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Meta Quest 3 owners check the phone app as 12 free games might be waiting for you
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If you own a Meta Quest 3 you should check your Meta Quest smartphone app as you might have a six-month free trial of Meta Quest Plus waiting for you.

Previously this offer was an exclusive order incentive for people who bought the 512GB Meta Quest 3 model, but Quest 3 owners on Reddit have noticed that the 6-month trial is available to them even if they bought the 128GB version. This means rather than saving only $ 7.99 / £7.99 from a one-month trial everyone can get $ 47.94 / £47.94 worth of subscription value for no cost.

Meta Quest Plus is like a Netflix for Quest VR games. Each month you’ll get 2 free VR titles that you can add to your Quest library, and for as long as you are subscribed you can play them. If you unsubscribe, you’ll lose access to your free games until you rejoin Meta Quest Plus.  So with this trial that’s 12 free games, which is a pretty excellent deal that rivals this year’s best Black Friday deals.

To see if you can get this free six-month trial you’ll need to open open the Meta Quest app on your smartphone. Use Search to look for Meta Quest Plus, then on the Quest Plus store page tap the blue button at the bottom of your screen that says “Start your six-month trial.”

Meta Quest Plus advert showing Pistol Whip and Pixel Ripper 1995

(Image credit: Meta)

This offer doesn’t appear to be exclusive to new subscribers either. Comments on the original Reddit post suggest that people can get the six-month trial if they’ve tried the one-month trial before, and even if they’re subscribed – with the six free months being added on top of the subscription they already have.

It also appears to be available in every region, though some users have reported they can only see the one-month trial; that said it’s not clear if they’re Meta Quest 3 or Oculus Quest 2 owners.

If you’re looking to expand your VR library then Meta Quest Plus is a good way to do it, as the two games you get are worth more than the monthly $ 7.99 / £7.99 fee. However, you don’t get to pick which games you get so you might prefer to spend more but get the games you actually want.

The two free titles at the time of writing are NFL Pro Era and Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs. We've not tried either but both titles have been fairly well received with a four and four-and-a-half star rating, respectively, on the Quest Store.

If you don’t have a Meta Quest 3, or an Oculus Quest 2, then you can check out our Black Friday Oculus Quest 2 deals guide to see the latest and greatest offers. If it’s still available you might want to go after Amazon’s incredible Quest 2 deal as it gets you $ 50 / £50 off the headset and free $ 50 / £50 Amazon credit too.

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Meta and Amazon make a deal to put the shopping in your socials
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Thanks to a recent update, Facebook and Instagram users are now able to link their profiles to their personal Amazon accounts and do some online shopping on the social media websites.

The update comes as part of an apparent new partnership between Instagram and Facebook parent Meta and Amazon, however, neither company made a formal announcement letting everyone know of the changes. It appears to have been first “leaked” by Maurice Rahmey, co-CEO of Disruptive Digital, who shared his findings on LinkedIn. He states that Meta will utilize information obtained from Amazon to show users products that might interest them. If a user has an Amazon Prime membership, they will receive tailored ads with extra details such as “real-time pricing [plus] shopping estimates.” An Amazon representative told TechCrunch customers will even see specific details about a product and whether or not they’re eligible for Prime benefits.

There are some restrictions to the feature. It will only show “select products” on Meta’s platforms, but the products won’t be restricted to only what Amazon sells on its storefront. You will see independent sellers too. Be aware this update is only available to people in the United States.

Rolling out

It's unclear if the Amazon ads are currently live. 

We didn’t encounter any changes on our personal Facebook and Instagram accounts at the time of this writing. Nor were we able to connect our Meta profiles to the shopping platform. This seemed strange at first because both Maurice Rahmey as well as TechCrunch have videos on their respective posts revealing what the ads look like. They even demonstrate how to buy a product from one of them. Additionally, Rahmey claimed on his LinkedIn post that the refresh had “just rolled out” so we should’ve run into them. 

We reached out to both companies asking when people are going to see the ads. An Amazon spokesperson told us they are “available on a growing number of” products which we take to mean the patch is slowly making its way to users. Over time, you should see them crop up.  It’s unknown if there are plans to expand this partnership outside the United States. 

