Quest 3 Productivity Thoughts

I'm Software Developer. I like multiple monitors and BIG screens. And... I don't like using the Quest while I work.

I can see where it would work. Short collaborative sessions with others remotely who also have VR headsets. That seems like a fairly contrived use case at the moment though. And I can't think of much else. I'm sure there are those out there who are able to look past the short comings of the current gen. It is a "neat" experience and some respects it is getting close. I just can't recommend it generally for that though.

Why not for me? Headset weight, heat, passthrough quality, battery life, integration and input options.

Without a 3rd party strap the unit is lighter, but feels heavier due to poorer weight distribution. I can last maybe an hour if I'm pushing myself with that strap. With a 3rd party strap the unit is a lot more tolerable. Just not for a full work day. I could probably push myself to a full day since there would be a break, but it wouldn't be an enjoyable experience.

Heat is the next up. This one may be something that 3rd party facial interfaces can address. It is winter at the moment and I work in my basement, so if the strap is looser or I'm at one of the more distant settings on the interface it isn't a big deal, but my face IS warmer under the facial interface and in the summer that will degrade the experience. At times it does even now. Not a huge deal. If it were the only down side it would certainly not be a deal breaker.

Then there is passthrough quality. It is good on the Quest 3, but far from perfect. I NEED a physical keyboard for maximum productivity. While I can type blind most of the time, I still need to be able to quickly find the keyboard and mouse and my initial position. It isn't a matter of what I can and cannot do. It is more of a matter of how unnatural it is and feels. Especially with how blurry things on your periphery can be and that is where the mouse and keyboard will be.

Battery life. This is an interesting one. The headset drains faster than it charges. And by enough that this is an issue. If you're using a cable for a link you might double the battery life of the base unit. And, if you're wireless and using a strap with a battery... you might double the battery life of the base unit. 2-4 hours is not a work day.

Integration is my last major point since I already touched on input options (IE - I need a keyboard and mouse). All I really want is to be able to plug in my headset via USB-C and have it able to act as at least one extra resizable monitor and provide passthrough. I don't want to install extra software (and many people may not be allowed on work computers). Just give me some option to say "when I use a USB-C to USB-C to connect to a computer that I want it to act as 1080p monitor which I can resize in the headset and place in my environment". THAT is like 80% of what I expect out of this. Nothing fancy. If I can pull up a virtual keyboard and bring the monitor around with me, that probably gets me closer to 95% of the way there.

To end this though, I don't want to be a downer. Reading those points above you'll note that the experience isn't really too far off. Daily productivity just happens to be one of those things that you have to get pretty close to perfect because we're talking about long term and daily usage. That a headset exists that can do the gaming and other fun VR things AND come this close on productivity is impressive.

What would be really cool is if the headset could detect the keyboard and mouse and then outline them and overlay the buttons like it does with the controllers. It would solve a lot of passthrough issues if important real world objects could be treated this way. And then, if that were combined with the ability to have a PC see the headset as just another monitor for SUPER easy integration then I probably still would use it occasionally, even with the other drawbacks.