Oculus Quest 2 – Test – Tek.no (2023)

Rarely has a product caused as much excitement in our offices as the first-generation Oculus Quest. "Everyone" wanted to try it (of course, that was long before the Corona pandemic), and almost everyone thought the experience was great.

We found that out thenThe virtual reality revolution began with the Oculus QuestEspecially since you no longer need a fancy gaming PC or a dedicated VR room, but can game anywhere there's space and without a huge cable harness hanging off your back.

This is the future, apparently: Since last year, Facebook-owned Oculus decided to ditch the Oculus Rift S PC VR headset entirely, to focus entirely on standalone Quest models.

So now the second generation Quest is ready and we've been testing it for a couple of weeks. Among the novelties we find mainly internal screens with 50% more pixels than before (1,832 x 1,920 pixels per eye, compared to 1,440 x 1,600 before), a new Qualcomm processor called XR2 and 50% more RAM than before. – 6 GB vs. 4 .

Storage space on the cheaper model is still 64 gigabytes, while the upgraded model now has 256 gigabytes of storage compared to the previous 128 gigabytes. The price has also dropped since the first generation, with NOK 4,000 for the smaller version and NOK 5,000 for more storage, both around 1,000 kroner less than before. Also, some minor exterior changes have been made, but more on that later.

But first, we have to talk about Facebook. An Oculus account is no longer required to use Quest 2 - you'll need to log in with your Facebook account (existing customers can theoretically keep their Oculus account, but potentially with limited functionality).

Connecting an account so full of potentially identifiable information to a gaming universe like this is, for lack of another word, absolutely horrible. The link is obviously a concern for those who don't have a Facebook account for a number of reasons, but it also raises a number of privacy challenges, since everything you do in the world of Oculus is suddenly covered by the Oculus Terms of Service. Facebook.

It's currently not 100% clear how Facebook will enforce its terms in the Oculus universe, but Facebook moderators can, for example, log in and view recordings of their movements and behavior in public spaces in the VR universe when someone is complain to you or you. is complaining about someone else. What if you get kicked out of Facebook for some reason? Not to mention that if you delete your Facebook account, you will lose all the games you have purchased. Zuckerberg no, you have to keep your greedy hands here.

There was also some controversy recently when Oculus customer support responded to a customer who couldn't connect two headsets to their account at the same time because it was against Facebook's terms of service. Subsequently, the company had to go out on Twitter and deny it.

IT'S OKAY. No more Facebook. Let's take a look at the product itself. The real part you have in mind is less cut than before, without being particularly noticeable in practice. What you'll likely notice is that the first generation rubber strap has been replaced with a significantly inferior cloth strap. First, the actual design of the strap is completely different, as it now only has one attachment point running the length of your head, rather than an inverted V at the back.

The V had two advantages, as it distributed the weight better and, last but not least, it allowed you to use the Quest even if you had a ponytail on your back, for example. The new strap is also a bit more difficult to adjust, as the Velcro straps on the sides have been replaced with a much less intuitive fastening device on the back. It works the same way you would fasten a crossbody strap, for example, but it would have been better with Velcro.

In any case, for the undersigned, the new fabric headband is also significantly less comfortable than before, both because it distributes less weight and, last but not least, rubs more on the sides of the head. Oculus sells what they call an "Elite Strap" as an accessory, which adjusts the fit with a rotary wheel on the back, and we probably would have considered getting one if we planned to use the headset a lot. It costs NOK 500, so even with the Elite bracelet you'll surely do better financially than the first-gen Quest.

Otherwise, the weight is reduced by about 10%, which probably has a slight positive impact on comfort, although much of this is likely due to replacing the rubber on the strap with cloth.

Oculus has also replaced the Oculus Quest 1's dual OLED screens with a single LCD panel, which in effect is a bit of software magic, delivering an image to each of your eyes. In terms of quality, this isn't a major downgrade, but it does mean that you no longer get the perfect eye relief (IPD, pupillary distance) settings that you had with the One. Below that was a slider that allowed you to continuously adjust the distance between the two. lenses to get the sharpest image for you.

In Quest 2, this is replaced by the fact that you have to physically press the lens directly, and you also only get three steps, which means you're very lucky if you have perfectly set eyes. The fact that you have to physically push on the lens also makes it much more difficult to adjust while wearing the headset, which goes a long way in determining what distance works best.

It also comes with a small plastic mount that is used to increase the distance between the lens and the eye, which should allow you to use the Quest 2 with glasses. It does it on its own, but in the long run it was so uncomfortable for the signer's glasses that I decided to wear glasses just for fun. Glasses with smaller temples might have been less uncomfortable—"your mileage may vary," as the saying goes. Even when wearing the VR headset, it does get a bit hot, but this is hard to avoid as immersing yourself in VR often hides as much of your surroundings as possible.

However, there's very little to say about the VR experience itself. The higher resolution makes it much more difficult to see the spacing between individual pixels, often referred to as a "screen gate" or lattice effect. This is true almost regardless of what you're doing, be it playing the game or browsing the UI, though you often give it little thought when zombies cross your path in Arizona Sunshine.

Whether or not games that were available in the first-gen Quest look better in Quest 2 should theoretically depend on whether the developers chose to include Quest 2-specific enhancements, but we don't think that's wrong, most things to say get a pulse image of the extra pixels in front of your eyes. Otherwise, improvements in games updated for Quest 2 are different for each game. For example, the adventure arc In Death: Unchained received a longer draw distance, meaning the boundary where the environment is drawn is further away from the player, while the classic Beat Saber gained support for up to five players at a time. time.