Both brands stayed quiet when we asked this question. It probably won't happen in Europe. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission recently banned “Meta’s social media platforms from using targeted ads” across the entire European Economic Area. This includes all EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

Be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best Amazon Black Friday deals for 2023.

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Meta Quest 3 teardown video shows lower price doesn’t mean low-quality
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We just got a good look at the guts inside a Quest 3 headset. iFixit tore down the VR gear into its individual parts to find out if the device offers good performance for its price point. Short answer: Yes, it does although there are some design flaws that make it difficult to repair.

What’s notable about the Quest 3 is that it has better “mixed-reality capabilities” than the Quest Pro. It's able to automatically map out a room as well as accurately keep track of the distance between objects without needing a “safe space”. The former is made possible by a depth sensor while the latter is thanks to the “time of flight sensor”. iFixit makes the interesting observation that the time of flight components could fit perfectly in the Quest Pro. 

It’s worth mentioning Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, once stated the sensors were removed from the pro model because it added extra “cost and weight” without providing enough benefits.” The Quest 3 is much slimmer, clocking at 512g. 

Meta Quest 3 breakdown

(Image credit: iFixit)

Hardware improvements

Digging deeper into the headset, iFixit offered a zoomed-in look at the LCD panels through a powerful microscope. The screens output a resolution of 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye with a refresh rate of 120Hz. This is greater than the Quest Pro’s peak resolution of 1,920 x 1,800 pixels. The video explains that the Quest 3 can manipulate the intensity of color clusters, mixing everything into the high-quality visuals we see. Combining the LCD panels with the time of flight sensor results in a “much better [full-color] passthrough experience” than before.

Additionally, the headset has greater power behind it since it houses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 XR2 Gen 2 chipset.

Of course, iFixit took the time to judge the Quest 3 on its repairability and Meta did a good job on that front – for the most part. The controllers are easy to repair as their construction is relatively simple. They’re held together by a few screws, a magnet, and a series of ribbon cables at the top. Replacing the battery is also pretty easy as each half takes a single AA battery.

Awkward repairs

On the headset, it's a slightly different story. The battery on the main unit is replaceable, too. However, it’s located at the center of the device behind 50 screws, multiple coax cables, various connectors, a heatsink, and the mainboard. If you like to do your own repairs on your electronics, it may take you a while to fix the Quest 3.

Funnily enough, iFixit really makes a good case for why and how the Quest 3 is a better headset than the Quest Pro. Granted, it lacks face and eye tracking, but when you have a more immersive mixed reality, are people really going to miss them? Plus, it's half the price. If the Quest 3 is the new standard moving forward, it makes you wonder how Meta is going to improve on the Quest Pro 2 (assuming it’s in the works).

While we have you check out TechRadar’s list of the best VR headsets for 2023. 

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Oculus Quest 2 owners beware: the Meta Quest 3 launch is bad news for your storage
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As highlighted in our Meta Quest 3 review, the new VR headset is bringing a lot of improvements to the VR world, but for Oculus Quest 2 owners it’s also bringing one major downside – your headset’s storage space might soon feel a lot smaller than it did before.

To take advantage of the Quest 3’s improved Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, its 8GB of RAM, and its full-color mixed reality, VR app developers will be releasing updates to their software (Meta said it’s coming to over 50 during Meta Connect 2023). However, as reported by UploadVR, these updated files won’t be exclusive to Quest 3 owners. 

People using a Quest 2 will also be forced to download the new, larger file sizes, but here’s the kicker: they won't be able to benefit from any of the improvements stored in those bigger files. And the size increases aren’t insignificant – for example, Red Matter 2 is jumping from 5.6GB to 9.1GB. 

Just under 3.5GB might not seem like a lot, but if you’ve been a long-running Oculus Quest 2 user and have an original 64GB model (as this writer does) then 3.5GB is 5.5% of your total storage space – or 6.2% of the available space after you factor in the 7.5GB taken up by the Quest 2 OS.

Thankfully this might not be an issue forever. While developers currently don’t have the option to release distinct Quest 2 and Quest 3 versions of their VR experiences, they can release a separate, simplified version for the Quest 1. 

Meta didn’t provide an exact timeline, but it did reportedly tell UploadVR that it has plans to “extend this [facility to release distinct versions of apps] to Quest Pro and Quest 3 in the future.” So hopefully Quest 2 owners will soon be able to reclaim any storage space that has been snatched away from them.

