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Meta Quest 3 News & Reviews

Quest 2 Goes out of Stock at Meta Store as Rumors Point to Next Headset

From roadtovr

Availability of Quest 2 direct from Meta seems to have dried up, as the company’s last-gen headset is now showing out of stock in nearly all regions—likely making way for what’s next.

Although you can probably find new Quest 2 headsets from the usual online retailers and stores, when Meta pulls the plug on direct availability on any headset, it typically means there’s something just around the corner.

At the time of this writing, the only region with availability direct from Meta is the UK, which still has the 128GB variant in stock, priced at £200.

Quest 2 (left), Quest 3 (right) | Based on images courtesy Meta

The chief rumor going around is the company’s next headset will replace Quest 2 as its cheaper, lower-end hardware next to its flagship headset, Quest 3.

Last month an official app listing seemingly revealed the name of the device in question: ‘Quest 3S’. Another rumor from credible leaker Luna even points to the full spec list of the supposed Quest 3S.

Meta hasn’t confirmed as much, however the company is indeed planning to release a cheaper VR headset in 2024, making the next logical opportunity for launch sometime around its upcoming Connect developer conference, which is planned for September 25th-26th.

Initially released in late 2020, Meta has tinkered with Quest 2 variants and pricing over the years. Most recently, the company slashed the price of Quest 2’s 128 GB version to just $200, likely making it the headset’s final barnburner sale.

Meanwhile, Meta will soon be making a monumental shift in how it operates by releasing its XR operating system to third-party OEMs for the first time, which will see Quest-like devices from ASUS, Lenovo, and Xbox—all of which will have the same OS, content library, and Horizon Worlds social VR layer.

Meta’s Social VR Platform Now Coming to Every Country Supporting Quest

From roadtovr

Meta’s social VR platform Horizon Worlds hasn’t been available to everyone, with the company restricting the app’s use to only a few countries. Now it’s rightfully rolling out to every region where Quest is supported.

Despite being available on the web since last January, geolocation restrictions only allowed Quest users access in select countries, which included Canada, France, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Meta today announced that starting this week the company will begin rolling out Horizon Worlds “to people in all Meta Quest markets in supported languages so more people can connect with each other around the globe.”

This includes access for users 13+ across the following Quest-supported regions: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Users must be 14+ in South Korea and Spain.

This comes as the company ostensibly seeks to promote Horizon Worlds as a more fundamental social layer to its rapidly growing platform, which is soon set to include third-party VR headsets for the first time.

Horizon Worlds will come part and parcel with Horizon OS (ex-Quest OS) and the Horizon Store (ex-Quest Store), which will be available on Quest-like headsets built by ASUS, Lenovo and Xbox.

Quest Adds Another Vision Pro Feature to the List with More Flexible 2D Content Placement

From roadtovr

Quest users have long wanted a better way to manage windowed content to make web browsing and using 2D apps easier. It seems the next Horizon OS update (ex-Quest OS) will include a way to do just that.

As discovered by XR enthusiast and serial data miner Luna, the public test channel (PTC) has allowed some users early access to the headset’s v67 update, which includes a new experimental feature that allows a more flexible way of placing windowed content—feeling more than a little inspired by Vision Pro.

Check it out in action below:

Meta first unveiled multitasking support in early 2020, which allowed users to place multiple windows in three docks. Luna notes that, at least in its early access release, windowed content appears to be limited to three docked panels and three freely placeable panels, making for a lot more flexibility when it comes to setting up your virtual home office.

There’s also set to be a new virtual keyboard feature that lets you to place the keyboard both vertically or at an angle for easier typing.

To access these features before stable release, you’ll need to enroll in the PTC. If you haven’t already, follow this quick guide, courtesy of Meta.

To sign up for eligibility for Quest PTC from the mobile app:

  1. Open the mobile app, tap Menu in the bottom-right corner, then tap Devices.
  2. Tap Headset settings, then tap Advanced settings.
  3. Tap the toggle next to Public Test Channel to try to join Quest PTC.
    • If the toggle doesn’t work, Quest PTC is currently full and not available.

