I have been a 3D interface geek since long, with a passion for 2.5D and 3D interfaces design and programming… got one of the first Kinect (for PC) and Kinect 2, and also played with the Oculus SDK1 and 2…
For me, I faced a solid wall with my nausea when entering VR… so tried to focus on the AR with Hololens, so I got tickets and flight for the Build conference when it was announced a possible showcase of HoloLens in Build 2015showcase of HoloLens in Build 2015, which finally happened and I even got invited to a private preview and hands on programming… but also was lacking to me some key factors.
I have since the Oculus crowdfunding been looking and trying all the different headsets, just to find issues (nausea), lack of responsiveness or not enough resolution, etc.. with the HTC Vive, later versions of the Rift… until now.
Meet the Oculus Quest
Short, the Quest is a standalone VR with OLED displays with 1440 x 1600 px per eye, 72Hz refresh, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with 4Gb Ram and 6 DOF. 571g in total.
I will keep it short, its main features:
- Simple and easy to put on.
- 6DOF this is important, see this animation:
- Nice resolution, good framerate and IPD adjustment (very nice to have and essential IMHO).
- Inside out tracking that works Flawlessly (even when moving the hand behind your back – wow!)
- Accurate and fast tracking, without any perceptible lag or delay – check how it is able to handle “Beat Saber” at highest difficulty or see it in a video.
- Secure, you can define a security “play/interaction” area around you and if you approach you receive a haptic and visual feedback. And it works really well.
- Wireless. No cables. No obstacles. Nothing but freedom.
- PC Free, it is a standalone device.
- This last thing comes at a price but it is barely noticeable and the Qualcom.
- Surprisingly good audio.
- Some “Mixed Reality” support.
And not a feature but I have severe motion sickness and I can stand it for half an hour to one hour. this is accomplished with all the factors (features and how they have programmed some of the games I’ve played). And after 1h, I am not dizy or have nausea.
Veredict:
Shortly said: A VR Revolution, a sum of good ideas brought together and implemented to work together in a brilliant way. Simply Wow! ..and I mean a bold WOW!!
If you are interested in VR for gaming or for developing, this is it. It is easy to setup, no wires, no expensive PC, it is FAST and accurate, the visuals are really good and also it is fairly easy to start programming with it.
Also, the Inside-out tracking makes it , apart from easier to setup, far more cheaper than earlier VR models where you needed a couple of sensors “lighthouses”.
For me and my opinion, the Oculus Quest is cost-efficiency speaking is the best VR headset of the market. It does the work, with good resolution, refresh rate, without some of the major showstoppers of the recent past (needing a PC and the setup).
To my opinion, it makes VR easy and mainstream. I guess that’s the reason why it has run out of stock in many suppliers and has sold $5 million in content in the first two weeks… or the Superhot sales are 300% higher for the OQ than they were for the original 2016 Rift Launch, so it is an estimation on how the Quest is performing in rellation to the original Rift.
Note that if you are interested, you’d rather act quickly, it is out of stock in many places (US in as short period as a week) and I got mine quickly due that I got the 128GB version… and it is estimated that 2019 will see around 1M sales
Development:
Development for the OQ is great, easy to set up and dive in. It simply does work.
I have on the past two weeks unrusted my Unity skills and I am playing now in learning how to use the “Oculus Integration” tools and integrating the VR with some service I am setting up in the cloud with Azure, to interact with it in brilliant 3D.
And so far, the experience is brilliant and I am having a lot of fun 🙂
only hint I can give is to invest in learning how to apply object pooling as resources are limited, but that is common sense though.
for more information, go to developer.oculus.com 😉
Future:
OQ, Oculus Quest supports Mixed reality so it has a mode that you can locate the controllers with a generated view of your surroundings, with some other minor applications.
BUT and is a big BUT, Oculus is actively working on mixed reality scenarios as well as collaborative interaction, as shown on the following video from the recent “Oculus Connect”:
And..
Also interesting to see how Oculus Insights technology works:
Note: Insight was earlier referred as “project Santa Cruz”, which Oculus has been working in since 2016…
So, when is “Oasis” coming? 😉
And… I have a feeling that the upcoming “Oculus Connect 6” in September 25-26 will be worth watching…
Jose Luis Latorre's Blog (joslat) 