Facebook debuts Meta Quest Pro VR headset - Axios

The Meta Quet Pro headset and controllers. Photo: Ina Fried/Axios

Facebook's genitor institution connected Tuesday launched the Meta Quest Pro, a $1,499 headset designed to beryllium some much almighty and comfy than past virtual world devices.

Why it matters: Quest Pro is the archetypal large merchandise motorboat of Mark Zuckerberg's run to "build the metaverse," announced a twelvemonth ago, and Meta is looking to the caller instrumentality to beryllium that VR is the aboriginal of computing, not conscionable a niche exertion for gamers.

Details: The caller headset uses alleged pancake optics to connection lenses that are thinner and lighter than those recovered successful earlier headsets. It's besides overmuch much susceptible of blending the existent and virtual worlds.

• The caller optics besides let for much pixels, making substance easier to read. That's captious for Meta's transportation that VR tin beryllium an situation for getting existent enactment done.
• The Quest Pro besides packs a caller Qualcomm processor on with caller sensors designed to, among different things, seizure facial expressions to assistance marque avatars much realistic.
• Meta has besides improved the controllers, making them much versatile and the batteries rechargeable.

Reality check: While the Quest 2 is susceptible of showing the existent world, it does truthful lone successful black-and-white and chiefly for information purposes.

• The Quest Pro tin amusement one's surroundings successful afloat color. That's important for games with precocious mixed-reality features but besides truthful that 1 tin bash enactment successful VR and inactive instrumentality notes connected insubstantial oregon instrumentality a sip of coffee.

Meta previewed the device successful meetings with reporters, including a league with Zuckerberg and different executives held astatine the company's Reality Labs offices successful Redmond, Wash.

Our thought bubble: The headset decidedly looks and feels little bulky and besides seems similar it volition beryllium acold easier to usage successful the existent world.

The large picture: Even those who are bullish connected the conception of the metaverse admit it volition instrumentality a decennary for VR devices to connection a operation of price, comfortableness and artillery beingness to entreaty to the masses.

• With Quest Pro, Meta says it is establishing what volition beryllium 2 enduring merchandise lines. The Pro enactment volition let the institution to get much of its latest exertion retired of the labs and into products, portion the entry-level Quest aims to beryllium charismatic capable successful terms and features to connection a wide marketplace for bundle developers to merchantability in.
• In a descent shown to reporters, Meta listed astatine slightest 3 Quest and Quest Pro models connected its roadmap, though nary dates were included.

Between the lines: The situation for Meta is continuing to beforehand and beforehand the exertion without leaving customers disappointed.

To assistance span some of the spread betwixt existent devices and aboriginal possibilities, Meta showed reporters demos from its labs arsenic portion of the preview.

• Several of those focused connected audio alternatively than visuals. As we've written, spatial audio is cardinal to providing a convincing VR experience.
• In 1 almighty demo, a Meta researcher placed microphones successful each reporter's ears and utilized them to grounds a scene. When played back, successful a spooky effect, the dependable appeared to beryllium coming from precisely the points wherever it had been recorded — adjacent though what our eyes were seeing determination had wholly changed.

Other demos aimed to amusement the aboriginal of capturing real-world radical and objects to bring them into a virtual experience.

• Those demos ranged from humble improvements utilizing wide disposable exertion to highly realistic avatars lone imaginable utilizing state-of-the-art motion-capture facilities, specified arsenic 1 that Meta operates successful Pittsburgh.

Practical matters: The Quest Pro is disposable for pre-order present and volition commencement shipping Oct. 25.

Go deeper: Axios AM's heavy dive went Inside the Metaverse earlier this year. And cheque retired tomorrow's Axios Login for much connected Meta's VR effort.