Pico 4 review: Questing for greatness - Pocket-lint

(Pocket-lint) - For a agelong time, the Meta Quest 2 was the undisputed king of standalone VR headsets, with nary coming adjacent to offering the aforesaid performance, practicality and affordability.

Now, though, that seems to person changed, with the instauration of the Pico 4. It boasts amended specifications and a little terms point, truthful it looks to beryllium a precise enticing option.

There are much similarities, too, Pico is owned by ByteDance, the genitor institution of TikTok - truthful some of the apical standalone headsets person ties to societal media platforms. The conflict of the metaverses has begun.

The question is, what's the Pico 4 similar successful the existent world? And tin it genuinely vie with Quest 2? We've fixed the caller headset a thorough testing, and here's what we found.

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Design

• Weight: 586g
• Rigid caput strap with rear artillery placement
• Motorised stepless IPD adjustment

The Pico 4 intelligibly takes immoderate plan inspiration from the Quest 2, with its mostly-white decorativeness and creaseless curved edges. However, it adds immoderate flair of its ain with the unsocial glossy achromatic beforehand panel, which makes the headset lucifer skis goggles.

We similar the look, but the achromatic sheet is precise prone to fingerprint smudges and collecting dust, which somewhat ruins the effect. Most of the time, you'll beryllium wearing it, alternatively than looking astatine it, truthful it's not excessively overmuch of a concern.

What's much important is comfort, and this is an country wherever the Pico 4 truly shines. The artillery is located astatine the rear of the headset strap, which balances the value crossed your caput and makes it overmuch much comfortable, particularly for agelong sessions.

Comparatively, the Quest 2 has the artillery located successful the front, on with each the different hardware, which results successful overmuch much unit connected your face. The Pico 4 is really the heavier of the 2 headsets, but due to the fact that of the value organisation it feels overmuch lighter, it's an fantabulous design.

The Pico 4 features a rigid strap plan that's precise akin to the Quest 2's Elite strap, which is sold arsenic an optional accessory. As modular the Quest 2 comes with basal cloth straps, truthful the Pico 4 feels overmuch much premium and modern by comparison.

The visor tin beryllium tilted for casual entry, past the strap tin pivot down implicit the wearer's head. It tightens utilizing a instrumentality connected the rear, benignant of similar a operation helmet, oregon the aforementioned Elite strap.

IPD accommodation is motorised and tin beryllium accessed from the paper settings wrong the headset. You tin set it from 62-72mm, which should accommodate astir people, and is acold much flexible than the Quest 2's system, which lone offers 3 preset IPD positions.

Display and audio

• 2160 x 2160 solution per oculus astatine 72/90Hz
• Pancake lenses with a 105-degree tract of view
• Integrated stereo headband speakers, Bluetooth 5.1 audio support

Moving connected to the visuals and it's much bully news. We were instantly impressed with the clarity, peculiarly towards the edges of the frame. This is acknowledgment to the caller pancake lenses, and it's 1 of the technology's main benefits.

Of course, the solution is higher than the Quest 2, arsenic well, which makes things look overmuch sharper. Unfortunately, we didn't person the Quest 2 connected manus to trial side-by-side, but we've utilized Meta's headset capable successful the past to beryllium alert that this is simply a measurement up successful representation fidelity.

The caller lenses aren't perfect, there's inactive immoderate susceptibility to flaring, which is peculiarly noticeable with a achromatic logo connected a achromatic background. It's surely amended than what we've experienced with fresnel-lensed headsets, though.

There are stereo speakers recovered successful the headset set and they enactment well, sounding rather akin to the Quest 2's speakers. We were told by friends that the headset does rather a bully occupation of localising the sound, too, they were hardly capable to perceive our audio from crossed the room. Though that's not the lawsuit if you truly crank the volume.

The headset supports Bluetooth audio output, truthful you tin easy brace a acceptable of earbuds if you privation much immersion oregon privacy. There's nary 3.5mm headphone socket connected the Pico 4, but it works with a USB-C to headphone adapter, if you similar wired headphones.

Battery and controllers

• 5300 mAh artillery - up to 3 hours of playtime per charge
• Qualcomm QC 3.0 20W accelerated charging
• Dual interaction controllers powered by AA batteries (approx 80 hours)

The artillery volition springiness you astir 2.5 to 3 hours of playtime per charge, which is precise serviceable, but a small disappointing considering it's a larger artillery battalion than the 1 successful the Quest 2. In immoderate case, some headsets connection astir the aforesaid artillery life. The Pico should complaint a spot faster, though, arsenic it supports 20W accelerated charging.

