Key Takeaways
- Cooking with the Meta Quest 3 in MR was difficult due to visual impairment & insufficient lighting.
- Chore gamification with the device wasn’t quite there yet, causing disorientation and interference.
- The absence of night vision in the Meta Quest 3 was disappointing, as it was a useful feature with the Quest 2.
Performing semi-complex tasks with a clunky headset would be difficult on its own, but reality through the Meta Quest 3 isn’t even close to my regular vision. However, are there any everyday tasks that would benefit from MR despite its visual impairment?
Using the Quest as a Cooking Assistant
There are multiple YouTube videos on cooking with the Quest, and it’s a commonly suggested use for mixed reality. The dream is to watch cooking demonstrations on YouTube or keep a recipe up for reference while cooking. The YouTubers’ results were mostly mixed. My experience was like trying to cook blindfolded!
The Meta Quest 3 mixed reality or pass through mode has a pixel count of 2064 x 2208 per eye, which is better than the Quest 2, but much less than a high-end headset like the Apple Vision Pro or even the Meta Quest Pro. It’s also much less than regular vision. As someone who’s had lifelong perfect vision, operating with a visual impairment was next to impossible. However, I did gain some sympathy for my visually impaired friends and family members!
Meta’s suggestion of improving the grainy picture of mixed reality with better lighting added insult to injury. I am not a cave person millennial who avoids bright lights. I choose 100-watt equivalent light bulbs in blue daylight white. In addition to artificial light, my kitchen has a large unobstructed window that lets in plenty of daylight. The curtains are pulled back during the day to provide plenty of natural light. My rooms are more than adequately lit!
Note the picture below showing the view of the measuring cup for my egg steamer through my Samsung S23 phone camera compared with the view through the Quest mixed reality. It has lines labeled “HARD,” “MED,” and “SOFT.” I have no problems reading it with my eyes, but it gets a little more difficult through the phone and impossible through the Quest MR. I did not use the phone flash, my kitchen is that bright! Conversely, the view through the Quest is that bad.
I couldn’t see the lines on my Pyrex measuring pitcher or the print on my opaque measuring cups. Since it seemed unsafe to add a hot stove into the mix, I was going to simply prepare chicken breasts for the oven. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any further than clumsily pulling the chicken from the fridge. I wasn’t sure I could see well enough to wash my hands. The thought of handling raw chicken nearly blind made me reconsider the hot stove options.
At that moment, I decided cooking in mixed reality wasn’t for me. However, those who wear glasses or contacts might be able to do it if they’re already used to a blurry world. For now, I keep an Echo Show in the kitchen, and I own an iPad and smartphone. These other screens seem much better suited to helping cook than a VR headset, even one with a decent mixed reality.
Making Chores Easier
I look forward to effective chore gamification! However, technology doesn’t seem to be quite there, yet. Still, imagine vacuuming up every square inch of lava before your little raft is overwhelmed, or emptying your laundry basket of weights (folding clothes) off the scale to lower the castle gates before the dragon arrives.
Earlier this year, Meta removed the “App Labs” group of experimental apps off of the Quest UI. Functional or semi-functional apps moved to the Horizon Store while others were removed. The old App Labs group contained a few curious attempts at chore gamification, but even the Quest’s impressive room mapping wasn’t quite enough. In the future, it may help to have an AI in the headset to better map the room, especially in passthrough mode.
Despite giving up on true gamification, I decided I could at least watch football on YouTubeTV while performing daily tasks. It was more difficult than I imagined, but not impossible. Even if you can see in mixed reality, the camera can still lag the more the user moves around. The edges of the field of view can also appear warped or distorted while moving. When I took a quick turn to head down my staircase, I got a bit disoriented and had to grab the railing for a moment. The hand tracking system also worked a little too well in this case. While folding laundry, the outline of my hands was picked up almost the entire time. It didn’t interfere with my task except for pausing the stream a few times, but it was annoying. A solution would’ve been to turn off hand tracking.
Another unexpected problem I encountered was forgetting to bring my “TV” with me when I changed rooms. The screen is placed with the controller or hand tracking, and then it stays there no matter where the headset goes. This was ideal for multitasking because I could look at the dishes or laundry without the screen getting in the way like it would if it was in a fixed position in my view instead of a fixed position in the room.
However, twice I went upstairs and forgot to grab the screen to take with me and place it in a fixed position upstairs. Comically, even though I was too far away from the screen to see the picture, I could always see where I left it. The picture below shows my screen and toolbar still downstairs where I left them.
Unlike a TV or iPad, the audio comes from the headset, not the screen. This meant even if I did leave the screens for a moment or even forgot them elsewhere in the house, I never lost audio. That was fantastic. I also never had to search for the remote to adjust the audio because the volume controls are right on the headset.
I don’t typically suffer from motion sickness on or off VR, but it did get to me this time. I needed a break after only an hour. I’ve also never had my face hurt from the headset before, even though I’ve worn it for much longer periods. I think the only explanation for both symptoms is that my head moves more during chores than it does playing VR. Overall, mostly due to the visual impairment, doing chores was difficult in mixed reality and I would not recommend it. However, it was a great way to watch football. The picture was fantastic, and I enjoyed the audio following me.
Night Vision
One of the more unexpected perks of the Quest 2 was night vision. I’d love to see what my dogs are barking at in the yard at night or sneak into the room of a sleeping child to find my book without waking them. The third thing on this list was destined to be night vision. Arguably the best use of mixed reality! Alas, the Quest 3 doesn’t have this crucial feature. Hopefully, Meta will bring this back in the next iteration of the Quest.
