Earlier this week, Meta revealed the ‘Quest Pro’ at their annual ‘Connect’ conference. Unlike the Quest 2, this headset is targeted for business users. This is a significant shift from current and past generations of headsets that traditionally focused upon gaming and immersive experiences. Meta’s vision is for users to opt into using a headset like the Quest Pro instead of buying a pc workstation. Before we dive into the why lets first look at what exactly is the Quest Pro.
What Is It?
The Quest Pro is a high-end mixed reality headset (incorporates AR and VR) priced at $2,450 AUD. It has quite a few significant upgrades from its predecessor the Quest 2. Namely, the headset has full colour passthroughs, better controller and weight design, improved avatars, and higher resolution amongst many other improvements. For a full guide on the technical specifications, click here.
Now that we know what the Quest Pro is, let’s look at what problem is it trying to solve? The goal is to improve productivity and the social connection of hybrid work (mix of remote and face-face work). Especially during COVID, as time has passed so has the number of remote meetings. Unfortunately, as many of us have experienced, the quality difference between remote and face-face collaboration is often significant. An emerging solution is to pair mixed reality technology with realistic and emotive avatars. Not only does it bridge the quality gap but it also provides an extra degree of flexibility in the workplace.
Improved Productivity
The headset will allow a user to carry their workstation wherever they go. For example, with the ability to have up to 3 virtual monitors that now include integrated Microsoft Office 365 apps (Word, Excel, OneNote, etc) the user would be able to work effectively when travelling. This is just one of the many ways it can improve productivity but it’s arguably the most important.
Headsets like the Quest Pro can transport a user to a completely different virtual environment and overlay virtual objects into the user’s current environment. This is a huge step up from just being virtually immersed and will allow the collaboration of users from all over the world to meet in one place without having to travel anywhere. This would not be possible without the previously mentioned realistic and emotive avatars that can accurately express a user’s mannerisms when speaking to a colleague. Click here for more information on how this would look like.
Greater Privacy
An added benefit of using the headset as a workstation is that the headset has the ability for the user to be the only one who can see what they’re working on . Many users don’t want others to see their screens when working, especially in public. It would provide privacy and security for those who prefer general privacy or their occupation, requires a high level of security. As the headset does have eye tracking it is possible a future commercial development would be the use of retina scanning to allow access to the headset. It would be an amazing feature, but it is unlikely many occupations would require it. Yet it represents the seemingly endless possible developments of emerging technology such as mixed reality.
The best part about technology such as the Meta Quest Pro is that it can be applied to almost any industry. While it will target hybrid work, there is every chance it could be used as a standalone workstation in face-face spaces as an alternative to a pc. It is a little ironic though that technology is being applied to solve a social disconnect caused by technology but nonetheless it’s still incredibly exciting.
For more information on mixed reality headsets, check out the Next Generation Of Headsets .
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