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Comfort9
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Design8
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Display7.5
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Playback & audio8
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Accessories8
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Battery8
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Value for money10
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Compatibility9
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Value for money9
Hi, I’m Mark. I’m a Vision Pro early adopter. Quite a serious one, too; back in February, I spent a lot of money importing Apple’s mixed reality headset from the United States into the UK.
Back then, I didn’t fancy waiting an unspecified amount of time for the future of computing (allegedly) to reach these shores. This resulted in some hefty import VAT and charges, and the acquisition of an incredibly nascent piece of technology which would very likely not fully work in my country.
I did this, because it’s my job. I’ve spent the last four and a half years building an online reputation which has been fuelled primarily by my coverage of Apple products. When Tim and co. decided to launch the first version of their take on the next generation of computing, I’m hardly going to turn a blind eye, am I?
There’s just two problems with Vision Pro: it’s incredibly expensive and frustratingly heavy. The former I can live with, the latter has been an issue since I unboxed it.
So, when Meta got in touch and asked if I’d like to check out their latest mixed reality headset which starts at a mere £289.99 and appears to offer much of the same functionality as Vision Pro, I jumped at the chance.
Want to know how to get Vision Pro in the UK?
Specs and price comparisons
Pete Matheson and I traded headsets in the past, so I’ve had the opportunity to compare the Apple Vision Pro to the Meta Quest 3 before but not the 3S.
The Meta Quest 3S is a different monster. Running the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip and 8GM of RAM as the more expensive Meta Quest 3. In fact, you have to dig into the spec sheet to find the differences between the two. The biggest difference is the display resolution, which is 1832 x 1920 per eye on the Meta Quest 3S versus 4K on the Quest 3.
The Meta Quest 3S boasts two RGB cameras for stereoscopic colour passthrough, four VGA cameras for hand and controller tracking, and two flood LEDs for more reliable hand interactions.
We’re told the battery will last 2.5 hours on average (which is 0.3 hours longer than the Quest 3), and the headset itself weighs 514 grams. Inside the box, you’ll find two controllers and a glasses spacer, although Meta also sent me the official case and charging dock to check out, too.
Price-wise, you’ll pay £289.99/$299.99 for the 128GB edition, and £379.99/$399.99 for the 256GB model. By comparison, the Meta Quest 3 (which is only available with 512GB) costs £469.99/$499.99.
Meta’s suggestion that the Quest 3S is designed for people who are either brand-new to mixed reality or who don’t fancy upgrading all the way to the Quest 3 from their Quest 2 is more than substantiated by that rather impressive spec list.
Hardware, fit, and comfort
The Meta Quest 3S is a lovely piece of kit. It’s made primarily of plastic, as you’d expect at this price point, but it’s decent plastic, and the whole package feels like it could take some beating (which it’ll need to if your home is partially occupied by children).
There’s a bunch of buttons for quick access to important features, including power (obvs), volume, and switching between passthrough and immersive environments. They’re well placed, and their existence is both obvious and genuinely useful.
Comfort-wise, the Meta Quest 3S has four modes of adjustment – two on the head band and one on either side of the headset via the two arms which can be moved up and down. Combine that with the lack of heft, and it’s an easy headset to get comfortable with, quickly. It’s certainly a country mile from Vision Pro in that regard.
The controllers are a delight to use, too. Super-ergonomic, haptic-ready, and with plenty of buttons to cope with the variety of games that’ll likely be thrown their way, I didn’t find myself missing the eye tracking and hand input to which I’ve become accustomed on Vision Pro. Although, if you want to control the Meta Quest 3S with your hands, you can (and it works very well).
Meta Horizon OS has clearly had a lot of time spent on it. The user interface is intuitive, responsive, and you can do pretty much everything with it that you can with visionOS. Moving and resizing windows looks and feels great, and you can pin them wherever you like in your room in passthrough mode and marvel as they stay resolutely in place.
