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Best Wireless Bluetooth Keyboards For Meta Quest 2

From uploadvr

Looking to use an external wireless keyboard with your Meta Quest 2 headset? Here are the options.

Quest 2 now supports using Bluetooth keyboards with the headset in VR, both across the system and in Meta’s remote work solution, Horizon Workrooms.

While you can connect most Bluetooth keyboards to the Quest, only a few are fully compatible and considered ‘tracked’ keyboards in VR.

When connected, a tracked keyboard is represented in VR with a 1:1 model that matches the position and orientation of the keyboard in real life. It also shows an overlaid view of your hands above the keyboard, as pictured above. This allows you to use the physical keyboard as normal while in VR.

However, there aren’t many keyboards that support fully tracked functionality on Quest 2. Meta has said it wants to expand support to more keyboard models, but it’s proving “harder than expected.”

Without tracking, you will still be able to use a Bluetooth keyboard but you won’t be able to see it while in VR, making it much harder to type reliably.

So without further ado — here are the best keyboard options for Quest 2.

Logitech K830

logitech k830

The Logitech K830 is the best keyboard to pair with a Meta Quest headset.

This keyboard was the first to receive support and remains the best option, as it includes a trackpad on the side. This allows you to have full mouse and keyboard control with just one device in VR. The trackpad isn’t the most responsive but its inclusion is still welcome.

It’s also worth noting: this is specifically relating to the US model of the K830. Some users previously indicated that other international K830 models, such as the UK model, are not supported, but we haven’t be able to verify this ourselves.

Apple Magic Keyboard

magic keyboard apple

The Apple Magic Keyboard is the second supported tracked keyboard on Quest 2. This keyboard is Apple’s standard wireless keyboard, often shipped with iMacs and other desktop Mac computers and also sold separately.

If you have an iMac or other desktop Mac with a Magic Keyboard, you’ll be able to disconnect it from that device and connect it to your Quest 2. Similarly, if you own a standalone Magic Keyboard or if you buy one, it can easily connect to Quest 2.

Any Bluetooth Keyboard

As mentioned above, you can connect any Bluetooth keyboard to Quest 2 and it should work fine. However, you won’t be able to see the keyboard at all while in VR, which is quite inconvenient.

However, if you’re using Horizon Workrooms specifically, you can use any keyboard and turn on the passthrough cutout feature on your desk. While using Workrooms, this will let you see your keyboard on your desk while in the app using passthrough — slightly better than the alternative. It should be noted though – in this instance, the keyboard should be paired with the computer you’re using in Workrooms via remote desktop, not your Quest.

Horizon Workrooms Bonus – Apple MacBook Pro

quest ar keyboard label

When using the virtual desktop feature of Horizon Workrooms, there is support for one additional keyboard type: the Apple MacBook Pro laptop keyboard.

This will only work when using virtual desktop in Workrooms — there’s no way to use or connect the keyboard directly to the Quest for general use — but it does give you one more tracked keyboard option for that service specifically. You can use it with the passthrough cutout and AR button labels (pictured above) or fully in VR with a tracked virtual keyboard model.

What keyboard are you using for your Quest 2? Let us know in the comments.

Report: FTC Investigating Meta’s Competitive Practices

From uploadvr

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating Meta for potentially anti-competitive practices, Bloomberg reports.

The recent report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Naomi Nix indicates the FTC is investigating Meta’s virtual reality units over potential anti-competitive practices.

Last month, a report from The Information indicated the FTC opened an antitrust probe into Meta’s acquisition of VR fitness platform Supernatural. The new report from Bloomberg indicates the FTC’s investigation is “scrutinizing how Meta, the world’s largest social media company, may be using its market power in the VR space to stifle competition,” including asking about Meta’s sales strategy for Quest 2 which sees it priced starting at just $299, far below the nearest competition.

