Meta Quest 3S review: the way to go for mainstream MR

Around 10 days ago I received my Meta Quest 3S and now I’m ready to write a review about it and explain to you why this is the mixed reality headset average consumers should buy.

Meta Quest 3S

Meta Quest 3S is the headset that Meta released as a spiritual successor of Quest 2. The actual successor is the Quest 3, but Quest 3 is a rather expensive device ($500), so it’s hard it may have a wide mainstream appeal. Quest 3S slightly downgrades the Quest 3 by returning to the old lenses and display of Quest 2, but keeping Quest 3’s new chipset and mixed reality capabilities. This hybridization of the 2 last Meta headsets creates a device that can run the latest games, both VR and MR ones, but at the same time has a price as low as $300. Meta wants this way to democratize Mixed Reality. Will it succeed in this mission? I think so, and during this review, I’ll explain to you why.

Specifications

• Resolution (per-eye): 1,832 × 1,920
• Display Type: Single LCD display
• Refresh Rate: 90Hz
• Lenses type: Fresnel
• Processor: Snapdragon XR2 Gen2
• RAM: 8GB
• Battery Life: 2–3 hours
• Field of View: 96° horizontal, 90° vertical
• IPD Adjust: 58mm, 63mm, 68mm
• Weight: 514g
• Storage: 128GB or 256GB
• Connectivity: USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 6
• Tracking: inside-out
• Mixed Reality: RGB passthrough
• Audio: Integrated microphones, no headphones 3.5mm jack

Unboxing

In the good old times of the Rift CV1, I loved to unbox Oculus headsets because they always offered a great packaging experience. Lately, Facebook/Meta used to provide more traditional packaging, instead. I’m very glad to say that the experience of unboxing Meta Quest 3S has been great again. Watch it in my unboxing video:

The great thing here is that as soon as you pull the little handle, the box automatically opens like a surprise gift, unveiling the headset and the controller. And on one of the sides of the box, you can see a pamphlet with written “Start here” that gives you a quick start guide on the device. This is great for newbies, that so are immediately guided to the use of their first headset. I don’t know who designed this box, but I already love him/her. Quest 3S offers the best unboxing experience of a Meta headset of the last few years.

The box is pretty compact and contains:

• The headset
• The controllers (with the AA batteries included)
• The power adapter and a charging USB-C cable
• A glass spacer
• Some pamphlets

Design

Meta Quest 3S offers the same solid design typical of all Facebook/Meta headsets. The device is clearly well-manufactured and features solid plastic. I also appreciate the white color, which contrasts with the all-black color typical of old-school VR headsets, even more because it is compensated by the black of the facemask and of the top of the controllers.

What I’m not a big fan of is the overall shape of the headset, which seems a mix of Oculus Go, Meta Quest 2, and Meta Quest 3. The 6 cameras on the front look to me like the headset has pimples. Plus, being used to a smaller headset like Quest 3, the Quest 3S feels like a return to the shoebox shape of the past, something we have to get rid of if we want XR to be more socially acceptable. Luckily when I wear it, I don’t have to see it…

Analyzing the headset on all its parts, we can spot on the front the Meta logo, the RGB cameras for passthrough, 2 tracking cameras, and 2 IR illuminators. There is also the LED that is activated when the headset activates the cameras (for privacy notification). And what looks like a tiny microphone.

On the left side, there is a button to turn on/off the headset with its status LED. There is also the USB-C port to charge the device (with its typical Oculus-logo shape that was there also on Quest 3) and a tracking camera.

On the right side, there is another tracking camera. It is also important to say what there is not: a 3.5mm jack for external headphones.

From the top, you can appreciate the whole shape of the device and its fitting mechanism with an elastic band that is the same as Quest 3. You can also see the integrated speakers on the two temples of the headset.

From the bottom, you can spot the volume buttons, two integrated microphones, and the Action button to switch between realities.

Looking inside the headset, you can appreciate its facemask covered in fabric and its two Fresnel lenses that can move in 3 steps to accommodate your IPD. Also here it is relevant to mention something that is not there: a sensor to detect when you are wearing the headset.

