Meta Quest 3 is a virtual reality of repair insanity
- Reference: 1697472130
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/16/meta_quest_3_ifixit/
- Source link:
As iFixit [1]charitably observed : "The 'year of virtual reality' turned out to be 'the run-up to mixed reality.'" Charitable because a cynic might remark that if idiot goggles failed to take off while everyone was locked down at home, they probably never will. Not for this generation, at any rate.
However, while companies such as Microsoft might appear to have stepped back from earlier grand promises, others, such as Apple with its [2]Vision Pro , remain keen to augment reality once their hardware actually ships.
[3]
Meta has continued to keep the faith, even if the faith of users might have been tested by slightly underwhelming hardware in the form of the Quest Pro. At the same time, the Meta Quest 2 – originally branded the Oculus Quest 2 – has grown increasingly long in the tooth.
[4]
[5]
With the Quest 3, Meta has upped the specifications as well as the price. The 128 GB version retails at £479.99 ($499.99), and the 512 GB goes for an eye-watering – but still some way from Apple's pricing – £619.99 ($649.99).
As the iFixit team tore into the headset, the first major failure from a repairability perspective was the "extremely complicated procedure of replacing the lithium polymer battery pack."
[6]
"Replacing the battery in the Quest 3 is as difficult as it was in the Quest 2, and far more difficult than the Quest Pro."
That said, the batteries in the controllers are AAs rather than the lithium-ion cells of the Quest Pro, so it's a win there.
[7]Teardown reveals iPhone 15 to be series of questionable design decisions
[8]EU right to repair updates pass latest hurdle
[9]Apple pairs well with profits, not repair shops
[10]Google promises eternity of updates for Chromebooks – that's a decade for everyone else
Faced with a multitude of screws and the lack of a service manual, iFixit stripped the headset back to its bare components, revealing the new time of flight sensor – essential for hand and controller tracking as well as mapping out the space around the user – and, beyond the fan, the mainboard.
The Quest 3 is powered by a Snapdragon 8, the XR2 Gen2. According to iFixit: "Leaked benchmarks suggest that this newer SoC improves on the XR2+ found in the Quest Pro both in terms of performance and power efficiency."
However, it is the battery that disappoints. Although it is a standard unit so theoretically replaceable, iFixit noted: "It's taken me three Fixmats, a single tray of plastic, and very careful organizing of about 50 screws to get this far."
[11]
Yikes. Not really a user-serviceable part at all.
At 19.44 Wh, however, it is considerably beefier than the 14 Wh of the Quest 2's unit, which explains why the Quest 3 is smaller yet heavier than its predecessor.
Finally, the team got to the new 2,064 x 2,208 LCD panels providing the visuals. No mico-OLED units here – Meta has eschewed the exotic of the new for something more traditional.
Overall, the team gave the device a provisional 4 out of 10 in its teardown, principally due to the absence of manuals, OEM spare parts, and "any sign of repairability considerations whatsoever."
But hey, at least you can swap out the AAs in the controllers when they die. ®
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[1] https://www.ifixit.com/News/84572/meta-quest-3-teardown-and-the-future-of-vr-repairability-en
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/05/apple_vision_pro/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZS2yiWewf5Lrs42kRd0gOAAAAcI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZS2yiWewf5Lrs42kRd0gOAAAAcI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZS2yiWewf5Lrs42kRd0gOAAAAcI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZS2yiWewf5Lrs42kRd0gOAAAAcI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/26/iphone_15_teardown/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/21/right_to_repair/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/20/iphone/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/14/google_chromebook_10_years_updates/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZS2yiWewf5Lrs42kRd0gOAAAAcI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
If anyone has seen a picture of it... I saw a bright orange/white one that looked like it should be on one of those 'is it cake' shows... a cross between a handbag and a character from 'one of us'
Life in the old dog yet
Quest 2 peformance +20% since the june 21 V55 firmware update.
"Quest performance improvements
We're continuing to move VR forwards by pushing the boundaries of what Quest Pro and Quest 2 are capable of. With v55, we're enabling higher clock speeds for the CPU and GPU for all Quest Pro and Quest 2 headsets, giving you smoother gameplay and a more responsive UI. This update also adds more power for developers to take advantage of for both existing and upcoming apps.
These performance improvements include:
Up to 26% increase in CPU speed for Quest Pro and Quest 2
Up to 19% increase in GPU for Quest 2
Up to 11% increase in GPU for Quest Pro "
https://www.meta.com/en-gb/help/quest/articles/whats-new/release-notes/
I'd be more worried if it was good
Let Metaface crash on the rocks with this one. They will be as bad a steward and as bad an actor as they were with social media and mobile advertising.
We don't need them turning the world's shared virtual space into the same kind of hellscape. And that's without bringing up the literal genocide and ethnic cleansing that they enabled.
Apple's not the ideal steward of AR or VR, but they aren't trying to take over the world with it. Just extend their walled garden. Whoever doesn't want to play their game or pay for their expensive hardware will have other choices in a more open ecosystem.
Zuckerberg has other ambitions, and if you look at how their AI/ML push is going, you should be afraid of strapping a Quest to your face for any length of time.
A VR goggle:
- A small 15x5cm LCD (HDMI/DisplayPort)
- A couple of suitable lenses to optimize DPI
- Gyroscope sensors (USB)
- Drivers (libusb, OpenHMD)
Why has a multitude of small independent companies not managed to do churn these out yet? VR is such a failure there is literally no interest outside of Facebook or HTC's marketing.
I wonder if the large companies all moved to AR/Android headsets because was is too embarrassing for them to mass produce and churn out such simple hardware.
I wonder if the same will happen when VR flares up again in another decade.
Meta's failed VR Enterprise
Wishing here Meta keep pushing their failed VR project.
Hopefully they will break in 5 years, since Zuck is their master and other board members cannot stop him from spending millions in a failed business venture.
Oh look it's an overpriced niche within a niche within a niche product that has built in planned obsolescence... What a surprise... said nobody.
Oh, how I wish there was a Phillip J Fry 'shocked' icon.