In the meantime, be prepared to have to delete some apps from your Quest 2’s digital library. Alternatively, you could check out the Meta Quest 3 and see if it’s worth upgrading too – if you have to download the bigger files, you might at least take advantage of the benefits they bring.

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Meta could topple Apple’s Vision Pro headset – with a cheaper device and no controllers
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With the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality headset releasing tomorrow, it seems like Meta is looking to follow in Apple’s footsteps with the Apple Vision Pro. In a race to dominate the VR scene, Meta may have course-corrected earlier marketing and design plans for its follow-up headset (currently codenamed Ventura – a slightly ironic name…) in response to the Vision Pro, possibly even removing the headset controllers to reduce costs.

According to Mark Gurman via his Power One newsletter, a person within Meta suggested that Meta “is in the ‘afraid of Apple stage’” and that Meta is investing a lot of time and effort to improve its VR products as well as shifting focus away from the metaverse. 

The Verge notes that Meta’s big goal with the Ventura headset is to cut costs as much as possible and offer a lower asking price for a good headset. The Quest 3 is already much cheaper than the Vision Pro, and according to Gurman Meta may be ditching controller bundling to help cut down the price even further for its next headset.

Does Meta have the right idea? 

Gurman suggests that users will be able to decide to use just hand gestures or purchase the controllers separately. For comparison, Apple’s headset doesn’t actually come with dedicated controllers – it relies solely on gesture controls tracked via its external cameras, although you can always connect a third-party controller or another Apple device (like a MacBook Air) for control input.

If you can throw yourself back in time a little and remember the original reveal of the Apple Vision Pro, you’ll probably remember thinking “surely they’re not charging that much for the headset?!”

So, the fact that Meta is prioritizing affordability with the Quest 3 is a smart move to get ahead of the curve. If the company is able to make the Ventura headset (Quest 4? Quest Neo? Who knows) massively more affordable than the Vision Pro – and ensure that it can perform competitively against Apple's offering – then Meta actually has a very good shot at securing the top spot in the VR world.

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The Meta Quest 3 will get a much-needed body-tracking update soon
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If you’ve ever found yourself pulled out of a VR experience because your virtual arms and upper body don’t match up well with your real body, Meta has some good news: the Meta Quest 3 will soon have proper body tracking thanks to an incoming update.

Currently, a lot of guesswork goes into VR avatars. Unless you’re wearing some kind of tracking suit, the headset has to guess where your arms and body should be based on your head and hand movements, as well as any height data you provide. Sometimes it's okay, but generally this system is a little off, and rather than helping with immersion it can serve as a constant reminder that the virtual world is just that.

The Meta Quest 3 has an answer – or at least it will come December, when Meta rolls out an update (via UploadVR). The new VR headset’s downward-facing side cameras are able to see and track your torso, shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and using these data points, and some new algorithms, VR experiences can create avatars that more closely mimic your actual movements through a system called inside-out upper-body tracking.

In a demo video Meta, has shown how this system can not only more accurately copy your movements, but translate body movements that Quest hardware couldn’t follow well before – such as elbow strikes, and bending forward or to the side (movements which could be great for guided workouts in VR, for example).

Unfortunately, not every app will support inside-out upper-body tracking right away. A few, like Supernatural and Drunken Bar Fight, will, but you’ll have to wait for developers of other VR experiences to implement the SDK update into their software before you can enjoy the improved avatars.

Legs at last 

This SDK update will also bring some improvements to VR legs.

VR legs have been a sore spot for Meta. It received some ridicule during Meta Connect 2022 when one of its biggest announcements was that Meta’s avatars would soon get legs – ridicule that was amplified when it was discovered that the demo it showed off was staged using motion-captured animation.

Virtual legs did actually start rolling out in September, but only for VR beta testers, and only in the Quest home app. It appears that this upcoming Meta Quest 3 update will bring the appendages to more users and a wider variety of apps – that is, if developers enable it.

A VR Mark Zuckerberg jumping with his legs tucked during a staged demo at Meta Connect 2022

(Image credit: Meta)

It’s worth noting, however, that your VR legs will be AI-generated rather than actually being tracked. Based on demo videos, the AI seems to get the leg movements mostly correct – it knows when you’re squatting, jumping, or doing a movement like a boxer bounce – but it won’t know when, say, you lift up a knee. So copying the jump-knee tuck movement Zuckerberg showed off during the Meta Connect 2022 demo won’t be possible in VR yet.

