With last year’s Quest, Oculus tore up the rule book on how a VR headset should work. Its Rift line always relied on the power of a PC, but the company realised it could offer a similar experience using only the tech onboard.
It was a bold move, but one that paid off: the Quest earned a rare five-star review from us, feeling like the future of VR.
Now, the Facebook-owned company is back with the Quest 2, with a number of key upgrades making it a compelling successor.
Chief among these is a 90Hz refresh rate display, up from 60Hz on the original. Just like on smartphones, this enables games to run much more smoothly and lag-free than before. The resolution has also been bumped up to 2K for each eye, offering 50% more pixels than the first-gen Quest.
The Quest 2 has also stepped up 6GB RAM (from 4GB) and comes running Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon XR2 platform, thought to be the best virtual reality chipset currently on the market. As well as improving gameplay, this is thought to expand the experiences possible when using the headset.
Despite all the new tech inside, the Quest 2 is 10% lighter than its predecessor. That’s aimed at making the headset more portable, and the new soft material straps help it fold down into a more compact package for travel.
There have also been various enhancements to the controllers, which are now a combination of what we’ve seen with the original Rift and Quest. They include a bigger thumb rest, improved haptic feedback and 4x longer battery life than last year’s model.
Regular virtual reality gamers will know the importance of interpupillary distance, or IPD as it’s better known. This refers to the distance between the centre of your pupils, and is crucial to get right in order to avoid eye fatigue or headaches. The Quest 2 makes adjusting this easier than ever, simplifying it to three core settings.
You may also notice the difference in appearance. The Quest 2 has shifted to a white colour scheme, which Oculus says will be more appealing to a wider audience. Unfortunately, there are no other colour options available at launch.
Talking of launch, pre-orders for the Quest 2 start immediately, with the headset shipping from 13 October. The entire Quest library of 200 titles will be coming to the Quest 2, with upcoming Start Wars and Mist games designed specifically for Quest. There’s also a range of fitness-focused apps too, including Supernatural and BoxVR.
The original Quest’s starting price of £399 made dedicated VR hardware much more accessible, and incredibly the Quest 2’s price has dropped by a further £100. For £299 you get 64GB of storage, while the new 256GB option is £399. For comparison, the high-end original Quest cost £499 and offered only half the storage.
To see what it will be up against, check out our round-up of the best VR headsets currently available, with the original Quest currently sitting 3rd. And, for a more detailed breakdown of the new headset, take a look at our full Oculus Quest 2 review.
If you’ve purchased the headset, we recommend taking a look at our pick of the best Oculus Quest accessories.
Author: Anyron Copeman, Senior Staff Writer
As the resident expert on Windows, Senior Staff Writer Anyron’s main focus is PCs and laptops. Much of the rest of his time is split between smartphones, tablets and audio, with a particular focus on Android devices.