At $479,the Quest 2 is the VR headset that most people should buy and is also the most capable;able to be played standalone or connected to a PC. However,it also comes with a real hidden cost that should give potential buyers some serious pause,related to the practices of Facebook itself.
The Quest 2 uses a new LCD panel running at near 4K resolution which is split into 1440x1600 pixels per eye — that's 50 per cent sharper than its predecessor and a cut above other more expensive VR headsets on the market — while the refresh rate also runs faster at 90Hz. Or it will,once Facebook enables 90Hz in games"soon".
The ageing Snapdragon 835 processor has been swapped out for Qualcomm's shiny new XR2 chip,which is essentially a VR-optimised version of the Snapdragon 865 chip found on top tier flagship smartphones.
A few games at launch are already taking advantage of the XR2 chip with higher resolution textures,more detailed character models,enhanced particle effects and better lighting for heavy hitter titles likeThe Walking Dead:Saints and Sinners andArizona Sunshine. I was surprised at how close these two titles in particular looked in comparison to their more powerful PC-based VR versions.
There are now more than 200 titles available on the Quest and,if you have a capable enough PC,you can tap into an even larger library of PC-based VR titles by tethering your Quest 2 with a high speed USB 3.0 cable.
I tested outStar Wars:Squadrons,which is a title that demands to be played in VR for the best experience,and it felt just as convincing as it did on my dedicated PC VR headset.