Quest 3S, Orion AR, and Meta AI Updates

While Meta Connect 2024 didn’t feature a high-end product for the holiday season, it did include a new budget VR headset and a hint of the “magic glasses” that Meta’s VR experts have been talking about for nearly a decade. Additionally, the company is continuing to push forward with new AI tools for Ray-Ban glasses and social media platforms. Here’s everything the company announced at Meta Connect 2024.

Orion AR Glasses

The best mixed reality gear today — like the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3 — are headsets with video pass-through capabilities. But the tech industry eventually wants to squeeze that tech into something resembling a pair of prescription glasses. We’ll leave it to you to judge whether the Orion AR glasses pictured above pass that test, but they’re certainly closer than other full-fledged AR devices we’ve seen.

First, the bad news. These puppies won’t be available this year and don’t have an official release date. A leaked roadmap from last year suggested they would arrive in 2027. However, Meta said on Wednesday that Orion will launch “in the near future,” so take what you will from that. For its part, Meta says the full product prototype “really represents something that can be shipped to consumers” rather than a research device that’s decades away from shipping.

The glasses include tiny projectors to project holographic images onto the lenses. Meta describes them as having a large field of view and immersive capabilities. Sensors can track voice, eye gaze, hand tracking and EMG bracelet inputs.

The glasses combine sensory input with AI capabilities. Meta gave the example of looking at your fridge and asking the onboard AI to pull up a recipe based on your ingredients. They will also support video calling, the ability to message across Meta platforms, and spatial versions of Spotify, YouTube, and Pinterest.

This year’s new VR headset is aimed at beginners, not early adopters who want the latest cutting-edge technology. The Meta Quest 3S is a $300 little brother to last year’s Quest 3, saving money on the entry fee of the higher-end model in exchange for cheaper lenses, lower resolution, and less storage space.

The headset includes Fresnel lenses, which will be familiar to Quest 2 owners, rather than the higher-quality pancake lenses on the Quest 3. It has a resolution of 1,832 x 1,920 (20 pixels per degree), which is down from the 2,064 x 2,208 (25 PPD) on the Quest 3. Meta says the budget model’s field of view is slightly lower, too.

The Quest 3S starts at just 128GB of storage, which can fill up quickly after installing some of the console’s biggest games. But if you’re willing to pay $400, you can bump that up to 256GB. (Alongside the announcement, Meta also dropped the price of the 512GB Quest 3 to $500 from $650.)

The headset may last longer than the Quest 3 in one area: battery life. Meta estimates the Quest 3S will last 2.5 hours, while the Quest 3 is rated at 2.2 hours.

Those who pre-order the headset will receive a special Bat Bonus. Those who pre-order the Quest 3S (and Quest 3) between now and April 2025 will receive a free copy of Batman: Arkham Shadowthe upcoming virtual reality action game coming next month.

The Quest 3S is available for pre-order now, and will start shipping on October 15.

get rid of the old

To celebrate the arrival of the Meta Quest 3S, Meta has decided to get rid of two older models. The company will stop producing the Quest 2 and Quest Pro by the end of the year. The company says sales will continue until stocks run out or the end of the year, whichever comes first.

Now the company is looking at the Quest 3S, with its much better mixed reality capabilities, as the new budget model, so the $200 Quest 2 no longer has a place. The Quest Pro, which hasn’t gained much traction with consumers, has lower-quality cameras and video than the two Quest 3-tier models. The Pro launched two years ago as a Metaverse-focused device — at a time when the industry was hammering away at that word as hard as it is at “artificial intelligence” now. The headset launched at a staggering $1,500 and was later cut to $1,000.

While the hardware remains the same, Meta is adding new AI features to its tech-packed sunglasses. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will get an updated AI assistant.

The Assistant will now let you set reminders based on things you see. For example, you can say, “Hey Meta, remind me to buy this book next Monday” to set an alert for something you see at the library. The glasses can also scan QR codes and call phone numbers from the text it recognizes.

Meta Assistant should also respond to more natural commands. You’ll need to worry less about remembering formal prompts to turn it on (“Hey Meta, look and tell me”). It’ll let you use informal phrases like “What am I looking at?” The AI ​​can also handle complex follow-up questions to make for smoother conversations with your robot friend who lives in your sunglasses.

According to Meta, the glasses’ live translation is also getting better. While last year’s version suffered from longer text, the company says the software will now translate larger chunks more efficiently. Live translations in English, French, Italian and Spanish will arrive by the end of 2024.

The company said the Met AI app now supports voice chats. While this capability was previously available, it was limited to Ray-Ban glasses.

Meta has also teamed up with celebrities to help attract customers to its chatbots. That’s right, friends: You can now hear Meta’s chatbots respond in John Cena’s adorable voice! Other celebrity voices include Dame Judi Dench, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kristen Bell.

Meta’s AI can now edit photos using text prompts, performing tasks like adding or removing objects or changing details like backgrounds or clothing. The AI ​​photo editing feature will be available on Meta’s social media apps, including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

Meanwhile, Meta’s Llama 3.2 AI model offers vision capabilities. It can analyze and describe images, competing with similar features in ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.

Follow all the news from Meta Connect 2024!