With the advancements Meta is making in tracking and AI it’s possible its legs will evolve in the coming year but for now, we’ll have to make do with what we have.

Want to know more about the new VR headset? Check out our hands-on Meta Quest 3 review.

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Meta AI is coming to your social media apps – and I’ve already forgotten about ChatGPT
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Meta is going all out on artificial intelligence, first developing its own version of ChatGPT as well as implementing Instagram’s AI ‘personas’ to appeal to a younger audience. Now, the company has announced a new AI image generation and editing feature during Meta’s Connect event, which will be coming to Instagram soon. 

If you’re familiar with OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Bard, Meta AI will feel very familiar to you. The all-general purpose assistant can help with all sorts of planning and organizational tasks, and will now offer the ability to generate images via the prompt ‘/imagine’. 

You’ll also be able to show Meta AI on Instagram a photo you wish to post and ask it to apply a watercolour effect, make the image black and white and so on. Think of the Meta assistant as a more ‘social’ version of ChatGPT, baked right into your social media apps.

Alongside the assistant, the initial roster of 28 AI characters is beginning to roll out across the company’s messaging app. Most of these characters are based on celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Mr. Beast, Paris Hilton and my personal favourite, Snoop Dogg! You can chat with these ‘personas’ directly and finally ask Paris what lipgloss she uses. As you chat with the characters their profile image will animate based on the topic of conversation, which is pretty cool considering chatting with most AI chatbots is kind of… boring, at least from a visual standpoint.

ChatGPT may have started it, but Meta could finish it

It’s clear that Meta is taking AI integration very seriously, and I love to see it! By integrating its virtual assistant and AI tools into the apps billions of people use every day it’s guaranteed an existing user base, and in my opinion, shows that the company has taken the time to really understand why users would approach their product. 

Instead of just unleashing an assistant that will give you recipes and do your homework, it looks like Meta AI is tailored to suit everyday purposes and feels like a really clever way to implement the tool in people’s lives. The assistant is right there in the app if and when you need it, so you don’t have to leave the app to engage with the assistant.

Meta’s huge scale of potential users gives it a good chance of being the AI assistant people will use for the first time and could be the AI assistant people will end up using on a day-to-day basis. No extra app to download or account to make, and no swiping away from your conversation to get to what you need. I think Meta made a smart choice taking its time and has now come out the gate swinging – and I really do think ChatGPT creators OpenAI should be a little bit worried. 

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9 things announced at the Meta Connect 2023 event
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Meta’s Connect developer conferences have been fairly humble these past couple of years as the company shifted to online events due to the pandemic. But for 2023, the tech giant returned to an in-person event and took some big swings.

During the keynote, we received a ton of new information regarding the Meta Quest 3 VR headset, Meta's generative AI projects, and the next generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses.

The star of the show was undoubtedly the Quest 3. It features improved hardware running on the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 SoC (system on a chip), an in-depth mapping upgrade, and greater support for video games. The reveal was certainly impressive. However as the conference went on, it felt like the spotlight shifted to all the AI announcements.

We’ve known some of the AI models Meta has been developing for a while now, like its revamped chatbot to take on GPT-4. But as it turns out there was a lot more going on behind the scenes as the company showed off a slew of AI features coming to its messaging apps. 

There is a lot to cover, so if you want to know about a specific topic, you can use the jump links at the top to head over to a particular section. Or you can read the whole thing as it happened.

Virtual Reality

1. Meta Quest 3

Meta Connect 2023

(Image credit: Meta)
  • $ 499.99
  • Available for pre-order
  • Launches October 10

We finally get a look at the Meta Quest 3 VR headset after months of leaks. Compared to the Quest 2, this new model is 40 percent thinner thanks to the pancake lenses allowing for a slimmer design, according to company CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Each lens is able to output 4K resolution (2,064 x 2,208 pixels) per eye for the highest quality possible. The speakers are getting an upgrade too. They now have a “40 percent louder volume range than Meta Quest 2”. 

All this will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset mentioned earlier, which is said to be capable of twice “the graphical performance.”