Apps like Virtual Desktop and Bigscreen have faced situations where Meta (formerly Facebook) made it either difficult or unprofitable for certain aspects of those products to function on Quest. In the case of Virtual Desktop, for example, developer Guy Godin wasn’t allowed to release a PC VR streaming feature for his app through official channels for more than 20 months. When Facebook finally allowed the feature officially it was just a couple months before Facebook launched its own version of PC VR streaming called Air Link. The Bloomberg story reports the FTC “quizzed outside developers that make Oculus apps in recent months as part of the inquiry,” particularly in relation to how the company might discriminate against third-party services or apps that compete with solutions or apps offered by Meta directly.

The full report from Bloomberg, which may be behind a paywall, is available here. It’s been a busy start to the year — other recent reports indicate that Apple’s unannounced mixed reality headset might not ship this year, amid reports of lucrative hiring pushes between Meta, Apple and Microsoft.

FitXR Adds New Programs, Formats & Coaches On Quest

From uploadvr

Fitness app FitXR is adding a bunch of new content to help users achieve their new year fitness goals, including new workout programs, formats and coaches on Quest headsets.

These new changes are available now and should add some variety to the existing programs. One big addition is a new training program called “Find Your Fit”. It’s a four-week, 12-class program that’s “curated by experts to help members discover the class style, coach and music they prefer to help them stay motivated and build more consistent habits to ultimately form healthier lifestyles.”

The new program also includes a partnership with Spinnin’ Records for the accompanying music, which features tracks from artists like Timmy Trumpet, Lucas & Steve and Sam Feldt.

In addition to the new program, there are now new class formats for FitXR’s boxing classes – Vibe, Velocity and Knockout. This will give users more choice, offering experiences that cater to different difficulty levels and styles. Vibe is more about the music, while Velocity is more of a sweaty workout and Knockout focuses on simulating real matches and focuses on technique.

The last new addition to the update is the addition of new coaches with three new trainers joining the FitXR roster.

Originally launched as BoxVR, FitXR is one of a few veteran fitness apps available on the Quest platform. The experience has continually evolved to include new features and changes, including a shift to a subscription-based pricing model in April last year. FitXR has also worked to add inclusive options for everyone, adding accessible seated workouts to the service last September.

To learn more about FitXR, check out our talk with FitXR Head of Fitness, Ianthe Mellors, from August last year.

Quest 2 vs PSVR 2 Specs Comparison

From uploadvr

How does Sony’s new headset measure up next to the leading standalone VR? Find out in our Quest 2 vs PSVR 2 specs comparison!

2022 is upon us and Sony has fired the starting gun with new information about its upcoming PS5 VR headset, now officially named PSVR 2. At CES 2022 in January the company revealed the first official specs for the device (which UploadVR previously revealed in 2021) and, while there’s still plenty more to learn here, we know just enough for an initial comparison to what’s thought to be VR’s market leader by some way, Meta’s Quest 2. We’ll update this story with more details when we have them.

But, even at a first glance, PSVR 2 offers a noticeable (and perhaps expected) jump in display resolution over the 2020 headset. That said, its mandatory connection to a PS5 console via a single wire is likely to be a big deciding factor for people when choosing between that and the wireless Quest 2. We’ve also thrown in specs for Meta’s upcoming Project Cambria headset as a bonus – there’s still a lot we don’t know about that device too but it’s likely to go head-to-head with PSVR 2 whenever it does launch, even if its target audience will be inherently different.

As we said, though, this is only the first trickle of information for PSVR 2. We still haven’t seen the headset itself and don’t know its price or launch window, not to mention a full line-up of content that developers are working on for the device. We’ll bring you those stats as soon as we have them but, for now, here’s what we know.