Visuals

Visuals are the sector where I felt more the downgrade from the Quest 3. As soon as I put on the Quest 3S, turned it on, and the Meta logo appeared, I went like

The difference is stark: Quest 3S has 1,832 × 1,920 pixels per eye, while Quest 3 2064 × 2208 (roughly 30% more). Quest 3 has also pancake lenses which have fewer artifacts than the good old Fresnel lenses used by Quest 3S. Not to mention the better IPD adjustment and the double display of Quest 3. So if you are a typical Quest 3 user, using a Quest 3S will feel like returning to the past. I tried to do a side-by-side comparison, and the texts of the UI seen in Quest 3 are clearly crisper, and also colors feel more vivid.

But do not misunderstand me: the visuals of Quest 3S are actually good and if you never tried better ones, either because you are a VR newbie or because you come from older headsets like Quest 1 or 2, you will be satisfied by them. The resolution is quite high and texts in the UI are easily readable. The screen door effect is present but minimal: you perceive there is a grid of pixels, but you can not exactly focus on it. You will not notice it if you are not actively looking for SDE.

The FOV of 96° x 90° is also ok. It’s like looking through binoculars, but wide enough that it doesn’t prevent you from immersing in VR spaces. The framerate looks fluid, too.

Fresnel lenses mean that some problems that we thought were forgotten are back, in particular godrays and glares. If you are in a dark environment and there are some bright visual elements, you start seeing light artifacts around them. Again, this is particularly annoying if you come from a headset using pancake lenses like Quest 3, but it is normal if you come from older headsets like the Quest 1. Godrays are the reason why I think that the choice of a game like Batman: Arkham Shadow to showcase the features of Quest 3S has not been perfect. The game is set in the dark, so it constantly highlights these issues.

Lenses also do not have a wide eye box and chromatic and spherical aberrations are clearly visible if you don’t look forward. The more you look toward the periphery of the lenses, the more you notice artifacts, like visuals becoming blurred (spherical aberrations) and colors starting to decompose into rainbows (chromatic aberrations). Usually, Meta is good at improving these things via software (especially the chromatic aberrations), so I expect this to improve over time.

The visuals are so not perfect, but they are good enough that I enjoyed a lot playing Batman: Arkham Shadow on Quest 3S. After a few days of using Quest 3S, I could re-adapt to the old display and use the headset without complaining too much.

Comfort

Quest 3S has a comfort comparable to its sibling headsets. The fitting mechanism is an elastic headband that has some velcro on top so that you can regulate it until the headset fits well on the top of your head and then has two cursors on the back so that you can tighten it to fit the diameter of your head. It is not the best fitting mechanism ever, but it kinda works as a basic one. And since it is thin and made with fabric, it has the advantage that it lets you lie down on a bed with the headset on.

The big disadvantage of this system is that it does not counteract the front weight of the headset at all. Devices like Pico 4 or Vive Focus 3 have the battery on the back and this makes them very balanced. Quest 3S is very front-heavy, and after 1 hour of continuous usage, I start feeling pain in my face and I have to take a break.

The standard facemask is very comfortable and I like how it feels on my skin. There are also various other options you can buy as accessories, for instance, if you make extensive use of the Quest for fitness. The standard facemask is made with fabric, so it easily soaks in sweat or gets dirty because of makeup. It is mostly suitable for personal use.

Quest 3S has no eye relief mechanism, but there is a glass spacer that puts your eyes more distant from the lenses in case you wear glasses. IPD adjustment is mechanic, but it offers only three different options. You have to change it by physically grabbing the lenses and moving them closer or more distant. I personally don’t like this, because it’s hard to change the IPD if you are already wearing the headset.

Overall Quest 3S comfort is ok-ish, but as with its sibling headsets, if you want better comfort, you had better buy some additional accessories (especially a headstrap, facemask, and prescription lenses). One of the advantages of Quest 3S is that there are already many accessories available, especially because a good number of Quest 3 accessories are also compatible with Quest 3S.

Controllers

The controllers of Meta Quest 3S are the same as Quest 3: the Touch Plus controllers, which are an evolution of the original Touch controllers because they remove the tracking ring that could be a nuisance when you have your hands in-game close to each other.