Also, the headset is paired up with two Touch Plus Controllers now boasting better haptic feedback for more immersive gaming. The Quest 3 is currently available for pre-order on Meta’s official website. Prices start at $ 499.99 for the 128GB model while the 512GB headset is $ 649.99. It ships out on October 10.

2. Better gaming

Xbox Game Pass on Quest 3

(Image credit: Meta)
  • Xbox Cloud Gaming coming in December
  • No longer need a PC
  • Some titles will be in mixed reality

A large portion of Zuckerberg’s presentation was dedicated to gaming as Meta wants gamers to adopt its headset for a fresh, new experience. To enable this, Xbox Cloud Gaming will be accessible on the Quest 3 this December. This means you can play Halo Infinite or Minecraft on an immersive virtual screen. And the best part is you no longer need to connect to a gaming PC to run your favorite titles. Thanks to the Snapdragon chip, the headset is now powerful enough to run the latest games.

For greater interactivity, some titles like BAM! can be played on a table in your house through a mixed reality environment. The Quest 3 will display the board game in front of you while you still see the room around you. 

3. Immersive environments

A person playing with VR Lego while wearing the Meta Quest 3

(Image credit: Meta)
  • Will automatically map your room
  • Virtual objects appear
  • Can switch between immersive and blended spaces

Mixed reality is made possible due to the Quest 3’s “full-color passthrough capability and a depth sensor”. The device will scan a room, taking note of the objects in it in order to set up a mixed-reality space. This is all done automatically, by the way. Through this, virtual objects will appear in your house. 

Besides video games, the mixed reality spaces can be used to establish your own immersive workout or meditation area. For basketball or MMA fans, you can get ring-side seats where you can watch your favorite teams or fighters duke it out as if you’re there. Double-tapping the headset on the side changes the view from an immersive perspective to a wide-angle shot where you can see everything.

Generative AI

4. Meta AI assistant

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses

(Image credit: Meta)
  • Powered by Bing Chat
  • Will be available on WhatsApp, Instagram, and more
  • Can access the internet

Mark Zuckerberg revealed Meta has entered a partnership with Microsoft allowing the former to use Bing Chat as the basis for their new in-app assistant called Meta AI. It works in much the same way. You can ask quick questions or engage with it in some light conversation.

What’s interesting is it’ll be available on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. It will have access to the internet for displaying real-time information. Enabling this can backfire as it may cause the AI to hallucinate or come up with false information. To combat this, Meta states it carefully trained its AI to stay accurate.

It’s unknown when the assistant will launch officially; although we did ask. We should mention it will be available in beta on the upcoming second-generation Ray-Ban smart glasses which launches in October.

5. Multiple personalities

Snoop Dogg Dungeon Master

(Image credit: Meta)
  • AI Assistant can have a persona
  • These persona can offer specific advice
  • Or be a source of entertainment

It seems Meta AI will have split personalities as it'll be possible to have it emulate a certain persona. Each one is based on a famous public figure. For example, Victor the fitness coach is based on basketball star Dwayne Wade. Seemingly, each persona will appear with a video of the celebrities in the corner. The video is connected to the AI and will emote according to the text. 

The personas do get a little wacky. Rapper Snoop Dogg gave his likeness to be the Dungeon Master model guiding people through a choose-your-own-adventure text game. Others have a more practical use like the chef AI giving cooking advice.

6. Generating images

Meta generative AI

(Image credit: Meta)
  • Emu can generate high quality images
  • Can be accessed through Instagram and WhatsApp
  • Can generate stickers in three seconds

Emu, or Expressive Media Universe, is Meta’s new image generation engine. Like others of its kind, Emu is capable of pumping out high-quality images matching a specific text prompt. However, it will do so in five seconds flat – or so Mark Zuckerberg claims. What’s unique about this engine is it will power content generation on Meta’s other apps like Instagram and WhatsApp.

On the two platforms, Emu will allow users to create their own stickers for group chats in about three seconds. Generating images will require you to enter a forward slash and then a prompt such as “/image a sailboat with infinite sails.” This technology is being used on Instagram to generate unique backgrounds and new filters.

