Menu

Oculus Quest 2

18th January 2021 - Uncategorised, virtual reality

Executive Summary

I’ve had a Rift since the dev kit 2 days, winning one at a hackathon in 2015 for a Angular Mobile App I made in 24 hours using a time based routeplanner and a trip around Cranleigh in Surrey.

Anyhoo, I digress, I’ve been playing with VR a long time, since my University days in 1997, then using VRML, and now using Unity and Unreal.

I purchased a proper Rift a few years ago, and was still disappointed by the range, cables and various doo-hickeys needed to get up and running. Then I saw the Quest 2 reviews and was very intrigued. This may just be the headset that kicks off the lightweight VR experience I dreamed of.

My first impressions weren’t so great as it took quite a bit of searching to actually get the headset up and running. To be fair to Oculus though, I approached this as I did with my Rift CV1. Installing the PC software first, before even putting the headset on..

So, after messing about on my PC, tweaking USB settings in Power management to turn off USB power management, and updating all my drivers and BIOS, I finally just put it on..

…And entered Setup. I’d have facepalmed myself, but it would have just left a mark on my shiny matt white headset.

Initial setup requires a wifi connection to update the headset, and a mobile phone to install the Connect App onto. I chose my iPhone 8 at first, and linked it with the number displayed in the headset.

While it was downloading the app, I scrutinised the resolution (1600×1440 per lens). Where it is better than the Rift CV1 (1080×1200), there still are jagged edges on otherwise smooth objects which I can’t remember noticing on my CV1. I didn’t notice much difference in refresh rate, even though the quest 2 has a lower refresh rate ( ~60Hz-72Hz–90Hz (coming soon?)).

Once it installed via my phone, I attempted connecting via the PC again.

Again, no dice.

Put the headset back on, had a full dashboard as well as a Oculus Link button. Set to disabled.. After Enabling the Oculus Link button, we’re back again.

And it works. All Steam games seem to work, so we’re off to the races.

This is a great value headset and a huge leap in two years.

I also have a Lenovo headset and the quest 2 is miles ahead in size and quality, so if you are into VR development, its certainly a must buy.

Tags: , ,