Quest 2 vs PSVR 2 Specs Comparison

Specs PSVR 2 Quest 2 Project Cambria
Format Wired connection to PS5 console Wireless standalone with wired/wireless PC connection optional Wireless standalone (more TBA but wired/wireless PC optional connection likely)
Price Headset unknown, PS5 $399 without disc drive, $499 with $299 for 128GB, $399 for 256GB TBA (definitely more than >$399)
Display Resolution Per Eye 2000×2040 1832×1920 Unknown
Display Type OLED LCD Unknown
HDR? Yes No Unknown
Refresh Rate 90Hz/120Hz 72Hz/90Hz/120Hz (limited to only some apps) Unknown
Field of View “Around 110 degrees”, direction undisclosed Estimated around 90 degrees horizontal and vertical Unknown
Lens Type TBA Fresnel Multi-element pancake
Lens Separation Adjustable (specifics TBA) 3-point adjustable TBA
Tracking Type 4 camera inside-out 4 camera inside-out Inside-out (more details TBA)
Eye Tracking? Yes No Yes
Hand Tracking? No Yes Yes
Face Tracking? No No Yes
Headset Vibration Yes No Unknown
Mixed Reality Passthrough? Unknown Yes, black and white Yes, color
Microphone? Yes Yes Unknown (likely)
Audio Headphone jack Built-in speakers, headphone jack TBA
Controllers Bundled Sense controllers with buttons, sticks, capacitive touch sensors, haptic feedback (single actuator per unit), trigger resistance  Bundled Oculus Touch controllers with buttons, sticks and capacitive touch sensors New Oculus Touch controllers with no tracking ring (more details TBA)

As you can see from our Quest 2 vs PSVR 2 comparison, then, Sony’s new headset goes toe-to-toe with Quest 2 in a number of areas. Quest 2 might have hand tracking capabilities, but PSVR 2’s eye tracking will enable foveated rendering and more expressive social avatars, whilst it looks like Sony’s new headset has Quest 2 beat on per eye resolution and field of view.  We’ve already seen the kind of visual fidelity PS5 VR can push with the reveal of Horizon Call of the Mountain, too (check out the trailer just below). With all that said, though, we don’t know what the headset will cost and we can’t definitively say if it’s releasing this year, either. With the ongoing semiconductor shortage continuing to hamstring manufacturers, there’s every chance the device might slip into 2023.

That’s the Quest 2 vs PSVR 2 specs comparison. How do you think Sony’s headset measures up to Meta’s offering? Do you plan on picking the new device up? Let us know in the comments below!

Steam Sees Huge Growth In Quest 2 Users Over Christmas

From uploadvr

Steam saw a huge growth in Quest 2 users over the holiday season.

That is according to the just-updated Steam Hardware Survey. Quest 2 usage grew by 3.3%, jumping from 36.32% of the overall user base in early December to 39.62% at the start of 2022. The last few months have traditionally seen Quest 2 make gains between 1% – 2%, so this is a much bigger bump than we usually see.

Steam Hardware Survey January 2022 Results Revealed

Indeed, developer accounts of sales stats and concurrent players suggested a huge number of Quest 2 units were opened on Christmas day. In total, all Meta headsets, including various generations of Quest and Rift, now make up well over 60% of total VR headset usage on Steam at the start of the year, though all other Oculus headsets shrunk in usage over the past month.

Valve Index usage also shrunk to 15.79%, though it remains the second most-used headset on the platform. HTC made some gains across its line of projects including a 0.14% bump for the Vive Cosmos (which was heavily discounted in sales), and Windows Mixed Reality grew by 0.1%, which may be attributed to the launch of the improved HP Reverb G2.

According to the survey, 1.93% of Steam users now use a VR headset, which is a slight growth over the past months. Of course, the Hardware Survey is entirely optional and thus not a definitive indication of the state of the PC VR market but with no companies sharing official sales stats, it’s the best we’ve got.

With 2022 now upon us it’ll be interesting to see how the charts shakeup over the course of the year. Meta will be releasing yet another new headset in the form of the standalone Project Cambria, but will there be other contenders to the PC VR thrown? We’ll have to wait and see.