From there, as Luna mentions, simply head to Settings > Experimental Features > New Window Layout, and toggle the feature to activate.

If you’re on PTC and don’t have those features yet, make sure to check back regularly, as Meta tends to do soft rollouts of both its early access and stable OS updates.

Meta Restructures Reality Labs to Better Focus on Ray-Ban Smartglasses and Other Wearables

From roadtovr

Reality Labs, Meta’s XR division formed in 2020, is now being reorganized into two distinct groups, ‘Wearables’ and ‘Metaverse’, which reportedly comes along a “relatively small” number of layoffs.

As reported by The Verge’s Alex Heath, Meta CTO and head of Reality Labs Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth announced the reorg in an internal memo to employees, stating that all teams in Reality Labs are being merged into either a central ‘Metaverse’ organization, responsible for Quest, and a new ‘Wearables’ organization to dedicated to other hardware, including its Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses.

In the memo, which is available via Heath’s Command Line newsletter, Bosworth says the company’s smartglasses were “a much bigger success than we expected,” spurring the XR division to put more focus on the product.

Image courtesy Meta, Ray-Ban

“We have the leading AI device on the market right now, and we are doubling down on finding a strong product market fit for wearable Meta AI, building a business around it, and expanding the audience,” Bosworth’s memo reads. “Our north star to overlay digital content seamlessly onto the physical world remains the same, but the steps on that path just got a lot more exciting.”

Notably, Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses don’t include displays of any type, AR or otherwise, instead offering input through voice assistant and touch on the glasses’ struts for things like taking pictures, videos, and listening to music. In late 2023, Meta also added AI-powered object recognition.

As for its Quest-related efforts, Bosworth says the company is still “deeply committed to investing in Horizon as the core foundation of our social, spatial Horizon OS, and high-quality experiences for both mixed reality and mobile.”

Meta announced in April it will soon license its Horizon OS (ex-Quest OS) to third parties for the first time, including ASUS, Lenovo and Xbox. This comes part and parcel with it Horizon Store (ex-Quest Store) content library—seen as a bid to become a more prolific alternative to Apple’s Vision Pro.

“The org chart doesn’t primarily determine whether we succeed or fail, our execution does,” Bosworth said in the memo. “But by setting it up this way I hope we reduce overhead and allow people across teams to come together and execute with a more unified view of who our customers are and how we can best serve them.”

Meta declined to comment on the exact number of Reality Labs layoffs, however Heath maintains “it’s a relatively small number and focused on teams in Reality Labs where leadership roles are now redundant thanks to this new structure.”

Quest ‘Augments’ Feature for Concurrent AR Apps Needs More Time to Cook, Says Meta CTO

From roadtovr

Last year Meta announced the so-called Augments feature, planned for Quest 3, which would allow persistent mini AR apps to live in the world around you. Now, eight months after the headset hit store shelves, Meta’s CTO explains why the feature has yet to ship.

Augments was announced as a framework for developers to build mini AR apps that could not just live persistently in the space around you, but also run concurrently alongside each other—similar to how most apps work on Vision Pro today.

Image courtesy Meta

And though Meta had shown a glimpse of Augments in action when it was announced last year, it seems the company’s vision (and desire to market that vision) got ahead of its execution.

This week Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth responded to a question during an Instagram Q&A about when the Augments feature would ship. He indicated the feature as initially shown wasn’t meeting the company’s expectation.

We were playing with [Augments] in January and we decided it wasn’t good enough. It was too held back by some system architecture limitations we had; it ended up feeling more like a toy and it didn’t really have the power that we think it needed to deliver on the promise of what it was.

So we made a tough decision there to go back to the drawing board, and basically [it needed] a completely different technical architecture. Starting from scratch basically. Including actually a much deeper set of changes to the system to enable what we wanted to build there. I think we made the right call—we’re not going to ship something we’re not excited about.

But it did restart the clock, and so [Augments is] going to take longer than we had hoped to deliver. I think it’s worth while, I think it’s the right call. But that’s what happened.

We’re only two-and-a-half months out from Meta Connect 2024, which would be the one-year anniversary of the Augments announcement. That’s where we likely to hear more about the feature, but at this point it’s unclear if it could ship by then.