The controllers have the usual controls that we all already know: two buttons and a thumbstick on the top, together with a system button; and two triggers on the handle, one for the index (trigger) and the other one for the middle finger (grip).

The comfort of the controllers is good, but there is always the same sensation I have with all VR controllers, that is the hand is not completely fitting them and you have to optimize your hand pose either for the trigger, the grip button, or the thumbstick. Having them fit all together perfectly with my hand is almost impossible. It’s instead correct that the menu button is uncomfortable to press because it requires you to bend your thumb a lot: this is done to prevent unintentional use of this button that could put you out of the application you are using.

Another thing I would have liked to have is a bit of rougher plastic on the handle, to optimize the grip. In any case, the controllers are fine, the problems I’m talking about are really high-level polishes.

Controllers work with a single AA battery. Battery duration time is fine, but I have the sensation that with Quest 3 series the batteries in the controller have not the same almost-infinite duration that Quest 2 had.

There is also haptic feedback, which is not as strong as in some other controllers (e.g. Quest Pro ones), but it is nuanced enough to be more than satisfying in XR experiences.

As for the tracking, let’s analyze it in the next section.

Tracking

The tracking of the headset is the very solid one that Meta is used to provide on Quest headsets: it’s stable and precise.

The tracking of the controllers is very good as well, but it has its small issues. The Touch Plus controllers rely on a mix of IR LEDs tracking on hand tracking to work. Hand tracking is necessary because the removal of the tracking ring gives fewer IR reference points about the controller to the tracking algorithm, especially in some poses. This sensor fusion usually works very well, but it has some drawbacks: for instance, as soon as you remove your hands from the controllers, they are not tracked anymore. This is almost never an issue in consumer use cases, but it can be noticeable in research projects: when I tried to use a Touch Plus controller to track a biscuit box, I could not do that, because the headset wanted a hand to be attached to it.

Since hand tracking is always more uncertain than IR LED tracking (because tracking hands is very hard, while identifying bright little points is pretty easy), I guess that when your hands are in some peripheral position, the tracking may have some small degradation if compared with previous controllers. But I can tell you for sure that as long as the controllers stay inside the vision FOV, I noticed no issue. Anyway, if I try to specifically look for problems, I can find some small ones: for instance, if with one controller in hand I almost completely occlude the other controller, the tracking of the other controller starts slightly to drift. But this is really an edge case. In general, tracking of the controllers is amazing: stable, fast, and reliable.

Regarding hand tracking, it is very accurate and precise. It can track both hands, even during fast movements, even when their fingers interweave ones with the others. It is amazing, probably just one very small step behind Ultraleap, which represents the gold standard of the industry. This is also the reason why the tracking of the controllers can be supported by hand tracking. Hand tracking is one of those features where surprisingly Quest 3S is even superior to Quest 3. This is because the headset mounts 2 IR lights on its front plate, so the hands are constantly illuminated and their tracking can always be performed in the best conditions.

Even when around you it is pitch black and the positional tracking of the headset fails, the hands are still tracked perfectly. Combine it with the head strap that lets you lie comfortably and you obtain a headset that is perfect to let you lie on the bed and use your free hands to watch movies, and depending on the type of movies, do… things.

via GIPHY

Audio

Quest 3S features two integrated speakers which are good enough to let you enjoy games. If you are an audiophile, anyway, you have the problem that you don’t have a 3.5mm jack to attach your high-quality audio headset, so you need one that supports Bluetooth or USB connection. This is a bit of a nuisance because I use my headset without headphones most of the time, but sometimes I need more privacy and I attach some cheap earphones to it. This is not possible on Quest 3S. So if you watch “movies”, you have to choose between the night hand tracking of Quest 3S or the 3.5mm jack of Quest 3 for audio privacy. This is a hard choice.

Luckily, there is still an integrated microphone. I tried using it to register my voice and while it has not a stellar quality, it could still do decent work also when I pronounced letters like “P” or “B” that may cause issues with cheap microphones.

Battery

The battery on Quest 3S has a nominal duration of 2.5 hours when in use. It is enough for a random usage of the headset, but when you are playing an amazing game that sucks you in like Batman: Arkham Shadow, you would like to have more juice. In case you make intensive use of the headset, you had better buy one of those head straps with an additional battery incorporated.