Quest 2 Will Have ‘Long Life’, Project Cambria Still Due In 2022 – Meta

From uploadvr

Meta figureheads have reiterated that the Meta Quest 2 will have a “long life”, and will not be replaced by the upcoming Project Cambria.

Consulting CTO John Carmack made that much clear in response to a new blog post from Meta’s VR/AR head, Andrew Bosworth. “An important point here is that the “project Cambria” product will *NOT* replace Quest 2, it will be sold alongside it,” Carmack said. “Quest 2 will have a long life.”

The note comes amongst concerns that Cambria, which is a new high-end standalone headset, will eventually take front and center for Meta, much in the same way that Quest 2 has slowly replaced Quest 1 over the past 14 months. Indeed, a number of apps that have released for Quest 2 this holiday season can’t even be played on Quest 1, including Resident Evil 4 and Medal of Honor.

But Cambria, which was announced at Connect a few months back, isn’t going to be a part of the Quest line of products, and new features like color passthrough and eye and face-tracking suggest the headset will be significantly more expensive than Quest 2’s $299 starting point. The project’s aim is less about widespread adoption and more concerned with implementing features that Meta believes will advance its vision of the metaverse among other uses.

Bosworth’s blog, meanwhile, reconfirmed that Cambria is planned for release sometime in 2022, though there’s still no specific window for that launch. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the headset as we move into the new year and will bring you all the latest.

Stanford Now Offers A Class Held Entirely In Virtual Reality Using Quest 2

From uploadvr

A new course being offered by Stanford University garnered some attention in the last few weeks for being the institution’s first class taught and held entirely in VR using Meta Quest 2 headsets.

Taught by Professor Jeremy Bailenson, Communication 166 deals with the various angles of emerging VR technology and its use cases. Bailenson, who you discusses the course in the video above, is the author of the seminal VR text Experience on Demand, which also is one of the class’ assigned readings.

Here’s a course description:

Virtual Reality is becoming mainstream, with more than ten million systems being used in the United States alone. This class examines VR from the viewpoint of various disciplines, including popular culture, engineering, behavioral science, and communication. Each student will receive an Oculus Quest 2 headset, and the bulk of our learning will occur while immersed in VR.

According to the course structure, students will sometimes use lecture time to take part in VR experiences by themselves (such as watching a 360 degree video in VR) or as a group (such as attending a meditation session in Altspace as a group). Class discussions take place in VR too, using Engage.

According to this site, 263 students took the course in 2021 using their own VR headsets and spent a shared 200,000 minutes in VR for the course.

The course attracted some attention last week when it was mentioned by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on his Facebook profile, where he revealed that the students are all using Quest 2 headsets.

Stanford University has a strong history with VR, with the Stanford VR Experience tour playing a strong role in Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to purchase Oculus in 2014.

You can read more about Stanford’s Communication 166 class held entirely in virtual reality here.

Oculus Browser And Android Apps Add Free-Form Window Resize Option

From uploadvr

The Oculus Browser and some 2D Android apps are adding support for free-form resizing of browser windows on Quest 2, significantly improving the workflow when multitasking.

The feature was first noticed in a tweet, embedded below, by Joseph Simpson, Curator of the Extended Collection (a “library of links to the Immersive Web”).

It looks like the feature is rolling out gradually and isn’t available to everyone just yet — as is usually the case with Meta software updates, you’ll just have to keep checking to see if the feature is enabled for you. We’ve been able to try it on one Quest account, though it’s still missing from another two. Alongside the browser, Meta’s Multitasking Tech Lead, Eduardo Cuervo, confirmed it’s available for some Android apps too.

Previously, windows could be resized between three set horizontal distances — narrow, medium and wide — or using more precise adjustable horizontal resizing tool. However, this new free-form tool lets you grab a corner and manipulate the window into any size and aspect ratio you like, giving users much more freedom in how they work and multitask using Oculus Browser.

