Meta has announced the Quest 3S, a long-expected headset that fills out the more affordable end of the virtual reality headset line-up.
You’ll pay $299.99 for a Quest 3S, compared to $429.99 for the 128GB Quest 3 or $499.99 for the 512GB edition.
The key aim is to bring the standard and cheaper Quest headset options to parity in terms of power and mixed reality capability. This will make it easier for developers over time, ensuring all those with current-gen headsets have access to a core cadre of features.
Each has the Snapdragon XR 2 Gen 2 chipset and the color passthrough cameras required for good mixed reality results
But what do you lose out on?
Pancake vs fresnel lenses
The Meta Quest 3S uses fresnel lenses, just like the Quest 2. Meta upgraded to pancake lenses in the Quest 3, and I found this upgrade the most substantial visual change in the generation.
It’s not just about better peak sharpness, but the way the sides of the images are radically clearer. It makes looking around with your eyes, instead of your head, much more viable. And leads to a headset less picky about fit, as the lens sweet spot is wider.
Lower resolution
The Quest 3 has 4.5 million display pixels at its disposal. The Quest 3S has 3.5 million.
Their total resolutions are 2064 x 2208 (Quest 3) and 1832 x 1920 (Quest 3S). The cheaper headset, again, matches Quest 2 quality rather than the newer model.
These are the figures you might use when talking about a phone. But what matters most in a headset is PPD, pixels per degree. This tells you how sharp an image appears in a VR headset, because the wider the field of view a headset has, the more you’re stretching out those panel pixels. The Quest 3 is again better here, with 25ppd to the Quest 3S’s 20ppd.
Narrower field of view
Sure enough, the Quest 3 does have a better, wider field of view than the Quest 3S. The Quest 3’s is rates at 110 degrees horizontal, 96 degrees vertical. The Quest 3S’s is 96 horizontal, 90 vertical.
What does this mean in practice? You get a reduced porthole effect, which is where it seems more like you’re looking through a restricted window rather than just seeing the virtual world as you would with your eyes.
In either, though, you don’t quite get that sense of the image entirely taking over your vision.
The cheaper headset has better battery life
It’s not all bad news for the Quest 3S. It is rated for a slightly longer runtime off a full charge than the Quest 3, at 2.5 hours to 2.2 hours.
This is despite the Quest 3 having higher battery capacity, of 5060 mAh to the Quest 3S’s 4324mAh.
What gives? As well as having higher-resolution displays, the Quest 3 likely has to run them harder because the headset’s pancake lenses are typically much less efficient than the fresnel type used in the Quest 3S and Quest 2.
Verdict – should you pay more?
The Meta Quest 3S is effectively a Quest 2 upgraded with color passthrough cameras, the Quest 3’s controllers and a much better processor.
It will deliver better graphics in a lot of apps and games, but not notably improved optical quality.
This should be of interest to the many Quest 2 owners who still like VR but are disappointed by all the Quest 3 upgrades they are missing out on. But does the Quest 3 still provide a legitimately better image? Sure it does.