7. AI Studio

Meta Connect 2023

(Image credit: Meta)
  • User will be able to make their own AI
  • Sandbox kit will it easy to create models
  • Sandbox launches next year

Meta is opening the door for people to come in and make their AI via the AI Studio platform. Within the coming weeks, developers can get their hands on a new API that they can use to build their very own artificial personality. Non-programmers will get the opportunity to do the same through a company-provided sandbox. However, it’ll be a while until it sees the light of day as it won’t roll out until early 2024. 

The tech giant explains that with this tech you can create your own NPCs (non-player characters) for Horizon Worlds.

Smart glasses

8. Next-gen Ray-Bans

RayBan Meta Smart Glasses jumping out of their case

(Image credit: Meta)
  • $ 299
  • Available in 15 countries
  • Launches October 17

Near the end of his presentation, Mark Zuckerberg announced the next generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses now sporting better visual quality, better audio, and more lightweight body. On the corners of the frames will be two 12MP ultra wide camera lenses capable of recording 1080p video. It has 32GB of storage allowing you to store over 100 videos or 500 photos, according to Meta. 

What’s more is it comes with a snazzy-looking leather charging case similar to the kind you get with a normal pair of Ray-Bans. With the case, the Ray-Ban smart glasses can last up to 36 hours on a single charge.

It’s currently available for pre-order for $ 299 in either Wayfarer brown or Headliner black. It launches October 17 in 15 countries, “include the US, Canada, Australia, and throughout Europe.” 

9. Livestreaming

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses

(Image credit: Meta)
  • Can connect to Instagram for livestreaming
  • Touch control activate certain features

Meta is giving its next-gen smart glasses the ability to livestream directly on Instagram and Facebook. In the demonstration, a new glasses icon will appear on the app’s video recording section. Turning on the icon and double-tapping the side of the glasses will connect the device to the app so viewers can see what you’re seeing. 

Additionally, tapping and holding the side of the frame lets you hear the latest comments out loud through their internal speakers. That way, streamers can stay in touch with their community.

This feature will be available when the updated Ray-Bans launch next month.

And that’s pretty much the entire event. As you can see, it was stacked. If you want to know more, be sure to check out TechRadar’s hands-on review of the Ray-Ban smart glasses.  

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The Meta Quest 3 is here, and I think it’s the best VR headset yet
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At Meta Connect 2023 we finally got a full look at the new Meta headset the Meta Quest 3 – a headset the company has called its most powerful yet. Best of all it’s available to preorder right now starting at $ 499.99 / £479.99 (Australian pricing to be confirmed by Meta), with the headset set to ship on October 10

While this Oculus Quest 2 successor costs slightly more than Quest 2 did at launch – it was just £299 / $ 299 / AU$ 479 for its cheapest 64GB model and was later the same price for a 128GB headset – the Quest 3 comes with a whole host of upgrades to help justify its price.

The star of the show is the new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, which offers a two-and-a-half times better graphical performance compared to the Quest 2’s XR2 Gen 1 chip. Plus with its now 8GB of RAM this means VR experiences can offer more realistic physics and lighting, as well as fuller environments for you to explore and interact with.

These improved graphics will be shown on a new and improved pair of LCD displays which now boast 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye (up from the Quest 2’s 1,920 x 1,832 pixels per eye). Best of all this display has a variable refresh rate that can get as high as 120Hz.

The Meta Quest 3 and controllers on their charging station which is itself on a wooden desk next to a lamp

The Meta Quest 3 and its charging station (which is sold separately)  (Image credit: Meta)

You’ll also find the design has been given a few upgrades. Not only is the headset 40% slimmer which should help to make it more comfortable to wear but it’s easier to adjust the headset to suit your needs. There’s a lens adjustment scroll wheel that you can turn while wearing the headset so you can set the lens to perfect spacing apart and a built-in adjustable spacer that makes room for glasses if you’re wearing a pair.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, the Meta Quest 3 is a mixed reality-focused device with new full-color passthrough capabilities and a depth sensor to make it better than Meta’s previous headsets at mapping out your real-world space. Mixed reality has always felt a little gimmicky, but with its improved capabilities and new features like Augments – these sort of mixed reality widgets – the Meta Quest 3 might finally make us care about MR as much as VR.

