Is Oculus Quest Really The Best All-In-One VR Device Today?
Short answer is “Yes, definitely”. In this post I will share my personal opinion why I think so. There are a lot of great in-depth reviews of Oculus Quest and my intention is not to write yet another review, but to rather summarize all the details that delighted me and made me smile.
Disclaimer: I am a huge VR fan, part of the VRLabs team at Progress, and there is certainly some bias, so if you are new to VR don’t rely solely on my opinion. Still, I hope that you will find these points valid when you enter this new world :)
#1: Premium package quality
This device is premium from every single aspect. The entire package implies the perception that Facebook put a lot of thought process and attention not only to the hardware, but also to little details like magnetic close on the internal box that contains the charging cable. Or the included batteries for the controllers. And for those of us that love to stay in VR for more than an hour, there is this 3 meters-long charging cable that allows you the freedom you need.
#2: Craftsmanship from the outside
Oculus Go, although a really nice entry-level device, felt cheap to me. And it can’t be otherwise, for the price tag of $200. The Quest, however, is rather premium. It is easily adjustable in size and fits perfectly on the head. Although not the most ergonomic device that I’ve tried, it is ergonomic enough to let you stay comfortably in VR for hours, especially if you are watching movies/videos.
The controllers are just awesome. Did you know of this rubber coating on the bottom half that makes the grip extremely comfortable? To me, these are simply better than the original Oculus Rift controllers.
#3: Outstanding lenses and display
The Quest is not the VR device with the best picture quality. But for an All-In-One device, the quality is mind-boggling. For example, it is better than the first Rift, which is a tethered device that uses the graphics capabilities of a powerful gaming PC. Our applications, by just porting them to Quest, felt times more crispy and vivid.
#4: Unexpectedly good tracking & guardian system
I was excited by the Quest the moment Facebook announced it. But, honestly, I wasn’t expecting its tracking and guardian systems to be great. And, besides working flawlessly (well, on rare occasions, when you get too immersed in the game, there are some minor flaws but they are indeed easily accepted as insignificant), it is also a system that you get used to in a matter of several minutes.
#5: As easy as possible app migration
If you’ve built apps for the Rift and Go, then chances are that you will be able to easily migrate them to the Quest.
Our team focuses on the business aspect of VR and we do not have experience with games, so I can talk only about line of business applications.
In fact, the biggest difference between the Go and the Quest lies in how an app handles user input and what level of interaction it allows for. We spent like a week to develop a cross-platform Pointer and Interaction abstractions, based on the latest Unity3D input device APIs, that just work on every Oculus device. Then, building and deploying was like just unplugging the Go and plugging-in the Quest.
Conclusion
To me, Oculus Quest is well prepared to steadily democratize the consumer VR space. It has everything you can wish for from an all-in-one device and delivers even more than expected. And most importantly — it is at an affordable price. $400 is a really good price tag for the quality that we get. And, as we all know, the mass adoption of a technology starts with the consumer market.
So, no matter if you are new to VR or you’ve been a fan of another device, I can definitely recommend the Quest — you won’t regret it!
