Oculus reveals the Rift S: all you need to know

Today at GDC, after a lot of rumors, Oculus has finally unveiled the successor of the Oculus Rift CV1: the Rift S.

After three years of glory, the CV1 had, in the end, become a bit old, with almost all the other devices on the PC market (WMR headsets, Vive Pro, Pimax, etc…) having better specifications than it. Its sales were still solid, mostly because of the low price and great content catalog, but it was time for a refresh and that’s why Oculus has now announced the Rift S.

Let me describe you the product and also give you my opinion on this new device.

Oculus Rift S

The successor of the Oculus Rift has not been called Rift 2 but Rift S because it is not a big step forward from the Rift CV1, but more like a refresh. As you will be able to see in the following sections of this article, there’s nothing really mind-blowing about this headset, but a lot of improvements that make the Rift S more modern than the Rift CV1. It is still VR 1.0.

Specifications

If you want a fast glimpse on the specs of the device, before we go in deeper details, here you are:

• Display resolution: 1,280 × 1,440 per eye
• Display type: LCD
• Refresh-rate: 80 Hz
• FOV: slightly larger than Rift CV 1
• IPD Adjustment: only via software
• Tracking: inside-out with 5 cameras
• Connection: 1x USB 3.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.2
• Mixed Reality: the cameras allow for black and white passthrough

Appearance

The Rift S seems like a mix of an Oculus Rift CV1, a Vive Cosmos and a Lenovo Explorer. The “Lenovo Explorer” has not been taken by chance: Lenovo has actually helped Oculus in manufacturing the headset. Oculus has said that it was looking for a partner that could help in creating a good product in little time and Lenovo has been chosen for its expertise in the XR field (it has made PC VR headsets, standalone headsets, AR headsets, etc…).

The device features:

• One tracking camera on the top;
• One tracking camera on its right side;
• One tracking camera and the 3.5mm audio jack on the left side;
• A button to adjust its distance from the face on the bottom;
• Two tracking cameras and a status led on the front;
• A rigid crown to fit it to your head on the back.

Honestly speaking, I don’t love its external aspect. It is true that the device has still to be launched and so can be refined in these weeks, but from the photos that we have now, it seems less polished than the other Oculus devices. Go, Rift CV1 and Quest have all a very sleek design, something that looks very classy. The Rift S seems a WMR headset: it is not ugly as the happy toaster made by Acer, but it is not even polished like a Samsung Odyssey. It seems more a headset from Lenovo than one from Oculus.

Display

The Rift S features a single LCD display that covers the view of both eyes. Its compound resolution is 2560×1440, that means 1280×1440 per eye. This represents an improvement over its predecessor, that had 1080×1200 displays.

The display is the same of the Oculus Go: a fast-switch LCD, a type that is becoming increasingly more popular among VR HMD manufacturers. It can’t guarantee the same colors vividness and the same black colors of an OLED display, but it is cheaper and has a better fill factor, meaning that the overall perceived screen door effect is much lower. My review hero Ben Lang also points out that with LCD you have less mura and this is another advantage. The hands-on with the Rift S all highlight how the SDE is much lower than with the Rift CV1 and the quality of the images is very good.

The refresh rate of the Rift S has been lowered from 90Hz to 80Hz. Oculus has explained this decision telling that this way, the specifications for the recommended PC can remain the same of the original CV1 and so the market of Oculus users doesn’t become fragmented. Since the display resolution has been improved and now there is also the inside-out tracking to perform, something had to be cut to let all VR-ready PCs that run the CV1 work with the Rift S as well.

Let me be honest on the display: it is a complete disappointment to me. An LCD display, running at 80 Hz and at a resolution of 1280×1440 per eye makes me think about a headset from 2017. Even the Windows Mixed Reality headsets run at 1440×1440 per eye. I know that resolution is not everything, but I expected at least the one of the Vive Pro: 1440×1600 per eye. This way, the Rift S remains the headset with the lowest resolution on the market, only after the original Vive. That’s a very weird move by Oculus.