The biggest impact this has on multitasking is the ability to resize windows to a shape that feels more appropriate for the app or site you’re using. For example, if you’re using the Oculus Browser to watch some Disney+ content while working on a Google Docs page in a separate tab, you could now freeform resize the video tab to whatever size and aspect ratio you like, and then resize the Google Docs tab to a vertical orientation that fits the aspect ratio of the page.

Oculus Browser 18.1 is available now on the Meta Quest platform, though this feature seems to be rolling out independently of that update.

Horizon Worlds Beta Goes Public In US & Canada With 18+ Age Requirement

From uploadvr

After years of waiting, the Horizon Worlds beta is opening to anyone in the US and Canada, with no invite required.

Meta announced the change today, which moves the beta from an invite-only system to a public beta with no invite requirement. Anyone who is in the US and Canada and over 18 can download Horizon Worlds and try it out from today.

UploadVR asked Meta for clarification on how the 18+ age requirement will be verified, to which a spokesperson responded: “When you log into Horizon Worlds with Facebook, you’ll be able to use the app in VR if your age on Facebook is over 18.”

Horizon Worlds is the social hub and creation tool created by Meta as part of the wider Horizon brand, which also includes Horizon Venues and Horizon Workrooms. It was announced all the way back in 2019, then known as Facebook Horizon, and displayed similar social, world-building functionality as VR apps like VRChat and Rec Room.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has emphasized Horizon Worlds’ priority within the company’s VR/AR efforts, hoping it might start the ‘social fabric’ of VR. Likewise, Meta Consulting CTO John Carmack has stated that he wants the next iteration of the company’s annual Connect conference to be held inside Horizon apps.

We first tried Horizon Worlds at Oculus Connect 6 in September 2019. A Closed Alpha began in March 2020, followed by a transition to an invite-only closed beta in August. It was then that we were able to go hands-on with Horizon Worlds for a second time, which left us feeling that the app had good foundation but didn’t necessarily feel like the full picture of Meta’s social VR puzzle.

In October, Meta rebranded Facebook Horizon to Horizon Worlds and announced a $10 million fund to encourage Horizon creators, despite still being in closed beta at the time.

Now, more than two years after it was announced, the beta will be open to those in the US and Canada. There is no word on other regions at the moment, but expect to hear more as the open beta progresses towards (hopefully) a full launch in the future.

Horizon Worlds beta is open to anyone aged 18+ in the United States and Canada from today on the Quest and Rift platforms. Support for the original Quest 1 will end January 13, 2022.

Meditation App Maloka Releases Dec 14 For Quest, Neil deGrasse Tyson Joins

From uploadvr

The mediation app Maloka is set for a full Oculus Store release for Meta Quest headsets on December 14, with the renowned scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson joining the experience as the voice of the Universe.

Maloka initially launched in Beta back in May as an App Lab experience for Quest, but it’s graduating to a full release on the Quest store on December 14. The app offers guided VR meditations that take place in a pulsing, slowly moving psychedelic vortex. Unlike most meditation sessions, you keep your eyes open in Maloka, aligning your breathing with the patterns that engulf your field of view.

You also get your own zen island space in the app, which you can decorate with items that you earn as rewards for completing meditation sessions.

When I tried Maloka back in May, I found the entire experience to be surprisingly effective and satisfying — it’s a new twist on the traditional guided meditation structure that works unexpectedly well in VR.

There’s also a free companion Maloka app for mobile devices, which you can use to complete regular guided meditations via audio — handy for when you’re on the go or don’t have time for a full VR session.

The Quest release also comes with a new addition to the cast — renowned scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson is lending his talents to Maloka, playing the voice of the Universe. You can catch a sneak peek of his performance in the teaser trailer above.

Maloka launches for Meta Quest headsets from December 14 on the Oculus Store. You can read more about our experience with the early App Lab version of Maloka here.