Major ‘ShapesXR’ Update Streamlines Collaborative XR Prototyping, Releases Web Editor for PC Users

From roadtovr

Spatial design and prototyping app ShapesXR (2021) just launched its 2.0 update which better streamlines cross-platform support, letting team members more easily edit and collaborate in both mixed or virtual reality, but also now the web.

ShapesXR 2.0 is packing in a number of new features today to enhance the cross-platform app, which not only supports Quest 1/2/3/Pro and Pico 4, but also now standard flatscreen devices with the addition of a web editor for users joining with mouse and keyboard.

Check out all of the things coming to ShapesXR 2.0 below:

Enhanced UI/UX : Shapes has been fully refreshed with an entire new interface that takes unique advantage of depth and materials. The information architecture has been simplified to enhance ease of use and learnability.

Interactive Prototyping: New triggers and actions have been introduced to help designers explore more robust interactions, allowing them to use button presses, physical touch, and haptics to design dynamic and engaging spatial experiences.

Spatial Sound Prototyping: Users can now import sounds and add spatial audio to interaction triggers, creating more immersive experiences and prototypes that win the arguments and green lights

Procedural Primitives and New Assets Library: A new library of fully procedural primitives provides a diverse range of 3D models and templates for users to build with.

Custom Inspector: The custom inspector allows for precise adjustments, optimizing the design process.

Performance Optimization: Significant optimizations ensure smoother experiences and faster load times, enhancing overall efficiency.

Flexible Input Support: The new architecture and UI support any input type, including controllers, hands, and mouse and keyboard, making the design process smoother and more intuitive.

Released in 2021, ShapesXR founder and CEO Inga Petryaevskaya calls the addition of the new web editor “a strategic move to extend the time users spend in the product and to enable co-design and editing with those who do not have an XR device.”

To boot, a number of VR studios have used ShapesXR over the years to collaboratively build their apps, including mixed reality piano tutor PianoVision, physics-based VR rollercoaster CoasterMania, and XR platform for molecular design in the Drug Discovery and Materials Science industries Nanome. You can check out the company’s full slate of case studies here.

The app is a free download on supported platforms, including both a free and subscription-based plans. ShapesXR’s free plan comes with its core creation tools, three editable spaces, 150 Mb of cloud storage, 20 Mb import cap on files, the ability to import png, jpg, obj, glb, and gITF files, and export glTF, USDz, and Unity files.

Both its Team and Enterprise plans include unlimited editable spaces, respective bumps in cloud storage, and a host of other features that ought to appeal to larger teams looking to integrate ShapesXR into their workflow. You can check out all of the subscription plans here.

Hands-on: Logitech’s MX Ink for Quest Could Legitimize VR Styluses as a Whole

From roadtovr

Over the last decade I’ve reported on and tested many different VR styluses, but none of them have actually caught on. But the new MX Ink stylus for Quest stands a real chance at legitimizing the VR stylus as a whole, thanks to its thoughtful design, strong lineup of launch apps, and tight integration with Quest’s software.

This week Logitech announced MX Ink, an officially endorsed ‘Made for Meta’ stylus supporting Quest 2 and Quest 3 (see the full announcement details here). It’s the first time Meta has allowed any other company to harness its tracking technology in a third-party product. That alone makes MX Ink unique, but there’s more that makes this the device that could legitimize VR styluses as a whole.

The first styluses are thought to have been invented five millennia ago. And there’s a reason they’ve stuck with humanity ever since: a stylus amplifies the precision with which we can point. While that seems rather simple, it makes information tasks like writing, drawing, calculating, and designing significantly more practical and useful than using our fingers alone.

So it’s not surprising that we’ve seen many attempts to bring a VR stylus to life.

Just to name a few: in 2017 an enterprising developer hacked together a chunky prototype using a Vive Tracker and a pressure-sensitive stylus tip; in 2018 a company called Massless designed its own prototype VR stylus that it hoped to bring to market; even Wacom has been toying with the idea. Hell, Logitech already made a VR stylus back in 2019… but at $750, it’s no wonder it never made it to general availability.

