Meta Researchers Unveil Compact Ultra-Wide Field-of-View VR & MR Headsets

Alright, here goes nothing. So, there’s this nerd-fest happening soon where Meta’s tech wizards—or scientists, or whatever—are showing off their crazy new VR and MR headset doodads. These things are like, 180 degrees of VR magic or whatever. No kidding. Meanwhile, the current big thing, Quest 3, is chilling at just around 100 degrees. Talk about a glow-up.

Okay, so joystick jockeys, listen up. The first gizmo is a straight-up VR headset, and apparently it’s got some fancy reflective-whatever polarizers. I mean, they’re reflecting stuff, but… more efficiently? Something like that. Someone explained it, but honestly, some of that sciencey stuff just whooshed over my head. Their goal, though, was clear: make these things sleeker than your average headbrick.

And then—boom!—there’s this MR gizmo with even more frills, like four pass-through cameras that catch the world in like, full thundering 80MP. That’s like, a bajillion more pixels than your grandma needs to see.

Check this, the researchers threw some shade at the old Quest 3, like, “Look at how much this thing can see!” And since we’re on story mode, imagine you’re lounging, snack in lap, and there’s this handy MR headset letting you peep stuff way beyond the usual view. Like, “oh, a chair? Didn’t see you there,” kinda thing.

Apparently, and don’t quote me on this, both headsets here might be using Meta’s ’Constellation’ system. It’s super nostalgic since it was on the original Oculus thingamajig. Kind of like how vinyl’s cool again. They get to fiddle around more, I guess, playing mad scientists whenever they want.

Now, to sprinkle some drama—other headsets with these wide fields-of-view exist, but they’re chunky. Like, overly bulky. Enter Pimax, with their big ‘ol elephant headsets. Meta’s crew has been dropping hints like, “Ours are way less bulky, thank you very much.”

Alright, but hey, don’t get your pixel-budget VR hopes too high. Meta’s famously slow to bring their cutting-edge science projects to your living room. Back in 2018, they teased a headset that promised to mess around with focal lengths—or something magic like that—but nada on the release. Not casting shade, just facts.

Anyway, it’s all a dance of weighing trade-offs. Maybe down the line, ol’ Andrew Bosworth might have a change of heart and bless us with something smashing out of the lab. Until then, let’s hope we get something worth spilling snacks over.