What it’s essential know
- Meta Quest replace v66 is now in beta testing for people enrolled within the PTC channel.
- VR analyst Luna discovered a number of new options in testing together with Ray-Ban Meta AI, a wrist button, a resizable digital keyboard, groundwork for extra practical avatars, and extra.
- {Hardware} enhancements embody extra granular brightness adjustment settings for the Quest Professional, integration of Android’s Bluetooth Fast Pair characteristic, and new sensor privateness options.
Meta Quest replace v66 started rolling out to Public Take a look at Channel (PTC) members final week, and VR analyst Luna took the time to tear down the brand new replace to see the whole lot that is new, together with new options hidden throughout the working system code.
Revealed at UploadVR, Luna’s information mining of Quest replace v66 reveals practically a dozen new options that have not been totally surfaced, that means they’re coded into the working system however do not essentially have a button or swap to allow simply but.
Essentially the most attention-grabbing of the bunch is the inclusion of the Meta AI Assistant we first noticed roll out to Ray-Ban Meta glasses on the finish of 2023. Since then, the assistant has gained a number of new options because of Meta’s Llama 3 AI mannequin which might run domestically on-device.
That might give gamers vital upgrades to voice instructions over the present voice assistant. Primarily based on prior updates, this new AI assistant might be able to visually determine objects within the room or doubtlessly robotically map the room even higher than earlier than.
Hand-tracking video games are set to get extra accessibility options, together with a brand new wrist-mounted residence button. Meaning you’ll be able to flip your hand over in any hand-tracking app or sport and faucet your wrist to go residence. At the moment, customers must carry out a pinch gesture to drag up the house menu.
Meta can also be working in the direction of making the Meta Quest really feel extra like a spatial pc slightly than only a blended actuality headset with upcoming options like a downloads folder, implementing Android’s Fast Pair for Bluetooth, calendar sync, and customized digital keyboard resizing and placement.
Fast Pair, particularly, will make it even simpler to pair a mouse and keyboard with a Meta Quest headset. Plus, it is fully doable that we’ll have the ability to pair a Bluetooth speaker with the headset so you’ll be able to management the whole lot from there. Moreover, the improved do-not-disturb mode appears to be like to let customers schedule DnD for optimum productiveness.
That ought to make headsets just like the upcoming Lenovo productiveness headset and the Meta Quest Professional 2 make far more sense as correct laptop computer replacements slightly than costly toys.
Past that, a brand new sensor lock characteristic will hold cameras and microphones off at any time when the headset is put to sleep. Meaning monitoring would possibly take an additional second or two to load up when a consumer places the Quest on their head, however generally a little bit ready is value the additional privateness.
Lastly, Meta continues to work on its practical avatar expertise, additional baking assist into the Quest for calibration and testing. Meta’s practical avatars would require a smartphone to scan your face (see above video) however permit for avatars that look extremely practical when launched.
As at all times, with a beta launch, a few of these options could make it into the ultimate June v66 replace, whereas others could also be delayed for launch in future updates. There’s additionally no assure that any of those options will make it to a closing software program model, however most options accessible in a firmware beta are likely to get launched quickly after public testing.