36 JANUARY2021|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE395
THEOCULUSQUEST2achieves something
remarkable: it builds upon theunexpected
success of itspredecessorinalmostevery
way. Like the originalQuest, it squashes
virtual reality intoaportable package,
side-steppingthe need foragaming PC or
compatiblesmartphone,and manages to
upgrade thehardware while selling for£100
less than itspredecessor.
This is no lumpofcheapplastic, either.
It’s comfy,being 70g lighter than the original
Quest,and ditches the old, utilitarian plastic
strapsinfavouroffabric. This makes it
trickier to adjustthe fit on the fly,but also
ensures thatit’s easier to wear over long
periods. Theface foam is alittle softer, and a
little deepertoo,althoughitwillstill imprint
on your face over time.
VIEWING PLATFORM
TheQuest 2still has four inside-out tracking
cameras positionedastheywereonthe
Quest, andthere’sstillthe option to adjust
your interpupillarydistance(IPD)manually.
Oddly,you’ll have to push the lenses
themselves apart or togethertodothis,
which meansremovingthe headset.
The controllershavealso improved
substantially.Theynow last four times
longer than theold onesonasingleAA
battery and have alarger surface area on
which to restyourthumbs. We preferthe
lookoftheoriginalcontrollers,butit’s
OCULUS Quest2
★★★★★
£299•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
Oculus’sexcellentstandaloneVRheadset
justgotbetter–andcheaper,too
VRHEADSET
veryhardtocriticiseaestheticsinthelight
ofsuchpracticalimprovements.
StraptheQuest2toyourfaceandyou’ll
be peeringintoasingle fast-switch LCD
panel withacombined resolution of
3,664x1,920, or 1,832x1,920 pereye.For
comparison, the Quest usedtwo OLED
panels at aresolution of 1,440x1,600 per eye
(2,880x1,600 overall) –that’s marginally
better than the Rift S(Shopper389) and
marginallyworsethanthe Vive Cosmos
(Shopper390).
Whilethe Quest’sOLED displaywas
undeniably gorgeous to lookat–nothing
produces darker blacksthan OLED–it was
expensive to manufactureand couldn’t
match an LCD forsheerpixel density or
responsiveness,two crucial elements of any
goodVRheadset. Switchingpaneltypes
therefore makes sense,and the heightened
90Hz refresh rate only makesthe Quest 2
look even better in motion. In fact,it’sthe
best VR displayever: colours arevibrant, the
black level is excellent, and individual pixels
are relatively hard to make out.
SIDEWAYS COMPATIBLE
TheQuest 2has asimplified user interface,
withquick access to theOculus store,your
games library,social aspects andsettings but
none of the extravagant ‘OculusHome’
functionsofthe Quest or RiftS–not that
thisisaparticularlystinging loss.
thhundredsoftitles to
oose from –including
aples such as Beat
aber,Superhot and
ader Immortal, as well
someintriguing new
ies, like Jurassic World:
math –you won’t go
ngfor compatible
es. Then there’s the
mall fact thatthe Quest
2 supportsOculus Link,
meaningyou can plug
it intoyour gaming PC
via asingle cableand
playgamesfromyour
Steam library.
ThankstothenewQualcomm
Snapdragon XR2 processor,avariant of
theSnapdragon 865 powering several
recent top-end smartphones,the Quest 2
runs very smoothly.Weonlynoticed one
instanceofunresponsiveness after travelling
to andfromthe Oculus storetoo quickly;
otherwise, navigating themenuswas
seamless, and games played beautifully.
One thingthatstandalone VR stillhasn’t
quitemastered, however,isbatterylife. While
thecontrollers lastalot longer than before,
theQuest2headsetitself will runfor
between twoand three hours,and takes
two-and-a-half hours to charge from empty.
That’s onlyalittlebetter than the Quest.
This is one of afew reminders that,while
theQuest 2isgenerally excellent, it’s not
quitethe perfect VR kit. Anotherissue is
that we couldn’t get the casting feature to
work at all; gaminginVRisaninherently
isolating experience, so being abletowatch
thecurrent user’s progressonthe screen
would be ahugeplus. In fairness, casting is
still in beta, butwewish Oculus hadn’t
launched it before it was usable.
ABOUT FACE
There’s alsothe issueofFacebook, Oculus’s
parent company. By the time youreadthis,
new Oculus userswill needtolog in to their
device usingaFacebook account,rather than
an Oculus one.Existing Oculus account
holders canchoosetoswaptoFacebook(or
not) untilJanuary 2023, at whichpoint it will
happen automatically, but in any case it’s
bizarrethat using aVRgaming headset
should requiremaking an account with a
socialnetworking platform –one that’s
famously cavalier with how it uses yourdata.
Even so,the Quest 2takes everything we
lovedaboutthe Oculus Quest–the cable-
free experience,the strong game library,the
ease of use –and improves on it significantly.
It’s exactlywhataVRheadsetshould be:
lightweight,powerfuland so simplethat
mainstreamadoption becomeslessahope
and moreanexpectation. The reduced price
will certainly help in thatregard, too.
WillGeorgiadis
DISPLAYLCD•RESOLUTION3,664x1,920 (1,832x1,920 per
eye)•REFRESHRATE90Hz•STORAGE64GB•
PROCESSORQualcomm SnapdragonXR2•RAM6GB•
WEIGHT503g•DETAILSwww.oculus.com•
PART CODE301-00360-01
SPECIFICATIONS
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It’s the bestVRdisplayever: coloursare vibrant, the black
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