A quick note on passthrough quality: it’s great, for the money. In fact, it’s not that different to Vision Pro, although the resolution is slightly lower, and there’s a bit more warping going on as you make your way around the room.
Experiences
Let’s start with those immersive environments. If you’re not familiar with this concept, it’s basically the ability to send yourself into a make-believe digital space which surrounds you, and which reacts predictably as you move your head around. Look up, and you’ll see the sky, peer to the left, and you’ll be able to look out of the window and at stuff that was previously out of sight. It’s easily the most impressive aspect of any mixed reality headset when you first use one.
There are a tonne of environments into which you can place yourself on the Meta Quest 3S. The headset’s relatively low resolution means they’re nowhere near as jaw dropping as the small selection of environments in Vision Pro, but they are incredibly atmospheric and do the job of taking you out of the real world momentarily (for whatever reason) very well indeed.
I had a good crack at a few games, too, which I’d envisage will be the most common use case for the Quest 3S given its market positioning and pricing. Eleven Table Tennis is a great example of how much fun you can have in VR – particularly if you have controllers in your hands. It’s spookily realistic and very addictive, as a result.
Jurassic World Aftermath Collection is the first VR game which has made me feel a little queasy, but that’s relatively common, from what I hear. Regardless, it’s an atmospheric, well-narrated foray into a cartoonish version of the hit movie franchise which, if I can get over the nauseousness, is something I’d love to explore further. The same goes for Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever, which, thanks to its fruity language, isn’t one for the kids, but is immensely enjoyable in a zombie head-splattering kinda way.
I also tried Tetris Effect: Connected (a great VR take on a classic) and DrumBeats VR (think Guitar Hero with fake drums and drumsticks), both of which continued to reveal how deep the game vault is for the Meta Quest 3S. It’s just a shame so many of the titles are rather pricey and so few offer free trials or demos.
When it comes to entertainment, the Meta Quest 3S benefits from a brilliant native YouTube app, although you’ll need to resort to web players for the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime. Regardless, the playback quality is great, and the audio does the job, too (although I’d recommend pairing some decent earbuds or headphones).
Meta Quest 3S and the MacBook: a productivity haven?
Since buying Vision Pro, the main use case I’ve found for it is the ability to bring my MacBook’s display into visionOS and work on the moon. No, really – if the weight of the headset wasn’t such an issue, I’d be working in that kind of environment far more often; it’s brilliant for productivity.
The good news is that you can do pretty much the same thing with the Meta Quest 3S. There are a number of apps that enable you to view your laptop’s display in Meta Horizon OS, but the one I chose to test was Immersed, which offers a brilliant free tier that allows up to three displays to be cast from your laptop (the Pro version takes that up to a frankly bonkers five).
Set up is simple – you just install an Immersed client app on your laptop, download the app on your Quest 3S, create an account, and jump into either private or public rooms to crack on with some work. The casting of those displays is fast and accurate, and you can resize and place them pretty much anywhere within your environment. The environments themselves are conducive to work, and you can even head into the aforementioned public spaces to work alongside and interact with (if you choose to) other human beings who are doing the same thing.
The resolution is the only downside with the Quest 3S when it comes to connecting it to your MacBook (or Windows laptop). There’s enough clarity for basic work, but if you’re dealing with more intricate detail or smaller text, it can get a bit tricky to decipher what’s going on. However, one again, for the price of this headset, that’s something I’m more than happy to let slide.
Should you buy Meta Quest 3 or Apple Vision Pro?
Conclusion
There’s so much more to the Meta Quest 3S than what you’ve read here, and I’m going to dig further into it over the coming months. That’s what has interested me the most about the latest Meta headset – I want to keep using it. It’s comfortable, there’s loads of stuff to explore, and I’m fascinated by the value for money it offers.
If you’re new to mixed reality, or you’re one of the people who wants to upgrade from their Meta Quest 2, the Quest 3S makes a lot of sense. It’s an incredibly smart move by Meta and one which I think is going to win a lot of new fans.
Before you go