If you compare it to the PC version of several games, you'll probably find the Quest edition to be visually weaker, but at least you have the option to connect Quest to your PC via USB-C and get the "full" experience. Oculus calls it the Oculus Link and sells a separate five-meter USB-C cable for this purpose, but you should be able to use other cables as well. We haven't had a chance to test this yet.

The increased resolution certainly has a nice effect when watching videos on the Quest 2. To say that Netflix is ​​sharp would be a flat lie, but it's still nice to have the option to watch movies or series on one. giant screen inside VR environment. . The built-in speakers have also been updated, which is a welcome thing.

They used to be an emergency solution, but are now fully usable as a sound source, especially since the volume has been increased considerably. Headphones are probably still preferable, but where the Quest 1 had a minijack connector on each side, the Quest 2 only has one, located roughly on the left ear. We still miss the ability to connect Bluetooth headphones, but we also see that difficulties with syncing sound and picture can make that a challenge.

As mentioned in the introduction, the improvements are due to the fact that Quest 2 uses a new chip from Qualcomm called XR2. This one is based on the Snapdragon 865 and should have about twice the performance of the Snapdragon 835 chip in the Oculus Quest 1. It also unlocks another improvement that we haven't seen while Oculus promised to come, and that's an increase in 72 frame rates. at 90 Hz. It will put the Quest 2 in line with most PC-based VR rigs and should smooth out the image and increase viewing comfort. In theory, the switch from OLED to LCD should result in lower black levels on the Quest 2, but we can't say we sacrificed much thought during the test period.

The whole magic of the Oculus Quest is that you can use it anywhere, and of course that magic stays in Quest 2. You don't need huge sensor towers here, you can just "draw" a gaming surface on the floor and go. The VR headset also remembers its surroundings and can identify your Guardian area the next time you turn it on.

Every time you get close to the outer limit you set, virtual walls will appear in your game so you can avoid bumping into walls, cabinets, TVs, or anything else. Very smart and last but not least very necessary. Oculus also recommends at least 2 x 2 meters for "room scale" gaming, but it's also possible with sitting and standing VR.

Controllers are tracked via sensors built into the VR headset (so-called inside-out) and still perform smoothly, even in intense games like the aforementioned Beat Saber. Perhaps the external sensors would bother us a little less about the fact that the racket disappears from view so often in Eleven: Table Tennis, but at the same time it could be that the undersigned is a little less impressive than me at table tennis. virtual table.

The Quest 2 also has hand tracking, where you have to feel, for example, that you stretch out your fingers to press a virtual button or something similar. It has to be said that this is less reliable than controller tracing, but the feature still exists.

The controls have changed slightly from the first-gen Quest, too: the general layout is basically the same, but more space has been added where you'd normally place your thumb when you're not using the front panel buttons. It's for the better, we think. However, the Quest 1 controllers had a slightly bumpy rubber backing that made them easier to grip, while the new ones are completely smooth. It is a pity.

It's also a shame the controllers aren't rechargeable. They each use one AA battery, but at least they last a long time on one battery. We used the Quest 2 a lot during the test period and the drivers aren't dead yet. The VR headset itself has the same battery life as before - around two hours for gaming and three hours for other uses - but we think the battery life is likely to be a bit weaker than its predecessor, so maybe it's a little less than two hours. Two hours was a bit of a squeeze, but you can still buy an extra battery that doubles your battery life, or just plug in an emergency charger while you game.

The included charger also takes a long time to charge the Quest 2, making it all the more frustrating that the battery life is so short.

One point that's also a bit frustrating about Oculus is that they currently don't have any form of family sharing for purchased content, which is particularly frustrating since they now require a Facebook login to get full functionality. For example, if you have a Quest 2 that you're logged into and your roommate, child, or whoever has a Quest 1 is logged into your account, there's no way to share content between the two accounts, requiring you to purchase the same game over and over again.

Another annoying point is that the ability to play a game together with the same account on multiple Oculus devices is not an official feature. If a developer uses Facebook's servers to provide their multiplayer feature, this is impossible, but if the developer has their own servers, they can allow it.

For example, I played Eleven: Table Tennis with a friend where we were both logged into my account, although that's not possible with many other games. In thisThe Reddit threadThere is a relatively recent list. That wouldn't have been a problem if the family split had been possible, but it isn't.

Higher content resolution was perhaps the best upgrade we could have asked for in Oculus Quest 2, and that's how we got it. This makes all content look better and you no longer see the "grid" between pixels to almost the same extent as in 1st generation search. The 90 Hz refresh rate should ensure even smoother images in the future.

The fact that you can grab the VR headset and jump into gaming anywhere is still an amazing feature, and the even lower price than before could also make VR accessible to even more people.

At the same time, it's clear that Oculus has also cut corners to get the lowest price possible. First of all, it probably applies to the new harness, which is a bit more difficult to adjust and no less comfortable than before. Secondly, the ability to adjust the distance between the eyes has been reduced to only three levels, not continuous as before. The battery life is a bit short and the supplied charger also takes a long time to charge the glasses.

In addition, it means that as a new Oculus user, you will have to log in with your Facebook account, with all the consequences that this entails. If you've read this far, we're probably assuming you're one of those people who think that quitting Mission 2 isn't serious enough, and therefore little stands in the way of progress.

Admittedly, it's far from revolutionary at this point, but the Quest 2 is definitely a solid evolution of the original Oculus Quest.