When the headset is on standby, the fact that you have to manually turn it on by pressing the power button makes sure that the battery isn’t accidentally depleted when the headset is in your backpack, and that’s a plus.

Computational power

Quest 3S has the same chipset as Quest 3: the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen2. It is a pretty powerful mobile chipset and lets the headset run smoothly games like Red Matter or Batman Arkham. This is one of the most important upgrades of this device over Quest 2: the difference in computational power is sensible. And some games that were just impossible on Quest 2 now become possible on Quest 3 and Quest 3S. And since on Quest 3S, the chipset has to drive a smaller display, I guess that on Quest 3S there is probably also a bit more room for game logic than Quest 3.

I realized that allowing games with great graphics like Batman: Arkham Shadow is even more important than a display upgrade. The human brain is good at filling holes, and when I was feeling like Batman because I had a dynamic shadow showing my shape as Batman’s, I was so amazed by it that I wasn’t looking for the screen door effect. Such amazing graphics (with even some dynamic lighting) were not possible on Quest 2 at all but are now possible on Quest 3S. This makes me understand the choice that Meta has made: if great games are possible because of the new chipset, average people won’t care that much about not having a stellar display. And anyway, games look better on Quest 3S than on Quest 2 because even if the display resolution is the same, the render resolution on Quest 3S is higher thanks to the XR2 Gen 2, so visuals look crisper.

The fact that Quest 3 and Quest 3S have the same chipset is important to enable a new generation of content with higher graphics so as to attract always more users to XR.

Mixed Reality

Another thing enabled by the new chipset is RGB passthrough. Quest 3S is a mixed reality headset exactly like Quest 3. Meta advertises it as the most affordable consumer MR headset. This is another thing that creates uniformity in the market: both Quest 3 and Quest 3S have similar passthrough, so developers can create mixed reality content that works on this whole new generation of devices.

Quest 3S has not a depth sensor like the Quest 3, but it has IR illuminators that help the tracking cameras in seeing better the environment around you. It may still perform a bit worse than Quest 3 on some meshing tasks, like when it has to reconstruct the shape of the room around you, but in general, it still does great work on all the mixed reality tasks.

The visual quality of the RGB passthrough is definitely good and when I put it on my head, I thought it was perfectly in par with Quest 3. After some accurate side-by-side testing, though, I realized that the quality of the Quest 3S passthrough is slightly worse, with Quest 3 having more definition and a bit more vivid colors. With both devices, I can use my phone while wearing them, but with Quest 3 I can read the small texts better.

Anyway, the passthrough is so good, that I could coarsely use my phone even with both headsets on, going through the passthrough of Quest 3 and then of Quest 3S (passthrough-ception!). I could not read the small texts, but I could still launch apps and operate on the screens with bigger texts. This speaks a lot about the definition of the passthrough of these devices.

Quest 3 passthroughception

The Passthrough of both Quest 3 headsets suffers from motion blur when you move your head, especially when your room is not perfectly lit.

Quest 3S also features a special Action button that lets you switch immediately from AR to VR. If you are in the main menu, pressing it lets you go from seeing your physical room to seeing your virtual home and vice-versa. This is very handy, and much better than the double tap required by other Quest headsets that suffered from misdetection issues. I think this button may be used not only by the main menu but also by all the XR applications to switch from VR to MR mode (if the experience allows for it, of course).

Standby mode

You turn on the headset by pressing the power button. After the headset is not used for a while, it goes on standby, but if you try to put it close to your head again, you notice that it won’t turn automatically like the previous Quest headsets. This is because surprisingly this device does not have a proximity sensor, so it can’t detect when you are wearing it. This approach has pros and cons.

The pro, as I’ve said above, is that the headset consumes less power when on standby, and it can’t turn on accidentally. Also when making development tests, you don’t need to cover the sensor to turn on the headset anymore, because there is no sensor. But at the same time, having to manually turn it on every time you put the device on your head is a nuisance if you have to frequently put your headset on and off, for instance, because you are debugging your application.

