The Meta Quest Pro looks incredible, but it won’t be for everyone
Meta has finally unveiled its Project Cambria headset, which we now know will officially be called the Meta Quest Pro.
Unveiled at Meta Connect 2022, this successor to the smash-hit Oculus Quest 2 – one of the best VR headsets we’ve used – this new headset looks set to live up to Meta’s promise of a next-gen experience, although not necessarily in the way fans expected.
Specs-wise, the Meta Quest Pro (mostly) beats out the Quest 2 with its 12GB of RAM, a new Qualcomm XR2+ chip that can deliver 50% more power than the chip in the Quest 2, and new features like eye tracking and color passthrough. Eye tracking, along with face tracking, will allow the headset to translate your emotions into VR, so that developers can now create avatars that are as expressive as you are.
Color passthrough will help the headset deliver more immersive augmented and mixed reality experiences. While you’re wearing the headset, its cameras and display will be able to see the world around you in full color, rather than the black and white that was all the Quest 2 could manage.
But it’s not all good news, unfortunately. First off, the device’s battery life is pretty disappointing. Meta told us it’ll last somewhere between one and a half and two hours; by comparison, the Oculus Quest 2 will last between two and three hours, and can go for longer if you use the official Elite Strap with battery add-on.
Meta also told us in a briefing ahead of the announcement that the Meta Quest Pro is “optimized for 90Hz”, but refused to give a straight answer as to whether a 120Hz refresh rate will be available on the hardware. Higher refresh rates help to make VR experiences less motion sickness-inducing; 90Hz is the recommended minimum and is currently the default
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