Mastodawn

Steve Troughton-Smith

The current Meta Quest 3 experience is incredibly impressive. It's so much closer to visionOS now in software, the screen is sharp, hand tracking is great, it has a native YouTube app, and it costs €3500 less than a Vision Pro.

I am so much more impressed with ten mins in a Quest 3 (not mine) than I was with the Vision demo experience at Apple Retail. Apple's one ace was the App Store, and developers have shown very clearly how they feel about that, and their relationship with the company

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 14

I played maybe 2 hours of Hitman VR, through Steam Link, wirelessly. It's *flawless*. The Quest 3 battery seems to last forever when the processing is offloaded like that. I honestly had no idea that Quest works out of the box with SteamVR these days. I am so impressed I almost want to buy one for myself

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 16

Having actually spent enough time with the Meta Quest 3 now, I am pretty convinced that Apple squandered their platform lead on VR by making all the wrong tradeoffs. 2 x $400 worth of display panels that can't be produced in volume? Not in any way worth the delta over what's in the Quest. In pretty much every conceivable way, the Quest is a better product, at nearly a tenth the price. Especially now it has copied all of visionOS' best features in the two years Apple was sitting on its hands

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 16

To be clear: I think a Vision Pro should exist. But there should also be a 'Vision', with iPhone-level components (and pricing), and lower-quality/'good-enough' everything. Both should come with first-party precise hand controllers in the box. And I don't think the right device shipped first. I think Apple spent so long heads-down developing Vision Pro that they were fixated on Microsoft HoloLens (which failed) instead of the Oculus Rift (which got really good). They sure got a HoloLens.

@stroughtonsmith I think the root problem with the Vision Pro is apple never wanted to make a vr headset but ended up shipping one anyway

@stroughtonsmith Wild especially that they're allegedly abandoning it now for Glasses, which also seems to be an effort to chase what Meta's doing.

Steve Tibbett Oct 17

@stroughtonsmith Apple has lost the ability to do anything quickly. I think a lot of big companies recognize this and switch to acquisitions for innovation. There isn't really anyone to acquire though is there? Valve's VR team?

@stroughtonsmith Quest 3 is as near to the Vision Pro experience as Android is for iOS. It does the same things better on paper, but in real life it is a pain in the ass what is broken in so many places, which you just don't realize first

@stroughtonsmith Do it. And play Half Life: Alyx. One of the best video game experiences I ever had.

Sam Steele 🏳️‍🌈 🎮 📸 👨‍💻Oct 14

@stroughtonsmith I have 2 external batteries that connect to the back of my Quest via magnets -- they charge faster than the Quest drains them, so it's essentially unlimited power with hot swapping 😁 Also, another +1 for Virtual Desktop instead of Steam Link. It has a custom OpenXR runtime that has much better performance than SteamVR, and uses a better codec / bitrate for much sharper video

@stroughtonsmith Virtual Desktop is even better on Quest! You can push the resolution and bitrate much higher than Steam Link allows!

Christopher Masto Oct 14

@stroughtonsmith Beyond all that, it has a large library of fun, immersive, and physically active games, it's not just AppleTV for your face. For a company so focused of fitness, it’s almost criminal that there’s nothing like Supernatural on Vision Pro.

@masto @stroughtonsmith I guess that’s what happens when a company that pivots from being a “platform provider” to being fully vertically integrated and treats developers as intruders on their turf. You end up being an ecosystem of one.

John Davis Oct 14

@stroughtonsmith as you explore and consider non-Apple options how do you deal with your digital life not being on those platforms? Things like messages, web bookmarks, synced files, and other Halo-effect items.

@its_john_davis @stroughtonsmith I can't speak for Steve, but I view the Quest as a console. I don't want my 'digital life' on a face-computer -- while both the Quest and the Vision Pro are technically 'computers', one is for games and one (turns out!) is for nothing at all.

Would be curious to hear Steve T-S's thoughts.

Damian Mehers Oct 14

@stroughtonsmith I play VR mini golf most weekends on the meta quest with a couple of friends I met 40 years ago… great way to stay in touch and chat even though we live in different parts of the world (Walkabout mini golf.)

My Vision Pro is a much more insular experience… mainly because I’m the only one of my friend group to get one!

Filip Němeček Oct 14

@stroughtonsmith I just wish that someone Quest 3 display was sharper. Maybe it is my eyes but any spatial content I tried watching in it is just blurry :(

It is great for games, particularly Beat Saber.

If you somehow get your hands on two Quests and have friend + open space, Space Pirate Trainer Arena mode is must play 😀

Laura Woodsy 🔹Oct 15

@stroughtonsmith The Meta Quest 3 is definitely giving the Vision Pro a run for its money! The price difference is significant, and it's great to see Meta delivering an impressive VR experience. The openness to developers and the flexibility of the Quest platform might just give Apple a challenge in the VR space. What do you think about the future of VR and AR?

Andrew Grant Oct 15

@stroughtonsmith have you tried Remote Desktop, and HDMI input from an iPhone for movies?

The slightly lower fidelity / inconvenience is more than accounted for by the lighterweight of the headset for me.