Lenses

The other component of the optics of the headset, instead, has been improved a lot. The Rift S features next-gen Fresnel lenses, similar to the ones of the Go and Quest, offering a larger sweet spot and fewer god rays than the previous Rift. That’s really a great news.

The resulting field of view is more or less the same of the original Rift: Oculus claims that it is a bit larger than the one of the CV1, but has refused to share an exact number.

Comfort

The comfort of the Rift S is better than the one of the Rift. The headband has been redesigned and finally Oculus is now using a plastic crown that goes around your head and that can be fit to your head by loosing or tightening a knob that there is at its back. There is also a soft band that goes over your head and that can be used to refine the fit of the device to your head.

In case you should accommodate glasses or you want to improve the fit to your face even more, you can press a button on the bottom of the headset and adjust its distance from the face by moving it forward and backward.

The design of all of this reminds me a lot the one of the Lenovo Mirage Solo, that actually was in my opinion quite uncomfortable. But after the release of the Solo, Lenovo has partnered with Sony so that it is now able to exploit all the good design of the super-comfortable PSVR headset in its products.

This may be the reason why the hands-on articles report that the headset feels comfortable on the head. And David Heaney suggests that maybe Facebook has chosen Lenovo for the partnership also because this way it could use the secrets of the comfort of the PSVR in its new headset.

A last note on the weight: it is a bit heavier than the Rift, but, even in this case, we have no idea of the exact number.

IPD adjustment

The Rift S doesn’t let you move your lenses so that to configure your IPD via hardware. There is, anyway, the possibility to set your IPD via software. This will solve the problem for most people, but the ones having very little or big IPD, may have issues in using this device.

Oculus has explained to UploadVR that to do a proper hardware IPD adjustment mechanism, they should have used two screens in place of the single one, but this would have increased the final cost of the device.

Audio

As all the modern headsets, the Rift S features integrated audio, via a solution similar to the one of the Quest and the Go: two little apertures on the headband through which the audio gets emitted. In case you want more privacy (cough cough for porn cough cough), you can use the 3.5mm jack and attach your favorite headphones.

No mention about the microphone, but from the pictures it is possible to see that it will be integrated as well. I hope it will feature the same rumor reduction that works so well on the Rift CV1.

Tracking

The Rift S doesn’t need external cameras to work: all the tracking of the headset and the controllers is performed inside-out via 5 cameras installed on the headset.

The 5 cameras are positioned this way:

• 2 on the front;
• 1 on the top;
• 1 on the left;
• 1 on the right.

Thanks to this weird positioning (that reminds me a lot the one of the cameras of the Vive Cosmos), the system will be able to track the controllers even if you move them to the side of the headset (e.g. in a bow-and-arrow game) or behind you. It is not clear if the cameras are RGB or infrared, but due to the fact that they have to track the controllers that will shine of IR light, I’d guess that either they are IR ones, or they can perceive a spectrum of light that goes from visible to infrared.

According to the reviews, the tracking is very good. Of course, it is not perfect as the SteamVR 2.0 one (Ben Lang reports a slight jitter of the controllers), but it is much better than the one of WMR headsets. To break the tracking of controllers, you have really to take it to extreme situations, like putting them very very close to your face or really behind your head. There are games where this may become a nuisance, but I think that for most of them, the tracking will be really fine.

In case you hoped for a hybrid tracking technology, I have to disappoint you: the Rift S can’t work with Constellation cameras.

Tracking is really a welcome improvement for the Rift S over the Rift CV1: not because of the quality, but because of the easiness of setup. There will be no more the need of using 3 or 4 USB ports, there will be no more the need to install cameras in your room. This will help a lot the adoption of VR, because if the setup is so easy that everyone can do it, more people, even the non-techie ones, may be able to use a VR headset.

Controllers

The controllers are exactly the same of Quest, so all the considerations made for them still apply: they are very good, just slightly more uncomfortable than the ones of the original Rift.

