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By Jim Intriglia
Monday , September 14th brought with it some exciting news for those engaged in the world of virtual reality. VR journalists reported that several reliable sources had leaked news that Facebook's Oculus venture was set to announce the release of the Quest 2 wireless virtual reality headset, at the annual Facebook Connect conference on September 16th.
What caught many in the VR community by surprise, was news that the Quest 2 advanced hardware technology represented a significant leap in wireless virtual reality headset performance.
HP's upcoming release of the tethered Reverb G2 headset, was capturing the imagination of those who yearned for a better performing tethered PC VR headset experience in comparison to the Oculus Rift S headset.
Facebook’s reveal of the new Quest 2 wireless VR headset, at their annual Facebook Connect Developers Conference, once again, changed everything for VR enthusiasts.
The original Quest, introduced in the Fall of 2018, was the first wireless virtual reality headset that did not require a powerful gaming machine to power it.
The introduction of the Quest marked another significant evolutionary jump for computer gamers, as they could now be immersed in their gaming experience. Whoa!
The Quest 2 promises performance at the level of tethered headsets similar to the Oculus Rift S, with a $299 entry-level price tag.
Many VR pundits and enthusiasts were expecting a minor upgrade to the legacy Quest headset. What they actually experienced when they received their pre-production Quest 2 headsets for review exceeded their expectations.
Most were surprised by both the Quest 2 technology (Snapdragon XR2 processor), price-point of $299, and pre-production performance results achieved by several trusted influencers.
Facebook, and the development team at Facebook Reality Labs, demonstrated that the company was indeed serious about continuing to be the leader in wireless headset technology in the virtual reality market space.
Half-way through the Facebook Connect Future of AR/VR presentation, I realized it was now time for me to take the leap and begin to explore the benefits of wireless VR headset technology. Pre-ordering the Quest 2 was a no-brainer decision for anyone that wanted to experience the next generation of VR consumer technology.
After placing my pre-order for my Quest 2, which is scheduled to be shipped on October 13th, the next order of business was to sell my Oculus Rift S headset, as I would be updating to the HP Reverb G2, for use with high-performance business and professional VR applications.
It’s a safe bet that during the Facebook’s Quest 2 introduction at the Connect 7 event, those who recently purchased the original Quest headset were feeling not so good about their purchase. I wonder how many Quest owners also placed their legacy Quest headsets, especially once comparison reviews of Quest 2 vs Quest began making news in the community.
The primary sticking point for purchasing the Quest 2 would be a privacy issue, with Facebook’s recent move to require Oculus users to have a Facebook account and be logged-in in order to use Oculus Quest or Rift S headsets. Sebastian Ang’s (Mixed Reality TV) opinion piece on Facebook privacy concerns talks about the issue of non-anonymous access of VR and the potential for tracking behaviors and activities while using the Quest 2 headset.
For business, professional and personal application use, I believe having an Oculus Quest 2 headset, along with HP’s Reverb G2 tethered VR headset, will cover just about any application of interest over the next two year period.
With Jim Intriglia and Dakotah Intriglia
Patreon Member Bonus: Listen to the Complete 9/19/2020 Audiocast
Jim: So, after the Quest 2 announcement during the Facebook Connect 7 event on September 16th, we wait in anticipation of the shipping of our Quest 2 headsets on October 13th. I was listening to the Marques Brownlee’s Waveform videocast, where he’s talking with Mark Zuckerberg about virtual reality and the future of devices.
Dakotah: I've been following him on YouTube for a while. He’s been doing YouTube videos for like 11 years now, and has over 12 million subscribers. He's interviewed significant people in the industry, getting the inside scoop on a variety of things. if you if you want your product reviewed, he'll do an honest review with like, camera robots and all this crazy stuff.
Jim: One thing I feel strongly about is that virtual and augmented reality represents the next generation of the Internet and Web. I see virtual reality casts as competing with and even replacing YouTube videos.
Much of the computer hardware that is so common today, like smartphones, computer monitors, etc., will be replace with wearable gear and virtual displays.
Dakotah: Mark Zuckerberg mentioned some of the same things during his talk with Marques. Facebook's has always been working on the answer to the question: How can we connect people? I think that's why they’re betting on wireless virtual reality, because if you are wireless, then you can just connect people really easily. Other companies are like, how can you stay home and just kind of play games?
Jim: As the price point of $299 for the 64KB Quest 2, I can see Facebook’s virtual world, Horizon, becoming very popular with those who frequent Facebook’s legacy website. As VR provides more of an emotional connection when interacting in VR with people, and you can actually engage actively in activities and experiences, I see a large transition of people purchasing the Quest 2 and migrating some aspects of the Facebook presences to Horizon and other VR worlds and experiences.