Software

Initial setup

The setup of the Quest 3 is similar to the one of the other Quest devices. You put it on your head, you turn it on, and then follow the instructions on the screen. You will have to install the phone companion app for the initial configuration, and also create a Meta account. There is some time to wait the first time you turn it on so that the headset updates and configures itself, but for the rest, the process is quite smooth.

As soon as the installation finishes, you are provided with three quick tutorials: one about the Quest main menu, the other about passthrough vision and the use of the Action button, and the third about hand interactions. These tutorials are short and effective, I like them. They are good to onboard people on their first use of the device.

After the tutorials, there is a video that shows what it is possible to do with the headset: playing games, doing fitness, going to social VR places, etc… This is smart to suggest to VR newbies what to do with their first headset.

In the initial stages, the user can also configure his/her avatar, so that to be ready for social VR games. There are millions of possible customizations, Meta has one of the most inclusive avatar configurators in the whole XR space.

User experience

The Quest runtime, called Meta Horizon OS, is becoming always more powerful, but its user experience keeps being pretty clunky. I think one of the biggest problems of Meta is that it is trying to shove its fu**ing Meta Horizon Worlds down our throats in every possible way and so it is ruining the interface of the headset to put its own social media world under the spotlight. The focus of the whole UI seems to make you enter Horizon Worlds instead of making it easy for users what they would like to do, that is finding good games. And don’t get me started on the UI of the companion app: I think there is a special place in hell for those who designed it so that to make it impossible to understand how to configure the headset, but easy just to find worlds in Meta Horizon Worlds.

Apart from toning down its attention towards Horizon Worlds, Meta should undergo a heavy redesign of its UI to make it more usable. Anyway, even if it is not ideal, you can get used to it.

If you have never seen the Quest UI, I can tell you that there is a taskbar reporting the time of the day and through which you can open the settings, your avatar configuration, the store, the list of notifications, the screen capture functionality, the library of content you own, some useless feed with suggested content, and some shortcuts about the recently opened application. You can open 2D apps on some big screens and put them around you, or 3D apps in an immersive way. You can also interact with all the menus either with controllers or with your bare hands.

Content

Quest headsets became very popular for two main reasons: price and content. Content is king on this device, which can rely on the big library of content that Meta has built over the years. There are old classics like Beat Saber, popular hits like Gorilla Tag, new amazing games like Batman: Arkham Shadow, social gatherings like VRChat or Rec Room, and fitness titles like Supernatural or XR Workout. There are big titles and small indie titles. There is a lot of content to play and new amazing games like Metro Exodus and Alien are coming soon. Various apps beyond gaming cater to sectors like productivity, meditation, or lifestyle. And yes, there is also my Unity Cube.

Remember that this is also a mixed-reality headset and Meta is investing a lot in mixed-reality content, so expect many MR experiences to come. We have already nice MR games like Starship Home, but I guess we will see many MR utilities like Pencil! coming soon. And when Meta releases Augments, we can also have widgets all around us in our physical room.

The only problem with content at the moment, is that the suggestion engine of the Meta Horizon Store is not working great. After the unification of App Lab with the main store, the store is now full of shovelware that should not be presented on the front page. Meta should improve this by suggesting to every user the best content that is ideal for him, be it AAA or indie games.

If you are looking for experimental content (e.g. employing cloud rendering), you can also still find it on SideQuest, the “unofficial” Quest store.

PCVR

I think you all know it, so I won’t spend many words on it: you can use your Quest 3S connected to your PC to play PCVR games. The connection can be both wired via a USB-C cable (Quest Link) or wireless via Wi-Fi (Air Link or Virtual Desktop). The quality of PCVR is definitely good, but of course not as good as the one of PCVR headsets or standalone headsets that have lossless direct DisplayPort connection (e.g. Vive Focus Vision).

You can also use it to perform cloud rendering via software like NVIDIA Cloud XR. The amazing application Horizon Hyperscape already uses cloud rendering via Meta Avalanche service.

Enterprise features

The Quest 3S has an available business license through the “Meta for Work” program. If you buy a headset to use inside your company, its price is $540, including three years of warranty and 12 months of Meta Quest for Business. After the first 12 months, the price of the subscription is $15/month. You can add the additional “Shared mode” feature in case the headset must be used by multiple people, with each one of them having the ability to run only certain types of apps. Shared mode comes at the additional price of $9/month, with the first 12 months included in the purchase of the headset, too. You can also ask for a better assistance service, called Support Plus, but the price is undiscovered on the website and you have to contact the Meta Sales department to talk about it. A last notice: if you buy headsets in bulk, you may have a discount.

