A major overhaul of the Meta Quest UI is in the pipeline. The company’s chief technology officer, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, discussed the early news during his AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Instagram. He doesn’t want to “say too much” before the official announcement, but explains that Meta is working on a more customized Quest interface than ever.
The handler promises an interface designed to adapt to all situations, including the ability to pin windows to you or your head. As Android Central explains, it would be possible to walk around and have windows able to follow you.
Apple Vision Pro will inspire Meta
It will also be possible to anchor windows in real space, as with the Apple Vision Pro. A promising feature since the Meta Quest 3 costs seven times less than the Cupertino device. Facebook’s parent company’s headset would improve its multitasking capabilities. Andrew Bosworth explains that the new interface will help to better interact with other devices located nearby. He adds that “broadcasting and streaming present a lot of opportunities” for Meta. The specialist has already mentioned a better ability of the interface to manage multiple applications and 2D windows.
Critical of Apple’s headset, Mark Zuckerberg recently said the Vision Pro was “not worth the price”. His company, however, seems to be taking advantage of the enthusiasm surrounding Apple’s expensive headset to position itself as an affordable alternative. Still according to the head of Meta, the two products have “many commonalities” while the Quest 3 is much more accessible.
But the Search is better, insists Mark Zuckerberg
In February, he assured that the Quest 3 is even the best VR headset on the market. He repeated his comments about Threads, responding to journalist Benedict Evans. While the latter indicated that Apple offers “pretty much the device Meta aims to achieve in 3-5 years”Mark Zuckerberg defended his helmet. “I don’t think we’re saying the devices are the same. We say Quest is better. If our devices weigh as much as (Apple’s) in 3 to 5 years, if they have the motion blur that they have, the lack of gesture accuracy, etc., that means we’re going to be seriously regressing.”, he explains. He points out that the Vision Pro has a higher resolution, but believes this comes with trade-offs “which make their product less effective in most cases”. An update for Quest 2 and 3, deployed in early February, already brought similar features.
Convenience is also one of Meta’s priorities for the future update of the interface. It will be possible to use the Meta Quest 3 more effectively in a lying position. Finally, the keyboard will benefit from important improvements such as the ability to type with all your fingers at the same time. The goal would be to get closer to what is possible to do with a physical keyboard.
Meta does not provide a date for the deployment of this UI update. It is expected to arrive sometime in 2024, possibly when Meta Quest Pro 2 is announced.