, which hug the back and top of the skull, are also very comfortable and easy to adjust. Perfect for Meta's “beginner” target.
The headset comes with two Nintendo Switch-style controllers that you strap to your wrist to avoid accidents (especially when gaming and for sports activities). They are not essential for navigation since it can also be done with your finger and eye, as on the Vision Pro, with obviously less precision.
Despite these good ingredients and the use of padded ear cushions, the Quest 3S suffers from the flaw of all AR/VR headsets: it tends to compress the face too much. After our twenty-minute test of Batman Arkham VR, we already had traces of the helmet around our eyes, like a ski mask. Jean-Claude Dusse, if you're watching us…
© Meta
For 330 euros, we didn't expect exceptional image quality. Reading the technical sheet confirmed this idea. The Quest 3S has in fact two LCD screens projecting an image with a resolution of 773 dpi (compared to 1 218 dpi for the Quest 3) and a field of vision of 96 degrees (110º for the Quest 3). We were really afraid that “it would hurt your eyes”.
In reality, the Quest 3S doesn't do too badly considering its price. For 2D content (such as a video), the image quality is very good. On the other hand, the technical limitations are felt in more immersive content. This is explained by the use of Fresnel lenses, of lower quality than the Pancake of the Quest 3. In concrete terms, the edges of the image are always blurred.
These flaws are far from being prohibitive and do not dampen our enthusiasm in any way. The Quest 3S is indeed intended for a novice audience, who have therefore never tasted better quality products. For a first step, the experience is completely convincing, especially since the sound quality greatly contributes to the immersion.
Meta has made no concessions on performance either. The Quest 3S features the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip as the Quest 3, along with 8GB of RAM and the same controllers. Enough to enjoy a mixed reality experience (which allows you to see the world through the headset) that is quite decent, even in a dimly lit environment.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Furthermore, these small technical sacrifices make it possible to improve the autonomy of the headset which can reach 2h30, or the duration of a long film. This is more or less the displayed autonomy of the Apple Vision Pro, without carrying around a battery in your pocket.
Like the rest of the industry, Meta is confronting the limits of the uses of VR and mixed reality. Paying more than 500 euros (and up to 4,000 euros) to watch a movie or break bricks with a fake lightsaber is a lot.
For the release of the Quest 3S, Meta's engineers didn't really change the recipe or find a killer feature. On the other hand, trying out existing uses for an affordable price remains interesting.
So, what can you do with the Quest 3S?? Everything the Quest 3 already does: play sports in virtual reality (not always very convincing), watch a movie in cinema mode or work on your Windows PC via floating windows.
Finally (and most importantly), the Quest 3S lets you play video games. To reach a wide audience, Meta directly integrates Batman Arkham VR, the game without a doubt most likely to make us love virtual reality.
Of all the experiences tested in London, playing Batman Arkham VR is by far the most exciting. From the first seconds, seeing his arms, legs and torso covered with the costume of the dark knight takes us back to childhood.
In Batman Arkham VR, we fight, of course, but we also move like Batman, in first person. Stretch out your arm and you send the grappling hook to a building. Spread them, and you launch yourself into the void to glide like a bat.
If the graphic quality leaves no illusion that we are in a video game, the experience is nonetheless immersive. After twenty minutes of play, we want more. And if the future of VR was through gaming ? Maybe. One thing is for sure: Batman Arkham VR almost justifies the purchase of the Quest 3S on its own.
Technically, the Quest 3S is far from perfect. While its plastic design provides appreciable comfort and lightness, the image quality remains below what can be found on the market. Can we be offended by this? ? Not really. The great strength of the Quest 3S is its price. Offered at 330 euros, it is almost half the price of the Quest 3. Apple's Vision Pro is 12 times more expensive!
If you are pragmatic, you can do with the 3S everything you do with another mixed reality headset (watch movies, play, work, do sports, etc.) with reduced image quality. These sacrifices are, in our opinion, largely acceptable given the price.
Because the contributions of VR are still far from obvious to the general public. We understand that spending more than 500 euros (and up to 4,000 euros) for a technology that we are not convinced by is far from obvious (or even completely crazy). But for 330 euros, the question arises.
With the Quest 3S, Meta has set itself the mission of making mixed reality accessible to the general public. After a few hours of experience, this mission seems accomplished. A more in-depth test will allow us to know if Meta really saw right or if, like other headsets of the genre, the Quest 3S will end up living its life alone in the back of a closet.
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