We’ve recently acquired a Quest 3S assessment unit from Meta, allowing us to thoroughly put it through its paces in order to provide a comprehensive assessment.
Notwithstanding our comprehensive evaluation was still underway, we observed a striking disparity between the two headsets that wasn’t immediately apparent during hands-on testing in well-lit settings: whereas Quest 3S is a more affordable option with inferior optics and display, it surprisingly outperforms Quest 3 in low-light head and hand tracking capabilities.
With initial tests conducted in complete darkness, I found that neither the Quest 3 nor Quest 2 devices were capable of tracking either my head or palms with any degree of accuracy. A notification popped up on each headset, alerting me that monitoring had failed to initialize and prompting me to disable the feature. Despite the introduction of the Quest 3S, I still find that it struggles to accurately track my head and hands when I’m near walls or complex geometries, albeit with occasional minor tremors.
While operating in a setting of low light rather than absolute darkness, the disparity becomes more nuanced yet remains crucial; the tactile feedback provided by the hand tracking system exhibits a noticeable improvement. What they usually do during their free time? Individuals may utilise their headsets in large rooms illuminated by soft glow lamps tucked away in a corner, while others might rely on the silvery light of a moonlit window.
Under such conditions, Quest 3S’s hand-tracking technology initiates more rapidly, seamlessly handles rapid movements without compromising accuracy, and generates false positive frames – where your hand appears incorrectly positioned due to off-angle or misaligned fingers – significantly less frequently.
META’S REVOLUTIONARY QUEST 3 CONTROLLERS GET TRACKED
Meta’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) outlined the innovative approach behind Quest 3’s Contact Plus controllers, highlighting their ability to observe. Meanwhile, Beat Saber’s co-founder provided valuable insights into this revolutionary technology.
The design’s operation on Quest 3 and Quest 3S has a nuanced effect on controller tracking. The Quest 3S leverages identical Contact Plus controllers as its Quest 3 counterpart, featuring an array of infrared LEDs embedded beneath their plastic housings that synchronize pulsations with the headset’s camera modules’ publicizing activity. This controller monitoring system functions effectively in complete darkness. Unlike Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest 3S also perform repeated hand tracking and rapidly infer controller positions from hand movements when infrared LEDs are obstructed. In rare instances where IR LEDs are partially blocked, the Quest 3S’s controller monitoring system is enhanced for improved performance. Although rare cases do exist,
The How & Why: IR Illuminators
Here’s why Quest 3S boasts superior low-light monitoring compared to its predecessors: this breakthrough stems from the presence of infrared illuminators situated on the headset’s front-facing interface.
Two IR illuminators are strategically placed alongside the passthrough cameras and monitoring cameras at the entrance of the Quest 3S headset, ensuring optimal illumination for seamless tracking and augmented reality experiences. They function as IR floodlights, illuminating the surrounding area for monitoring cameras designed to detect infrared signals, thereby providing a clear visual representation of nearby objects, including palm prints.
You might behold Quest 3S’s infrared illuminators in action, manifesting as two soft pink luminescent dots discernible to the naked eye.
It’s far from being the innovative concept that Meta claims to have developed in this regard. For over a decade, Leap Movement – now rebranded as Ultraleap – has leveraged infrared (IR) illuminators to track hand movements in virtual reality (VR), while Apple’s Vision Pro features not one but two IR illuminators situated at the front of the device.
The more expensive Quest 3 lacks infrared illuminators. It boasts an infrared depth projector, commonly referred to as a structured light scanner, situated at its core. The proposed method appears to be specifically designed for seamless integration into blended reality scenes, allowing for accurate mesh scanning and precise differentiation between Spartan room geometry and its minimal texture. When used in low-light conditions, the device’s performance appears to be hindered, producing a duller and less effective output compared to the Quest 3S’s infrared illuminator.
When you purchase a Quest 3, don’t worry. You can augment your interior IR illuminators in your space to amplify low-light surveillance capabilities on Quest 3, Quest 2, or other headsets utilizing internal-out computer vision monitoring, a practice that has been adopted by enthusiasts for years.
In our comprehensive Quest 3S review, we’ll delve into the nuanced differences between Quest 3S, Quest 3, and Quest 2, uncovering unexpected twists along the way. Given the delayed arrival of our units compared to other retailers, we’ll need at least a few more days before we can deliver a definitive assessment of Quest 3S’s performance.
