Oculus Quest 2 coming soon with these key upgrades

By Roland Moore-Colyer
published

Oculus Quest 2 could be faster, lighter and more powerful

Oculus Quest
(Image credit: Future)

A faster and lighter Oculus Quest could be in the works, as Facebook is reportedly working on a new virtual reality headset with redesigned controllers as well. 

While the Oculus Rift S and Oculus Go aren’t going anywhere, the wireless self-contained Oculus Quest could be undergoing a redesign, according to Bloomberg. Not only is the model expected to be smaller, lighter, and have a faster display refresh rate, but multiple versions of the new headset are being worked upon. 

The reason for multiple models is apparently down to Facebook not having finalised the design of its next VR headset. And the new headset could also be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to those in the know about Facebook’s VR plans. 

The Oculus Quest made its debut early last year and was praised for offering an all-in-one VR experience that didn’t need to be connected to a PC, games console or smartphone. But its display was found to be a little lacking in clarity, so a new display with an improved refresh rate could certainly improve upon that. 

Facebook is apparently testing Quests with displays that have a 120Hz refresh rate, but might clock the display panel at 90Hz so the new headset doesn’t consume battery power too quickly. But a 90Hz refresh rate would be a decent upgrade over the Oculus Quest’s 60Hz panel. 

It’s also very likely that a new Oculus Quest will have a more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile chip, giving the headset more scope to power more graphically rich games and virtual reality experiences. 

In our Oculus Quest review, we found the controllers to be one of the best parts. But it looks like Facebook wants to improve upon them, or add new features. There are murmurs that the straps on the controllers could be made out of an elastic material rather than rubber and velcro, which could make them more durable than those in other Oculus headsets. 

Bloomberg’s sources also noted that Facebook is working on an augmented reality Oculus headset. But that headset also looks to have been delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak as hardware development has been slowed and lab testing access has been lost. Such an AR headset had been roughly scheduled to make its debut in 2023. 

Roland Moore-Colyer
Roland Moore-Colyer

Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face. 

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • NinKenDo79
    This article is way off as far as the Quest refresh rate and image clarity. Quest has one of the best displays of any VR set.

    ...and this from a simple Google search...

    The Oculus Quest uses two diamond Pentile OLED displays, each with an individual resolution of 1440 × 1600 and a refresh rate of 72 Hz.
    Reply
  • poagie
    I think the quest controllers are horrible. The battery compartment opens constantly when trying to play games like beat saber.... Also not using rechargeable controllers in the first place makes them among the worst controllers i have used.
    Reply
  • Gwahahaha
    I partially agree; non-rechargeable batteries and the ridiculous positioning of the battery cover are definitely demerits (something I also learned while paying Beat Saber). Other personal gripes (coming from a guy who "upgraded" from a PSVR to a Quest) are that the controllers are WAAAAAAY too sensitive and jittery, and the haptic feedback/rumble is far too weak. (Or perhaps the Move controllers are far too strong?)

    That said, at least the big problems are easily rectifiable: there are inexpensive grips on Amazon that both protect the battery cover and add an extra layer of grip, and I already have a bunch of rechargeable AAs on hand (although I understand that those are becoming less common in an age of lithium-ion). The tracking (jittery as it may be) is more consistently accurate than something like the Move controllers, with almost no errors during a long Beat Saber session (versus at least one error every song on the PSVR). I DID have my left controller flip out and fly off into space a few times in the span of three hours, but that's still better than the Move, which flips out almost every time you pass a controller in front of the headset (and god forbid you accidentally move out of the camera's FOV).

    TL;DR: in spite of the flaws you mention, I dig the button layout, the tracking accuracy, and the distinct grip and trigger functions. I wouldn't say it's the worst controller, but it can definitely improve by a lot, and there are already ways to fix some of those issues.
    Reply
  • duke_meister
    poagie said:
    I think the quest controllers are horrible. The battery compartment opens constantly when trying to play games like beat saber.... Also not using rechargeable controllers in the first place makes them among the worst controllers i have used.
    That's strange, it's never happened to me yet, not once. I play a fair bit of Beat Saber. And my controllers are rechargable.. just get some yourself duh.
    Reply