Palms-on evaluation: OCULUS Quest 2
The Oculus Quest 2 is my first and long overdue foray into the world of virtual reality. Those of you familiar with this area will giggle and giggle as you remember my absolute lack of gaming skills, only matched by my tenacious determination and enthusiasm. Go ahead and laugh. I had fun immersing myself in the VR world.
The brilliant people at Oculus were kind enough to provide detailed instructions and a list of the VR games and experiences available. I joined their mailing list and was intrigued by the ever growing list of games available.
I learned how to furnish a personalized living space and how to define it. They recommend a room that is 2 x 2 m in circumference, so my beloved wife sees this as the perfect impetus for me to clean up my clutter in the study. I saw it as an opportunity to spend more time with her in the living room.
OCULUS rightly assumed that I was new to VR as they sent me a detailed description of the product. One of their bullet points relates to the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 platform, which they refer to as the “lightning-fast processor”. Qualcomm Snapdragon is the driving force behind the latest Android phone offerings, so I can’t question their pedigree.
Those of you familiar with the Quest will be interested to hear that Quest 2 has 50% more pixels than the original Quest. I can’t compare it as this is my first VR headset. Suffice it to say that it sets quite a benchmark for future review.
The other feature that caught my attention is the premium all-in-one gaming library that promises access to “Hundreds of Oculus Quest games and experiences, now with the advanced display and state-of-the-art processor from Quest 2 look better than ever. And there’s an exciting list of more games on the way. “Unfortunately, I’m running out of excuses to keep this review article much longer.
In the meantime I fell in love with the touch controllers. I was amazed at their accuracy and ease of use. I felt pretty used to them after just a few minutes and only put them away when I discovered that I needed a real knife and fork to eat my dinner.
I was wondering if I would feel claustrophobic or uncomfortable wearing the headset, but found it extremely comfortable to wear. It turned out to be very easy to adapt to my eyesight. The slider is easy to use and even my eyes found the images and text sharp.
One of the interesting features is the immersive entertainment and social experience. Oculus instructs you, “Grab the best place in the house from almost anywhere. With Oculus Quest 2, you can see live concerts, groundbreaking films, and exclusive events from around the world in the front row.
With an ever-increasing number of social experiences, you can connect with friends in VR no matter where you are. “Unfortunately, I can’t really comment on VR’s social environment without friends.
I look forward to curling up and watching a good movie. You live Concert lovers will be amazed by the sound quality. You simply plug in your favorite headphones or earphones using the built-in 3.5mm headphone jack. I found the built-in sound amazing and more than sufficient for my needs.
Players will love the amazing positional sound, which means anyone sneaking behind you should better be a Shaolin monk or ninja skill. Good luck locust!
The battery life gives you roughly two hours of play time and closer to three hours when you are watching media. The Oculus app informs you about the battery life and the charging time is approx. 2.5 hours.
The display update is an acceptable 72 Hz, but Quest promises an upcoming update to 90 Hz. So far I haven’t noticed any glitches, but then again, I am not playing at the pace or for long periods of time. A recent back injury left me more sedentary than it is good for me. I have diligently avoided all therapies that require high energy activity while trying to opt for Bowen therapy or acupuncture.
I spent a few minutes drooling over some of the accessories available to make your experience even better. From player performance to hygiene, there are tons of ways to enhance your personal VR experiences.
PriceSpy offers the Quest 2 range from $ 699 for the 64GB model to $ 839 for the 256GB option. You will be surprised at how many experiences are offered and if the emails have something to offer, Oculus is determined to expand the repertoire of games and realities on offer.
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