The artillery was much than capable for our mean usage, but if you consciousness the request for much power, it's precise casual to hook up an outer artillery pack. In fact, due to the fact that the positioning of the USB-C larboard and the caput strap is precise akin to the Quest 2, third-party artillery solutions volition mostly beryllium compatible with the Pico, too.

The controllers person a fastener layout that's astir identical to the Meta controllers, which is large erstwhile it comes to power strategy compatibility successful games. The astir notable quality with the Pico controllers is the positioning of the tracking ring. Rather than being positioned similar a halo astatine the apical of the controller, the ringing wraps astir the backmost of your hand.

This plan allows you to bring your hands person unneurotic without worrying astir bashing the tracking rings. It's cleanable for in-game actions similar notching an arrow, but the plan means that it's hard to fig retired which one's which astatine first. Thankfully, erstwhile you person the headset on, they're labelled with "L" and "R" to support things simple.

The controllers are powered by 2 AA batteries each and they're positioned successful a neat small sled to halt them from rattling. We were a small disappointed astatine the deficiency of a rechargeable solution, but the batteries should past for astir 80 hours and travel included successful the box, truthful it's hard to kick excessively much.

Hardware and performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2
• 8GB LPDDR4X + 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1
• 16MP colour passthrough camera

The Pico 4 uses the aforesaid Qualcomm SoC arsenic the Quest 2, but it benefits from 2GB of further RAM. Despite the spot having to thrust a higher-resolution display, the show was coagulated passim our testing.

Navigation is fluid, games load reasonably rapidly and show is rocksteady. The headset heats up a spot during extended play sessions, but a instrumentality ramps up to support things nether power and we ne'er recovered the headset to get uncomfortably warm.

There's a 16MP colour passthrough camera connected the beforehand panel, and you tin double-tap connected the broadside of the headset to get a speedy presumption of the country astir you without needing to instrumentality it off. It's not the astir awesome camera, and it surely struggles successful low-light conditions, but it's caput and shoulders supra the monochrome offering connected the Quest.

Software, PC VR and accessories

• Pico OS 5.0
• Support for tethered and wireless PC VR
• Pico Motion tracker, PC dongle, case

The Pico 4 runs Pico OS 5.0, which is simply a specially designed VR interface based connected Android. It has each the basal functions you could request and we didn't tally into immoderate glitches portion utilizing it, but it's a small barebones successful its existent state. Within a mates of weeks of having the headset, determination had already been a strategy update, truthful we're beauteous assured that its functionality volition amended with time.

This is the biggest vantage that the Meta Quest 2 has implicit the Pico 4. Since it's been astir for truthful long, its bundle and contented room person had clip to mature and beryllium refined, whereas Pico has a longer roadworthy up of it. Considering it's truthful new, it's awesome that it works arsenic good arsenic it does.

The standalone crippled room is decent successful its existent state, with astir 150 VR titles disposable to purchase. This includes immoderate of our favourites like Space Pirate Trainer, Super Hot and Arizona Sunshine. However, determination are immoderate notable omissions, like Beat Saber, that are sorely missed.

If you ain a gaming PC, you tin nexus up the Pico 4 and bask these titles easily. We adjacent recovered that moving games from the Oculus PC app worked flawlessly, on with Steam VR. We utilized a USB-C cablegram designed for the Quest 2 to link up and it was hassle-free utilizing Pico's Streaming Assistant app.

You tin besides watercourse your PC wirelessly implicit your location network, but our router wasn't up to the task, if you've got immoderate almighty networking cogwheel past you mightiness person amended results. Pico is readying to merchandise a USB dongle that volition let for wireless Wi-Fi nonstop steaming, this should outgo astir $50/£50/€50, and if it works well, we'd see it an indispensable acquisition for PC VR players.

Speaking of accessories, Pico besides plans to motorboat wearable question trackers that volition let for much close tracking of your legs. These trackers, combined with fittingness apps like Les Mills Body Combat and Pico 4's built-in calorie tracker, could harvester to make a beauteous awesome location fittingness tool.

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Writing by Luke Baker. Editing by Verity Burns.