American UFC color commentator, Joe Rogan, sat down with Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg in a podcast on last Friday. The podcast that was broadcasted on Spotify, immediately discusses about Meta’s brand new Oculus release. It was revealed that this long awaited headset is set to release on October 2022. Mark added that this will be discussed further in this year’s ConnectiCon. Here is a short snippet of the podcast:
Under Project Cambria, the new Oculus is said to have differ significantly in appearance and features compared to its predecessors.
Design
The new headset will have a complete black texture with a full glass front. This is opposite to the white colour Oculus Quest 2 like Ying and Yang. The new headset is said to follow the design of Playstation’s VR which is much more comfortable.
Display
The new headset will have a display resolution of 2160 x 2160 along with a mini-LED display. This may seem like a small improvement from the previous 1832 x 1920 Oculus Quest 2. However, pixel wise, this is a whooping 32% increase in pixel number. Mini-LED uses smaller LED modules in the LCD screen. This enables manufacturers to shrink displays for a variety of small devices like a VR headset.
A comparison between normal LCD screen and micro-LED LCD screen
Controller
The new controllers will have the rings removed. Thats where the LEDs’ that track the controllers position are placed. Given the size constraint, Meta also promises that the tracking will be much more precise. In a leaked video, the controller seems to be less bulkier and is wireless charging enabled. This is a game changer compared to replacing batteries with the previous Oculus.
Price
Mark admits that the new Oculus will be at the higher end of the price spectrum. However, it won’t be as costly as the estimated price for Apple’s VR – which goes up to $3000. Experts predict that it would range roughly from $700 to $1000.
Others
Augmented Reality (AR) is now supported by the new headsets. Users could use AR applications in the previous headset thanks to the Passthrough API. But Passthrough has limitations like low resolution and no colour cameras. The new Oculus will have 2 cameras at the front which will guarantee a better AR experience.
Facial expression tracking will added in the new headsets as well. This will be possible with new internal cameras attached. Now you can have an expressive avatar of yourself in the virtual world
An example of facial expression tracking that reflects on your virtual avatar
Thoughts
The new oculus had very impressive improvements in its feature and designs. I’m glad they didn’t hike up the price too much. Not that I can afford it still. The whole Augmented Reality feature is very exciting because I am a fan of AR. To be honest, I have not tried any VR headset yet. However, I may have to try the Oculus Quest 2 first.