While Meta Connect 2024 didn’t feature a standout high-end product for the holiday season, it did include a new budget-friendly VR headset and a sneak peek at the “magic glasses” that Meta’s XR gurus have been talking about for the better part of a decade. Plus, the company is continuing to push forward with new ai tools for its Ray-Ban eyewear and social platforms. Here’s everything the company announced at Meta Connect 2024.
Orion AR Glasses
Today’s best mixed reality devices (like Apple’s Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3) are headsets with video streaming capabilities. But the tech industry wants to eventually put that technology into something resembling a pair of prescription glasses. We’ll let you judge whether the Orion AR headset pictured above passes that test, but it’s certainly closer to passing it than other full-fledged AR devices we’ve seen.
First, the bad news. These pups won’t be available this year, and they don’t have an official launch date. A leaked roadmap from last year suggested they would arrive in 2027. However, Meta said Wednesday that Orion would launch “in the near future,” so draw your own conclusions. For its part, Meta says the full product prototype is “truly representative of something that could be shipped to consumers,” rather than a research device that’s decades away from launch.
The glasses include small projectors to display holograms on the lenses. Meta describes them as having a wide field of view and immersive capabilities. Sensors can track voice, gaze, hand tracking and electromyography (EMG) input to the wristband.
The glasses combine that sensory information with ai capabilities. Meta gave the example of looking inside a refrigerator and asking the built-in ai to spit out a recipe based on the ingredients. It will also support video calling, the ability to send messages on Meta’s platforms, and spatial versions of the Spotify, YouTube, and Pinterest apps.
This year’s new VR headset is focused on the entry level, rather than early adopters looking for the latest cutting-edge tech. The Meta Quest 3S is a $300 little brother to last year’s Quest 3, shaving money off the high-end model’s entry price in exchange for cheaper lenses, a resolution drop, and more limited storage.
The headset features Fresnel lenses, which will be familiar to Quest 2 owners, rather than the high-end pancake lenses of the Quest 3. It has a resolution of 1,832 x 1,920 (20 pixels per degree), a drop from the 2,064 x 2,208 (25 PPD) of the Quest 3. Meta says the budget model's field of view is also slightly lower.
The Quest 3S starts at just 128GB of storage, which could fill up quickly after installing some of the platform’s biggest games. But if you’re willing to shell out $400, you can bump that up to a respectable 256GB. (Along with the announcement, Meta also dropped the price of the 512GB Quest 3 from $650 to $500.)
The headset may outlast the Quest 3 in one respect: battery life. Meta estimates the Quest 3S will last 2.5 hours, while the Quest 3 is rated at 2.2 hours.
Those who order the headset will receive a special Bat-bonus. Orders for Quest 3S (and Quest 3) between now and April 2025 will receive a free copy of Batman: Arkham Shadowthe virtual reality action game coming next month.
The Quest 3S is now available for pre-order. Shipping will begin on October 15.
Out with the old
To celebrate the arrival of the Meta Quest 3S, Meta is phasing out two older models. The Quest 2 and Quest Pro will be discontinued at the end of the year. The company says sales will continue until inventory runs out or until the end of the year, whichever comes first.
The company now considers the Quest 3S, with its vastly improved mixed-reality capabilities, the new budget model, so the $200 Quest 2 no longer has a place. The Quest Pro, which never gained much traction among consumers, has inferior cameras and pass-through video than both Quest 3 models. The Pro launched two years ago as a Metaverse-focused device, back when the industry was pushing that word as forcefully as it’s pushing “ai” now. The headset launched at a whopping $1,500 and then dropped 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 feature an updated ai assistant.
The assistant will now let you set reminders based on objects you see. For example, you could say, “Hey Meta, remind me to buy that book next Monday” to set an alert for something you see at the library. The glasses can also scan QR codes and dial phone numbers from text they recognize.
Meta's assistant should also respond to more natural commands. You'll have to worry less about remembering formal prompts to activate it (“Hey Meta, look and tell me”). It will let you use more casual phrases like “What am I looking at?” The ai can also handle complex follow-up questions so chats with the robot friend living in your sunglasses go more smoothly.
According to Meta, the glasses' live translation is also improving. While last year's version struggled with longer texts, the company says the software will now translate larger chunks more effectively. Live translations will arrive in English, French, Italian and Spanish by the end of 2024.
The company said Met ai now supports voice chats. While this capability existed before, it was limited to Ray-Ban glasses.
Meta has also partnered with celebrities to bring customers to its chatbots. That’s right, folks – you can now hear Meta’s chatbot responses in the dulcet tones of the one and only John Cena! Other celebrity voices include Dame Judi Dench, Awkwafina, Keegan Michael Key, and Kristen Bell.
Meta’s ai can now edit photos with text prompts, performing tasks like adding or removing objects or changing details like backgrounds or clothing. ai photo editing will be available across Meta’s social apps, including instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, Meta’s Llama 3.2 ai model introduces vision capabilities. It can analyze and describe images, competing with similar features in ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.
Catch up on all the news from Meta Connect 2024!
