Today there is great news from Meta. First, Meta is set to launch its newest, mysterious, high-end virtual reality headphones sometime this year. The company has referred to the upcoming virtual reality hardware with the codename “Project Cambria,” but the actual headphones will likely be called “Meta Quest Pro,” according to a Bloomberg report. Second, you won’t need a Facebook account to use it once it’s available, according to a company statement. This is a great relief for true Oculus believers, who bought virtual reality before Facebook even changed its name and were forced to migrate from Oculus to Facebook accounts in 2020, at the same time as the release of Quest 2, with many headaches.
The Meta Quest Pro
The name Quest Pro first came to light within the code of Meta’s iPhone app for managing connected virtual reality headsets, detected by a developer named Steve Moser, who later shared his finding with Bloomberg . “Combine the right Meta Quest Pro driver” is the specific text of the code.
The company formerly known as Facebook has done its best to highlight its foray into virtual reality. While it has invested in new virtual reality headsets, Meta has been simultaneously abandoning other hardware products, such as its now-dead smartwatch effort. Quest 2 has easily been the most successful of these efforts, so it makes sense for Cambria to adopt the Quest nomenclature when it hits the market. Still, it doesn’t quite fit with what the company has said about Cambria in the past.
Meta accounts are on their way
In another new step to prioritize virtual reality, the company will introduce Meta accounts next month. Previously, using Meta products such as virtual reality headsets required a Facebook account. But soon, it is reported, users will be able to create a separate, non-Facebook-related account to interact with Meta’s current (and future) VR hardware.
This will be a great relief for those who bought headphones on Meta / Facebook when the company was still using Oculus accounts, as the change to using Facebook to log in did not cause a shortage of headaches when it took place. in 2020, mostly because it coincided with the release of Quest 2. We just hope no one gets stuck on their new device in the switch to a new system of accounts this time.
Our take
Returning to this future hardware: Facebook rejected Gizmodo’s request for comment on the alleged nickname of the new product. However, if the accidental code revelation is accurate, there is a certain irony that Meta is doubling its upcoming Quest Pro headphones.
Currently, the company only sells a headset, the Quest 2 for $ 299 ($ 415). In a video from Meta’s Facebook Connect 2021 conference, Mark Zuckerberg did his best to keep the next Cambria headphones away from his predecessors. “This is not the next mission. It will be compatible with Quest, but Cambria will be a completely new, advanced and high-end product,” he said. However, Quest Pro certainly looks a lot like the next Quest, even if the connection is evident only by name.
Next-generation headphones will include many new features. There will be more sensors to detect and reflect users ’facial expression on their Metaverse avatar in real time. In addition, it is said that Quest Pro / Cambria headphones will have a high resolution, full color and a mixed reality transmission, in theory allowing users to easily interact in both real reality and Metaverse reality at the same time, at least as they have explained Zuckerberg and the director. of product for Meta’s RV branch, Angela Chang, in the conference video. Finally, the headphones will use “pancake optics” or a new type of thin, layered lens that will offer the “best optics ever in one of our headphones,” Chang said.
Meta has not yet posted an official price for the new headphones. Still, it will sell for “significantly more” than $ 799 ($ 1,109), according to a UploadVR report. And Bloomberg reported that the cost will be in excess of $ 1,000 ($ 1,388). Apparently, you have to pay a lot to have as much fun (?) As Zuck in this first video: Quest Pro / Cambria has been conveniently blurred.
But at least you don’t have to sign in to the same service where your aunt shares her vacation photos just to use it.