Oculus Quest 2 is here!
By: Przemek Chojecki
Tags: VR, Technology, Oculus Quest, Tech, Gaming

Oculus Quest 2 is here!

Oculus Quest 2 has been available in stores since October 13th. Here you can find out everything about the new VR glasses.

Oculus Quest 2 has been available in stores since October 13th. Here you can find out everything about the new VR glasses. Image from Amazon.

What’s New in Oculus Quest 2?

The display of the Oculus Quest 2 offers a resolution of 1,832 x 1,920 pixels per eye. It is an improvement since the display of the original Quest has a resolution of 1,440 x 1,600 pixels per eye.

That’s more than 50% more pixels with Oculus Quest 2.

The new VR glasses use a different type of display: Instead of two OLED displays, a single LC display is built into the housing. Unlike OLED displays, LC displays offer a complete RGB subpixel matrix with three instead of two subpixels.

This fact makes the picture appear even sharper and further reduces the fly screen effect.

A general disadvantage of LC displays compared to OLED displays is the more inferior black level. Dark areas appear grey rather than black, which can affect the atmosphere.

One advantage of the new display is the higher refresh rate of 90 instead of just 72 Hertz. 90 Hertz has been the industry standard since 2016.

Due to the higher refresh rate, the image appears calmer and more real and VR users are less likely to be uncomfortable or bad under the VR glasses.

90 Hertz support applies to system apps and VR apps with 90 Hertz support. For this, developers must first optimize and patch their VR apps.

The first VR games with 90 Hertz support include Superhot VR, Beat Saber, Echo VR, Vacation Simulator, Racket: NX, Job Simulator, and Space Pirate Trainer. Many more will follow!

What does the faster XR2 chip bring?

According to Qualcomm, the XR2 chip is around twice as fast as the Snapdragon 835, which calculates in the original Quest.

However, former Oculus chief technology officer John Carmack confirmed that Quest 2 wouldn’t get the chip’s maximum clock speed due to heat generation and battery life reasons.

The additional performance initially flows into a higher resolution and frame rate, and fixed foveated rendering is also reduced in many VR apps. With this rendering technique, the graphics at the edges of the field of view are calculated with fewer details to save computing power.

How big and heavy is Oculus Quest 2?

Quest 2 is a bit smaller than the original. The exact dimensions are 191.5 x 102 x 142.5 mm with the headband folded and 191.5 x 102 x 295.5 mm with the headband open.

Oculus Quest 2 weighs 516 grams, which is approx. 58 grams less than the original Quest. The weight reduction of over 10% is mainly because Facebook replaced the robust rubber headgear with a much lighter and less high-quality headband made of fabric.

Oculus Quest 2 is far from being lightweight. However, the separately sold Quest 2 Elite-Strap promises better wearing comfort despite the more weight.

Does the Oculus Quest 2 have a lens distance regulator?

Yes, with three settings that are visible between the lenses. The IPD settings are 58, 63 and 68 mm. You can switch between the levels by moving the lenses by hand in the desired direction until they click into place.

Is Oculus Quest 2 worth it?

If you’re into VR, definitely! This is one of the best hardware up to date.

If you’ve never tried VR before, try it and make your own mind.

You can buy Oculus Quest 2 on Amazon here.