42 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE389
IT’SBEENAlong time since the Oculus Riftft
brokecoverasthefirstgenuinelyusable
consumerVRheadset.Inthattime,Oculus
hasproducedtwooffshootgoggles–the
OculusGo(Shopper 367 )andOculusQuest
–both of which are wireless, and aimed attthe
masses in ways that the Rift never could bee.
Bothareexcellentproductsintheirownn
right,butthecompromisesrequiredtomakke
theseself-containedVRheadsetsareality
might leave some people feeling alittle
short-changed. Fortunately,that’swhere thee
newandimprovedOculusRiftScomesin.
ALLINTHEHEAD
The Oculus Rift Sisamore direct successor
totheoriginalRift,andalthoughit
incorporates the same technology that
allows the Oculus Quest to function without
peripheral sensors, the Rift Sismuch more
of afull-blooded gaming VR machine.
With a2,560x1,440 LCD displayinside,
the Rift Sconnects to your PC via asplit
DisplayPort/USB cable that stretches five
metres. It comes with two Oculus Touch
controllers, powered by asingle AA battery
each; the headset itself is studded with five
outward-facing cameras, pushing the weight
up to arelatively light 563g.
This is farand awaythe best thing about
the Rift S: the package simply contains the
headset, two Touchcontrollers and some
leaflets. Unlike the original Rift,there are
OCULUS Rift S
★★★★★
£400•From http://www.argos.co..uk
VERDICT
AworthysuccessortotheRift, withaneassy
all-in-one design and smooth display
VRHEADSET
noexternalsensorsrequiredtousethe
RiftS,astheheadsettrackstheuser’s
movementsfromwithin.
PADDINGAND SUBTRACTING
It should be said that, initially,the RiftSis
perhaps the least visually appealing Oculus
hheaddset;itsoversizeddfforehheaddanddinset
trackingcameraswillmakeyoulooklikea
gloomy beluga whale.It’s utilitarian, without
adoubt, but the matt black finish and
imposing headband add atouch of class
that the rubberised straps of the Oculus
Quest can’t quitematch.
That headband is well designed, too.
Whereas older Oculus devices make do
with an adjustable velcro strap system,
the Rift Sadopts adial-adjusted headpiece
that’s reminiscent of Sony’s PlayStation VR.
Not only does it feel sturdier,but it’s also
much easier to adjust on the fly,and
spreads the not-insignificant weight of the
Rift Sacrossyour noggin better than the
Quest’s fiddly straps.
Like the PlaySStationVR,theRiftShas
abuttonthatalloows you to move the
eyepiece closer to and further from your face,
independent of the headband. This is helpful,
particularly forglasseswearers, as there’s no
spacer included in the box. It’s also worth
noting here that the Rift Sisparticularly good
atkkeepingoutsiddellighhtffrombblleeddingin,
courtesy of arelatively flatnosepiece.
In short, the Rift Sshould cling to your
head like alimpet. As indeed it does, although
the cushions are alittle thin; prolonged use
will cause alittle bit of soreness. This could
have been avoided simply by making the
cushions just ever so slightly thicker.
THE FULL PICTURE
Annoyingly,some other baffling design
choices get in the wayofwhat would
otherwise be athoroughly enjoyable
experience.The eyepiece lacks an inter-
pupillary distance (IPD) slider,soyou’ll need
to fiddle with the in-app settings to try to
find aclear image.The Rift Salsoditches
tthheover--ear headphones foundonthe Rift,
opting innsteadforQuest-likedirectional
speakerss.However,they’renotquiteasgood
as the paairfoundontheQuest;audioisalittle
tinnyanddseverely lacking in bass.
Theddisplayisbetter.Although the OLED
eyepieceesused by both the Rift and Quest
might produce richer colours and deeper
black tonnes,the Rift S’s LCD panel does a
better job of keeping the screen-door effect
(whereyyou see visible gaps between pixels) to
aminimuum, thanks to the high pixel density
found in LCDs. The ‘fast-switch’element limits
the effeccts of imagepersistence –the LCD
equivalenntofscreen burn, characterised by
images that linger after the screen refreshes.
As yoou’d hope,the differenceisquite
noticeable.The Quest produces amore
vivid breadth of colours, but the Rift S
offeers aclearer,better-defined image –
proovided you can find the sweet spot.
Plaaying the startup tutorial on both
heaadsets revealed that the resolution
diffeerences between the two actually
⬆The two Touch controllers are
powered by asingleAAbattery each