So what could be different about Logitech’s new MX Ink? Well for one, the price is significantly more palatable than what’s come before. The $130 price point is a pretty easy sell for professionals for whom the added precision of a stylus could actually improve their workflow.

Logitech is also smartly launching some ‘nice to have’ extras for those who are really serious about making the MX Ink part of their workflow.

There’s the Inkwell dock which, for only another $40, gives you an easy place to store and charge the stylus so it’s ready for your next use. And there’s the MX Mat, for $50, which Logitech pitches as the ideal surface to make it feel like you’re drawing on a paper-like material when using the stylus.

Photo by Road to VR

But more importantly than price or accessories is the first-party integration with Meta and the strong lineup of supported software out of the gate.

Logitech worked directly with Meta, not only to adopt Quest’s tracking technology, but also to build the stylus’ software experience right into Horizon OS. Pairing the MX Ink is just like pairing one of the headset’s own controllers, without any extra hardware or software needed. Even the stylus’ settings—which let you control things like hand selection, button bindings, and pressure curves—are baked right into the system’s own Settings menu.

It’s even got a proper ‘Meta’ button on the end (where the eraser would be), making it easy to pull up the headset’s menu.

And then there’s the strong lineup of software that will work right out of the gate. Logitech has locked in a solid swath of VR design apps for MX Ink support:

  • Adobe Substance Modeler
  • Gravity Sketch
  • PaintingVR
  • Arkio
  • Engage
  • OpenBrush
  • GestureVR
  • ShapesXR
  • Elucis by RealizeMedical

If Logitech plays its cards right, MX Ink could be the first VR stylus that really sticks the landing. So needless to say, I was intrigued to try it.

Hands-on With Logitech MX Ink for Quest

Photo by Road to VR

Last week I swung by Logitech’s San Jose, CA office to check out an early version of the stylus for myself. Compared to the company’s last VR stylus, the MX Ink is significantly more compact. Even so, I was impressed with the tracking.

Photo by Road to VR

Even with my hand covering a significant area of the stylus, there were seemingly enough hidden IR LEDs hiding under the stylus’ shell to provide continuous tracking no matter how I held or twisted the stylus. The company said it even put IR LEDs toward the tip of the MX Ink so it could be held like a wand or a pallet knife.

Logitech says the stylus is ‘as accurate as the Quest controllers’—but that doesn’t mean it can’t be more precise. Using a stylus as a pointing device means you can use your dexterous fingers to manipulate the input position in a very fine way; far more so than twisting your wrist alone (which is what primarily drives fine controller motion).

That was obvious while I was using the MX Ink to draw and sketch directly onto a real table in front of me. The pressure sensitive tip also made it feel natural to vary line width as needed.

Photo by Road to VR

I also tried using the MX Ink stylus against a whiteboard while using Quest 3’s mixed reality view. The tight latency and accuracy of the stylus really made it feel like I was leaving marks on the whiteboard. It was a whole layer of immersion that I wasn’t expecting to feel while trying the stylus.

This sense of actually leaving real marks on the whiteboard only made the next part even more mind-bending… I could lift the stylus from the surface while holding the button on the barrel and extend my drawing into the third dimension. Watching my strokes literally leap off the page like this was just plain fun.

While pressing the MX Ink against a real surface, the tip communicates the amount of pressure to the headset and thus changes the thickness of the line you draw. But when you’re using the stylus to draw in 3D, suddenly there’s no way for the system to know how much pressure you’re using, right? Actually, no; Logitech smartly made the button on the barrel of the stylus pressure sensitive itself, so you can squeeze softer or harder to define the width of brush strokes, even when you’re drawing in the air.

The MX Ink even includes a haptic engine for feedback. So even if you’re using it against a virtual surface, the stylus can let you know when you’re touching the canvas.

– – — – –

I’m impressed with the level of thoughtfulness in the design of MX Ink. It’s clear the company has carried over some important lessons learned from its previous experiments with VR styluses.

MX Ink has a reasonable price point, direct integration with the most popular headsets on the market, and a strong lineup of supporting apps. Logitech is giving the VR stylus—as a category—its best chance yet at really catching on.