As I mentioned above, preorders are live now with the new Meta headset set to ship on October 10, 2023. You can pick up the base 128GB version for $ 499.99 / £479.99 (Australian pricing to be confirmed by Meta), or you can buy the 512GB Quest 3 for $ 649.99 / £619.99 (Australian pricing to be confirmed by Meta). You can also pick up a range of accessories including a Quest 3 Elite Strap, and the one I’m most excited about, the charging dock (as the Quest Pro charging station was a massive help).

To help incentivize you to make a preorder, Meta will give anyone who orders a Meta Quest 3 before January 27 a free copy of Asgard’s Wrath 2. If you order the 512GB model you’ll also get a six-month subscription to Meta Quest Plus – a service that gives you new free VR games and apps every month that you can play as long as you’re subscribed.

What I thought of the Meta Quest 3 

You can read my full hands on Meta Quest 3 review for a more in-depth rundown of my initial Quest 3 reaction, but the TL;DR is this device seems like a major step forward compared to what Meta has produced before and I think it could be the best VR headset out there.

Hamish striking a disco dance pose while wearing the Meta Quest 3 headset

Samba de Amigo on the Quest 3 is silly fun (Image credit: Meta)

Visually, the Quest 3’s graphics look almost night and day compared to the Oculus Quest 2. The most obvious improvement is for text – it’s actually really easy to read words on documents you find in-game now – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Shadows and reflections behave much more realistically, and objects have a crisper look to them that helps the world feel significantly more real than they did on Quest 2.

Mixed reality has received a massive bump up too. Passthrough footage of the real world is more color-accurate and less grainy than with the Meta Quest Pro. It’s still not life-like but it's a leap in the right direction. This higher quality makes mixed reality feel less gimmicky – I loved the mixed reality experiences I tried for Stranger Things VR and First Encounters, and I’ll definitely be trying out more MR content when I get my hands on the Quest 3 again.

The performance also feels solid. While booting up Assassin’s Creed Nexus did take a while, once the game had loaded the Italian city I explored as Ezio felt alive with characters and interactable props without any noticeable stuttering to break my immersion.

As for the design and comfort, again the Quest 3 excels. The headset has an IPD wheel so you can gradually adjust the lens spacing while wearing the headset – saving a lot of hassle compared to the Quest 2, since you no longer have to keep taking the headset on and off to make changes. The slim design also seems to help with comfort. Generally, the Meta Quest 3 feels less bulky compared to the Quest 2, though I wasn’t using it for a super long time and didn’t get a true sense of how easy it would be to wear it for a long stretch of time.

Hamish wearing the Meta Quest 3 as he stands in front of a plant. He's looking at something in VR with wonder.

Mixed reality is a blast on the Quest 3 (Image credit: Meta)

I’ll need to spend longer than a roughly 30-minute demo with the headset to know how impressive the Meta Quest 3 really is, but there is certainly a lot to love about the headset.

Previously I’ve always recommended people buy Meta’s Quest 2 because of the value for money it offers – and it is still a solid value option. But if you can afford to splash out a little more (or are happy to wait longer to save up) the Meta Quest 3 looks like a worthy successor and a VR gadget that more than justifies its higher cost. I can’t wait to try it out again.

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Meta Connect 2023 live blog: Meta Quest 3, VR and AI announcements
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Welcome to the TechRadar live blog for Meta Connect 2023. We'll be keeping you updated with everything that’s announced at this year’s Meta event as it happens, as well as giving you our expert thoughts on all the hardware and software that’s announced.

This year we know the headline item will be the Meta Quest 3, a new VR headset set to replace the Oculus Quest 2 (the most popular VR headset ever made). Meta has called the Quest 3 its “most powerful headset” yet, but beyond this, its price and that it’ll have full-color mixed reality like the Meta Quest Pro there’s a lot we still don’t know – chiefly when it will release.

Alongside the Quest 3, Meta will likely show off other VR and AR tech it's working on (though expect a lot of the stuff to still be in fairly early development stages, based on previous years’ keynotes), as well as AI advancements it's developing. 

Meta Connect 2023 is here! I'm Hamish and I'll be with you for the next hour or so as Meta takes us through all of its VR and AI announcements. The biggest of which will be the Meta Quest 3 VR headset.

I'm super excited to see this new device, especially its mixed reality capabilities, as this seems to be a major focus for Meta. The Meta Quest Pro left a lot to be desired in this department, though, so the Quest 3 needs to be a big improvement if it wants to convince us that mixed reality is the future of XR tech.

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