Passthrough+

Let’s arrive at what is, in my opinion, the best feature of this headset: since it features two frontal cameras, it will be possible for the user to activate the passthrough vision and see his surroundings. Oculus has worked a lot on this feature, by reducing the camera distortions and improving the speed at which the passthrough is presented in front of the eyes of the users. According to Oculus, it is the best passthrough technology present today on the market for image quality and low latency. The only problem is that the passthrough is black and white. The name “Passthrough+” has been chosen to highlight its superiority over the other passthrough technologies.

The passthrough will be used for:

• Letting you configure your play area: instead of drawing some lines with your controllers while looking at your screen as you do now, you will be able to actually see your surroundings and draw your play area with your controllers all around you. This will be incredibly handy;
• Improving the Guardian: when you will go out your play area, the Passthrough+ will activate, letting you see your surroundings and avoiding you stumbling over your furniture.

What excites me is that if Oculus will give us developers access to this passthrough feature via the SDK, we will be able to create mixed reality applications for the Rift S! You know how I love playing with MR on the Vive Focus and so I really think that having the possibility to create MR apps for the Rift, connected to the power of a PC, could open a lot of new possibilities. Especially if Oculus will ever enable hand tracking on the Rift S… I’m asking to John Carmack if this will ever happen… in case he answers, I will let you know!

Connectivity

The Rift S connects to your PC via a USB 3.0 port and a DisplayPort 1.2. The cable is long 5 meters so that you can now move in a larger area. For laptops, there will be the possibility to use a mini-DisplayPort adapter that will be supplied in the box.

Price and availability

The Rift S will cost $399 and will be available from Spring 2019.

Hands-on

I advise you to read this hands-on on Upload VR and this other one on Road To VR made by my review hero Benjamin Lang

Final impressions

When I read all the specifications of the Rift S, this has been my first thought:

I mean, if I were Brendan Iribe, I would have left Oculus too when I’ve heard about the idea of launching this device. The only real innovation in this headset, in my opinion, lies in the 5 cameras. If in the future Oculus will release a Mixed Reality SDK as HTC has done with the Vive Pro (SRWorks), they will give the Rift S the possibility of creating mixed reality apps and this is interesting. Even the hands tracking would be more than welcome.

But apart of that… I really don’t know what to say: if you buy a Mixed Reality headset for $200 in whatever online store, you obtain more or less the same things: inside-out tracking, a decent display, and good comfort. Yes, the Oculus Touch controllers are still better, but the WMR headsets have the flip-up display… and the fact that I am here comparing a just-released headset with some cheap headsets on the market is not encouraging.

Such a low-quality display in a $399 headset released in 2019 is really disappointing. On Twitter, people are asking me why someone should buy this headset instead of the Quest and I don’t know what to answer. It costs like the Quest, but it is far less innovative than the Quest. It has not the portability of the Quest. Yes, it has the PC computational power behind it, but if you manage to use a software like Riftcat with the Quest, then it is game over. It seems to me that Oculus just wants everyone to buy the Quest and is keeping the PC line just for compatibility with the past. In fact, it has made another company (Lenovo) manufacture part of this new device.

People wanting the premium experience of a PC VR headset will go to premium headsets like the Vive Pro, Pimax or the just-launched HP Reverb (that has 2K per eye resolution!!). People wanting a low price will buy WMR headsets. This headset stays in the middle and does satisfy neither the first group of people nor the second one. I think that unless Oculus releases some MR magic, the only true reason to buy this Rift S will be the Oculus brand and the great library of Oculus content, with great exclusive games like Robo Recall and the upcoming Stormland or Asgard’s Wrath. Content is the king and Oculus is heavily pointing on it: in history, we have seen that not always the best technology wins, but wins the one with the best content. And Oculus currently is the content market leader, together with Sony.

Personally, I won’t hold my breath to buy one. I will buy the Quest on day one, but I see no compelling reason to substitute my Rift CV1 with this device. I will wait some months and then decide what new PC VR headset to buy.

(Header image by Oculus)