It’s good that Meta offers the possibility of using such an affordable headset inside your company with a business license and the price is also the lowest in its category. But at the same time, from the perception I have, companies like Pico offer better services to companies for enterprise use. I know for instance that Pico may even customize the whole runtime of a headset just for you, if needed. Pico 4 Ultra is €599 + VAT, which is a bit more than the Quest 3S for enterprise, and much less than the $770 of the Quest 3 for enterprise, and it features pancake lenses and a more balanced fit (Pico 4 Ultra is comparable to Quest 3). So honestly, especially for small and medium enterprises, I would go for Pico instead of Meta. If you are a big corporate (e.g. Accenture) and you can do a dedicated partnership with Meta, then the match is a bit more balanced.

China

Quest is blocked in China because the Chinese Government is not a big fan of Meta. There were rumors about a partnership with Tencent to bring a Chinese Quest 3S to China, but my sources say they have been halted.

Still, there are ways to buy the headset there (e.g. from resellers on Taobao). And with the latest improvements in the runtime, it’s easier to use the headset when you are there. A friend of mine may have verified a month ago that you can easily sideload the APK of a (government-approved-of-course) VPN on the device, run the VPN software as a 2D app on Quest, and then the headset correctly works by connecting through the VPN. This friend of mine was so able to use the Quest while in China. Meta is also putting some effort into making the headset work better if it is not connected to Wi-Fi and this is another handy feature if you have to use it in a place where you have problems connecting to Meta servers.

Price and availability

Meta Quest 3S is available in most countries of the Western world for $300 for the 128 GB SKU and $400 for the 256 GB one. In Italy, its starting price, VAT included, is €330. You can purchase it on the Meta website or on authorized resellers like Amazon. I hope that at a certain point, this headset will also be available to buy in more countries (e.g. in Latin America)

The price is a strong point of this headset: €330 to get such a powerful headset that can run amazing VR games, that can work in mixed reality, and give you access to such a wide selection of content is literally a steal. I don’t know how much money is Meta losing on each sold unit, because this is surely not sold at profit, but it’s for sure making a huge investment to make mixed reality more widespread. With the Winter Holiday season coming, this is the perfect gift for tech enthusiasts and kids.

Final considerations

Quest 3S is a good device, but not a perfect headset, and not even the best standalone on the market. But it’s surely the one that offers the best value for the money you spend. For just $300 you can bring home some of the best games on the market and play them on a very performant headset. And this is a headset that can not only offer you VR but also MR with a good quality of its passthrough. Meta is democratizing mixed reality, putting it in the hands of most people possible, a different approach from the one of Apple.

Visuals are a downgrade from Quest 3, but they are still good for most purposes. tracking is great, controllers work well, and audio is good enough for most common uses. When you buy it, after an easy setup, you can immediately play Batman: Arkham Shadow which is given to you for free, and fall in love with virtual reality.

I think this is the ideal headset for average consumers who want to play XR games. It will surely be a hit during this holiday season and increase the adoption of VR. In my opinion, over its lifetime, this headset will sell more or less like Quest 2, so around 20-30M devices.

Should you buy it?

You should absolutely buy Quest 3S if:

• You are looking for a consumer headset that is easy to use and has great content
• You are looking for a standalone device
• You don’t have the Quest 3, Pico 4 Ultra, or another superior headset
• You are on a budget

Do not buy it if:

• You already have the Quest 3 or you have the money to buy a Quest 3
• You are a fanatic of PCVR or PSVR games
• You need a headset for professional use: spend a bit more and get a Quest 3, which has superior features. Or buy a Pico 4 Ultra Enterprise if you need a headset for your company

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And that’s it! It has been a while since I wrote the last time a long and detailed review of a headset... I’m happy to be back on track! Would you like to reward me for this accurate article by sharing it on your social media channels or by subscribing to my newsletter? You would make me so happy… thank you!