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Facebook today revealed the Oculus Quest 2, the company’s
second-generation standalone VR headset, and it is a huge technological jump
forward from Quest. The new device offers higher resolution displays, a much
more powerful processor and graphics unit, and it supports the latest wireless
standards, including 5G communication. It’s an impressive package, to be sure.
The first Quest headset is a fantastic piece of technology,
with full room-scale tracking, wand controller or hand tracking, and a high-resolution display in a compact, portable form-factor that does not require a computer. Quest 2 is a huge step forward in almost all performance-related metrics.
The new headset features Qualcomm’s latest mobile processor, called the XR2, the same processing unit found in today’s top-of-the-line
smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. The XR2 chipset was
engineered for extended reality (XR) experiences, such as AR and VR. Hence the name. What that means is Quest 2 delivers the best performance you can get today in a mobile VR device.
The original Quest offers 4GB of memory, limiting the complexity of the experiences you can build for it. Quest 2 gives you 6GB to push the content a little bit further.
The new headset also incorporates a much higher resolution display, with more than 50% more pixels to make the image as clear as possible.
The new display makes reading text and looking at fine details much easier.
Easier to Sanitize
One of Quest’s biggest problems, especially in the current pandemic situation, is that it’s not easy to clean. The outer shell is encased in a denim-like fabric that gives it a premium look, but it also absorbs sweat and grime from your hands. Quest 2 comprises a plastic shell, which is easy to clean with anti-bacterial wipes. And you can remove the cushion to hand wash it in the sink.
That you can clean it easily is a massive win for training settings, where a group of people may share a single headset, or it may be used to train new people each day.
Adapted for Businesses
You may have seen the news about Quest 2 being $299, but that is for the consumer device, and to activate it, you need to tie it to a Facebook account. For most businesses, that would be a deal-breaker.
Large enterprises, especially those doing government contract work, anything government or military-based, and many other companies have a reason not to allow Facebook accounts on their computers.
Fortunately, Facebook thought of that and built a platform for businesses to use Oculus hardware that doesn’t require a Facebook login. The catch is you can’t use the $299 consumer headset for those situations.
Facebook offers a program called Oculus for Business that enables businesses to order hardware that isn’t attached to the consumer store and Facebook’s account policies. Oculus for Business hardware carries commercial licenses, enterprise-level support, and extended warranties. You can manage these headsets offline and independently, or you can manage them with Oculus’ cloud management tool.
The Oculus for Business platform uses Facebook’s Workplace solution, which is an enterprise-safe communication and collaboration tool. Workplace offers data center security controls, 24/7 threat monitoring, and multiple levels of encryption to ensure your communications and data remain secure and private.
Typically, Bit Space Development offers hardware procurement along with our software contracts. However, Oculus for Business headsets must be purchased through Oculus as they do not have a reseller program. It adds a layer of complexity, but BSD is a member of Oculus’ approved Independent Software Vendors (ISV), so we can help you with any software needs if Quest 2 is you hardware of choice.
Oculus Quest 2 marks an exciting point in the VR industry’s history. Mark Zuckerberg wants to see a billion people in VR. For that to happen, we will need an affordable, easy-to-use device that is powerful enough for extraordinary experiences. Quest 2 looks to be just that, and that can only be a good thing for everyone. Regardless of Quest 2’s place in the enterprise market, the fact that many more people will experience VR for the first time
with Quest 2 will help more people realize the power of VR and all it’s use cases.
2021 is going to be an exciting year for the XR industry. We can’t wait to see how the industry responds, and we start seeing some of the competition that brings even more rapid innovation.
