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VR glasses Meta Quest Pro: Expensive flagship product
Photo: META / via REUTERS
In autumn 2021, an appearance by Mark Zuckerberg caused a worldwide sensation: At the Facebook Connect developer conference, he announced that the social media group he co-founded would be called Meta from now on and that it would be committed to a new major project - the development of the so-called Metaverse.
Since then, a lot has been astonished and puzzled, but also ridiculed, about the plan to set up a kind of digital parallel world.
But other companies such as Microsoft, Epic Games and the TikTok parent ByteDance are also busy working on projects that go in a similar direction.
Not only within the industry, one quickly asked oneself: Is the demonstrative focus on the metaverse and thus on virtual reality (VR) and digital worlds, Zuckerberg's biggest mistake?
Or will it one day be his greatest triumph?
Only the next few years will provide answers.
On Tuesday evening German time, the company boss gave an update on his plans to reorganize Meta for the future.
Above all, it became apparent that Zuckerberg no longer only has tech enthusiasts or classic gamers in mind.
With a new high-end virtual reality goggle called Meta Quest Pro, he is targeting professional users who typically do their work on the computer, for example from home, with occasional VR meetings with colleagues.
In the latter online meetings, a focus on so-called expression tracking is intended to ensure that your own avatar reflects the facial expressions of the headset wearer in real time, from smiling to winking.
Among other things, eye-tracking technology is used, i.e. eye movements are recorded.
A benchmark for Apple's possible glasses
At the same time, the Quest Pro is now Meta's flagship product, similar to the Pro versions of Apple and Google smartphones.
Mark Zuckerberg's company is about demonstrating strength.
Because Apple's own glasses would also have to be measured against the technical capabilities of the new device.
Rumors have been circulating about such a device for a long time, most recently there was talk of a possible announcement next year.
The Quest Pro will be released on October 25th.
The package includes a charging station with USB-C power adapter and a pair of new controllers that can track themselves thanks to three integrated cameras and a built-in Snapdragon 622 processor.
Visually, they come without the iconic ring of the previous quest controllers.
Compared to the Quest 2, Meta's previous VR flagship, the display itself has been improved on the headset.
With so-called pancake lenses, it now allegedly offers 75 percent more contrast and 37 percent more pixel density.
More than with the Quest 2, Meta now also attaches importance to the fact that the new glasses are suitable for mixed reality applications.
For example, the so-called pass-through function, which makes it possible to fade in the real environment, now for the first time delivers a color image with four times the resolution.
The glasses also include two physical light blockers that can be used to influence the incidence of light.
Meta also promises that the new headset will be more comfortable to wear.
This time it has ten sensors on board, a Snapdragon XR2+ processor, 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage space.
In France, the Quest Pro costs 1800 euros
However, the Quest Pro will certainly not be a device for the masses, which is also due to the price: Meta requires $ 1499.99 in the USA, plus the sales tax of the respective states.
In France, the price is set at 1799.99 euros.
For comparison: The cheapest Quest 2 variant cost 350 euros when it was published, and Meta recently started charging 450 euros.
As the "Handelsblatt" learned before the presentation of the Quest Pro, the new headset will not be launched in Germany.
Quest 2 was and is not officially available in this country.
The background to the sales restrictions that Meta decided on is a procedure that the Federal Cartel Office initiated against the company.
It's about Facebook's controversial move to link use of its Quest 2 headset to a Facebook account.
At the time of release, the glasses could not be used at all without a link to Facebook.
In the meantime, Meta has introduced so-called meta accounts, with which the headset can also be used independently of an account in its largest social network.
Meta and Microsoft cooperate
Beyond his new high-end glasses, Mark Zuckerberg promised, among other things, revisions to the avatars on Meta's "Horizon Worlds" platform on Tuesday evening.
The digital figures, which have so far lacked the lower body in joint VR experiences, should finally get legs next year.
In addition, Zuckerberg announced partnerships with companies such as NBCUniversal, Accenture and Microsoft.
In the course of this cooperation, for example, Microsoft's office software teams are to be networked with Meta's workplace simulation "Horizon Workrooms".
In addition, it should be possible to use Microsoft tools such as Word or Excel on Quest devices in the long term.
With »Among Us VR«, the VR version of a popular video game also got a release date.
It is expected to be released on November 10, 2022, for around 10 euros.
mbo
