Meta’s Quest 3S Headset Is A Perfect Intro To The World of VR
The Meta Quest 3S is the easiest way to experience virtual reality right now.
Meta is leading the charge on the virtual reality front. Announced just a few weeks ago, the Meta Quest 3S headset, the revamped little brother of the original Meta Quest 3, has arrived as a more accessible but still fully capable headset that’s designed to serve up both VR and AR experiences.
Out of the box, the Quest 3S is largely identical to the Quest 3 and comes with the same, excellent set of controllers but, like the Quest 3, can also be used with hand-tracking instead. The headset is slightly less weighty but does come with a familiar, moderately comfortable strap that can be swapped out with any of the Meta or aftermarket accessory straps that are currently available.
Closer inspection of the Quest 3S shows two minor omissions; a missing headphone jack and a lack of charging contacts on the underside. These design choices were presumably to keep the Quest 3S’s price down. Online forums erupted over the deletion of the physical headphone jack but, in testing, it was not missed at all. The Quest line of headsets has always been about getting away from wires and, with bluetooth options like AirPods readily available and compatible with negligible latency, it’s easy to see why Meta followed through on this cost-saving measure. Who even has wired headphones anymore, anyway?
The missing charging contacts, on the other hand, is a disappointment as the Meta-branded charging dock is one of the most valuable accessories out there for the Quest 3, making it easy to simply plop the headset and controllers into their cradle and never worry about an uncharged headset. The Quest 3S can still be charged via the included (or any) USB-C cable but, as the charging dock is a must-have Quest 3 accessory, it’s a shame it’s not even an option for Quest 3S owners.
Speaking of battery, the Quest 3S battery yields about 2.5 hours on a charge. That’s dead-on with what Meta themselves announced and parallels my own previous experience with the Quest 3. Frankly, it’s the perfect amount as comfort tends to wane at the two-hour mark of any VR session anyway. Those looking to spend longer stretches in VR will likely want to upgrade their head strap to something more comfortable and many of those upgraded straps also feature external batteries since one doesn’t really make sense without the other.
As someone who uses the Apple Vision Pro and the Quest 3 regularly, the Quest 3S does have noticeably downgraded visuals due to lower resolution and flatter lenses. It’s an experience more akin to that of the older-model Quest 2 but with the huge benefit of color-pass through. Make no mistake though, that doesn’t make the 3S any less capable at playing games or delivering content. The headset has the same processing power as the Quest 3 and games all performed admirably, loaded quickly and played without bugs. They just didn’t look quite as sharp and there was no escaping the halo effect that cropped up when experiencing high-motion moments.
For those who have lots of experience in modern VR platforms, this lower visual quality is likely a deal breaker. It’s hard to go backwards from the higher quality of the Quest 3. But the Quest 3S is not meant for Quest 3 owners. Instead, it’s directly aimed at newcomers to the platform who are interested in the full experience of Meta’s robust app store and content offerings but without paying the full price of admission. The fact that the Quest 3S comes bundled with the brand-new Batman: Arkham Shadow game and plays it flawlessly is a testament to its capability.
Consider the price difference between the Quest 3 and the new Quest 3S and it makes a lot of sense. The base-model of the Quest 3S is $299 and comes with 128GB of on-board storage, more than enough to keep dozens of apps installed. The base model of the Quest 3 is $499 and comes with 512GB which, for many, is overkill. As holidays are around the corner, the uninitiated are much more likely to take a chance on the platform at the lower price and Meta has wisely created an app store that allows for seamless movement of accounts to different headsets.
Better yet, Meta also allows sharing of apps on two headsets. So if a newcomer plunks down for the Quest 3S and then wants to upgrade to the Quest 3 or the inevitably Quest 4, their Quest 3S isn’t junk. Instead, it’s a second headset that can still play any purchased apps in tandem, including online play and co-op. That’s a huge benefit in games like Walkabout Mini Golf or Eleven Table Tennis, where gameplay is infinitely more fun with friends.
Available everywhere now, the Quest 3S is poised to make VR a platform for the masses. Meta’s huge app store, the ever-growing Horizon Worlds community and virtual concerts from huge artists like Sabrina Carpenter and T-Pain are all waiting for those who take the plunge. While the Apple Vision Pro languishes nearly a year after launch without a killer app and minimal content that takes advantage of the immersion of the headset, Meta is out here delivering the experiences that will pave the way for virtual reality and the easiest way in is the Quest 3S headset. $299.99
Read This Next