The essential pieces are in place. The thing that will make or break this product is now likely down to how well integrated it is into the workflow of key applications. My understanding is that developers have a huge range of control over exactly how their applications will handle MX Ink. Half-hearted implementations could kill what otherwise looks like a strong product.

With MX Ink not due to launch until September, there’s time still for applications to tighten up their implementations, so we’ll have to wait to see how it all comes together.

Quest Gets Its First Third-party Input Device Thanks to Logitech

From roadtovr

Logitech today unveiled an XR stylus that comes as Meta Quest’s first third-party motion peripheral, targeting creatives working in both 2D and 3D media.

Called Logitech MX Ink, the spatially-tracked stylus supports Quest 2 and Quest 3, as well as “future headsets,” Logitech says. The company additionally confirmed it won’t support Quest Pro.

Logitech MX Ink is said to have a “natural pen-like feel and pressure-sensitive tip,” which allows users to create, annotate, and navigate in XR environments. The device allows the user to pair with Quest and use it interchangeably with Quest controllers too, making it effectively the first time Meta’s headset can support more than two paired controllers at a time.

Image courtesy Logitech

When it ships in September, MX Ink will come with a dedicated stylus customization page in the updated Meta Settings UI, allowing users to adjust pressure curves for the nib and the primary buttons, initial activation force, and double tap timing.

To boot, MX Link includes haptic feedback, and is spatially tracked in 6DOF, boasting “low latency and high accuracy,” said to have similar tracking performance to the Quest controllers themselves.

In the box is a charging base designed to keep MX Ink charged and ready, however it also features a dedicated USB-C port so you can simply take the stylus when on the go. It also includes a pair of replaceable nibs, which allow the user to choose between a very fine nib as well as one larger nib.

Image courtesy Logitech

The company has listed a number of compatible Quest apps, which include Adobe Substance Modeler, Gravity Sketch, PaintingVR, Arkio, Engage, OpenBrush, GestureVR, ShapesXR, and Elucis by RealizeMedical.

Logitech MX Ink is slated to launch in late September, and be priced at $130. A product page isn’t up yet, but it should be available closer to Meta Connect 2024, which is taking place September 25th-26th.

LG Shakes Up XR Division, Reportedly Putting Meta Headset Partnership on Ice

From roadtovr

Korean media last month alleged that the Meta/LG partnership to create a high-end XR headset wasn’t going so well, suggesting either outright cancellation or a delay pushing release of a prospective Apple Vision Pro competitor to 2027. While this hasn’t been substantiated by either company, it’s clear there’s something big going on under the surface, as LG is now shuffling employees from its XR division to other parts of the company.

As confirmed by Korean outlet ETNews (Korean), LG is reassigning employees in charge of the XR division to research and development and other business divisions within the company.

Here’s the official statement from LG obtained by ETNews, machine translated from Korean to English:

“We have recently confirmed the relocation policy for personnel in charge of the XR business. Taking into account the department and work location desired by the personnel and the demand for additional personnel in other departments, the relocation will take place for about a month.”

ETNews reports that the nature of the shakeup is “unusual” in LG, as such cases of forming a product division after research and development comes as a rare occurrence.

The report further stipulates LG has delayed its own XR tech indefinitely, and terminated its joint commercialization of a product with Meta. The report however maintains the two companies will continue in research and development of XR technologies.

When LG announced its collaboration with Meta in May, it was said the partnership would be focused on strengthening “the fusion of Meta’s diverse core technological elements with LG’s cutting-edge product and quality capabilities [promising] significant synergies in next-gen XR device development.”

While not explicitly stated by either LG or Meta, it was rumored the two has been working to create a competitor to Apple Vision Pro for launch in 2025.

One possible reason for the XR shakeup could be Meta is getting ready to release its XR operating system to third-party OEMs for the first time, which will include new Quest-style headsets coming from ASUS, Lenovo, and Xbox. Growing the number of competing devices that will use Meta’s HorizonOS (ex-QuestOS) and Horizon Store (ex-Quest Store) so rapidly may have spoiled the deal for LG—although without confirmation from either company, that remains conjecture at this time.