The Meta Quest Pro is real, despite our (and Meta’s own employees’) wishes. And the worst part? It’ll set you back $1500 (roughly R27,000). Mark Zuckerberg officially revealed the headset on Tuesday, saying it’s aimed at “making the metaverse a reality.”
On a quest to be bad
The Quest Pro is Meta’s follow-up to the Quest 2, a far cheaper VR headset that didn’t cost more than two PlayStation 5’s to own.
Zuckerberg claims that the Pro model was designed for work, rather than the VR headsets’ common use – gaming.
“It’s work-focused”, Zuckerberg told reporters in Washington in late September. “The ideal customers for this are going to be either people who just want the highest-end VR device — so enthusiasts, prosumer type folks — or people who are trying to get work done”.
Yeah, obviously the ideal customers are the ones willing to pay R27,000 for a device supporting a painfully flawed metaverse.
Inside, you’ll find LCD displays with a 90Hz max refresh rate, a Snapdragon XR2-Plus processor, 12GB of memory, and 256GB of storage. There’s also a set of “self-tracking” controllers to pair up with it, which can track their position in 3D space despite the headset’s position. The inward-facing cameras on the inside of the device will track your eyes and face to mask your facial expressions.
On the outside of the device, it implements what Meta calls a “full-colour mixed reality experience” using cameras to let users see what’s going outside in the real world with overlayed graphics. Or… now this could be a crazy idea… but wouldn’t taking it off offer the same functionality?
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There’s more coming than just a VR headset. Zuckerberg discussed a wristband that can detect neurological signals and use them to affect what’s happening within the metaverse. This could essentially turn one’s hand into a controller, rather than using the custom controllers.
We’re not that far away from this, at least according to Zuckerberg. “I think in the future, people will use this to control their phones and computers and all this other stuff,” he said. “You’ll just have a little band around your wrist. “It’s not that far off,” Mark added. “It’s not this year, but it’s not that far off.”
If for some reason, you’re keen to get yourself a Meta Quest Pro, then you won’t be able to. South Africa isn’t on Meta’s list of shippable countries. It’s possible that it’ll make its way to South Africa if the device and the metaverse are a success. Which means it’ll probably never come here.
Source: The Verge