The XR is beginning to establish itself as a future standard, as are computers, smartphones, the Internet of Things and a long list of technologies that we use normally today but that 15 years ago we would have thrown our hands at head. This made Mark Zuckerberg bet heavily on Virtual Reality by buying Oculus in 2014, being one of his priorities today and thus becoming the first transition that would change not only the social network but also the company Facebook to Meta.
The seas of information have begun to stir since Zuckerberg started this movement and announced that he would focus all his efforts on creating his metaverse to improve or replace his social network.
This transition to metaverse virtual world, surely caused by the huge number Oculus headsets sold, has caused hundreds of companies to follow him, announcing theis own metaverses.
Now, are we users really prepared for the metaverse? What do we need? What are the limits?
Preparing ourselves for the start line
It is difficult to predict what we will need for the metaverse, but we can guess where it will go with current technology. First you have to understand the basics of current devices, what requirements they need, what their limits are and what devices are coming up.
Currently we could say that we have the following categories of XR devices:
- Augmented Reality
- Smartphones
- Dedicated AR devices (viewers)
- Virtual Reality
- Standalone
- PC dependents
Possibly we could break it down into a longer list of categories, but it will help us to reach the purpose of this article. Both Aaugmented Reality and Virtual Reality are technologies that will allow us to enjoy the different metaverses that are to come, in fact we already have some pseudo metaverses currently active in Augmented Reality, such as Pokemon GO, although what Mark Zuckergerg wants to achieve with his metaverse is to go far beyond what this Augmented Reality game allows.
In Augmented Reality we have a wide variety of devices. For example, smartphones are excellent tools for this technology since the vast majority of users already have one and thanks to their constant evolution they are devices that incorporate powerful calculation processors, you just have to look at Apple’s iPhone phones and their flagship chip M1 that is pulverizing performance records in mobile devices with low consumption, so they are ideal for entering the metaverse based on Augmented Reality.
We also have viewers dedicated exclusively to Augmented Reality such as Hololens or Magic Leap. These devices, although they are interesting and have really impressive technical specifications, we do not recommend them at the user level since they are aimed at companies and/or professional projects, due to their cost and that in some sections they are slightly limited.
But that does not mean that in the future we will not have devices dedicated to AR at the user level. Some of them are currently being cooked, possibly focused on the metaverse by Google, Apple and Meta. So we have to be attentive to the next announcements of these companies.
As for Virtual Reality viewers, we have two types; viewers that depend on an external computer to work and those that work independently without the need for a computer, since they have their own hardware to work, something like a mobile phone inside a viewer.
Of the first we have Valve Index, HTC Vive Pro or the Varjo, currently the best dependent PC devices.
Of the latter we have an absolute winner, the Oculus Quest (although there are interesting alternatives such as HTC Vive Cosmos or the PICO 2 NEO Eye). This economically affordable device not only allows you to enjoy a Virtual Reality environment without cables, but it allows you to connect them to a PC to obtain high-quality experiences. Meta has already released Meta Quest Pro, with dedicated metaverse features, full body tracking, and Augmented Reality elements enhanced with the headset’s external cameras.
On these two categories of devices (standalone or dependent PCs) you should have no problem enjoying the metaverse. You just have to be clear that with an Oculus Quest you will be able to take them anywhere without taking up much space, while with a Valve Index or Varjo you will need at least a laptop to be able to use them.
¿Then what should I do?
If you’re not in a hurry, wait for the new XR headsets that are coming out this year or in 2023, but if you can’t wait, our recommendation is that you get an Oculus Quest 2 as soon as possible, since they are excellent VR glasses in terms of quality / price and that they will ensure compatibility with the metaverse of Meta, even with other metaverses that may reach the market.
