Meta tests Vision Pro-like freeform virtual screen placement for Quest headsets

Meta is investigating a diagnostic for its Quest headsets that allows you to spot windows freely, akin to the Apple Vision Pro. Multitasking with aggregate windows has been portion of Meta Horizon OS (formerly Meta Quest OS) for a fewer years now, but currently, it lone supports 3 virtual windows docked successful a side-by-side layout.

It brings the Quest 3, successful particular, a measurement person to Apple’s spatial computing erstwhile utilized successful mixed world mode, but from the video, it doesn’t look to enactment rather the aforesaid way. You tin freely determination up to 3 windows from 2D apps — specified arsenic the browser oregon OS windows similar your room and settings — astir your abstraction and support different 3 docked.

Other demos suggest that the windows volition lone retrieve their placement wrong a constricted region and instrumentality to their default positions should you power predisposition oregon reset the view. We haven’t tested it yet ourselves to cognize the afloat limitations here, but it looks promising.

The update besides allows you to power betwixt curved and level windows, arsenic good arsenic a dimmer that lowers the brightness of virtual environments portion utilizing 2D apps. (The second doesn’t yet enactment for passthrough mode.)

The Apple Vision Pro allows you to determination windows astir whichever abstraction you’re successful and support them locked successful spot adjacent portion you determination astir and aft you instrumentality the headset off. That way, you tin person a model sitting adjacent to your refrigerator and different positioned alongside the TV successful your surviving room, and past locomotion to and from the windows arsenic if they’re existent objects.

I’ve seen more ads lately that item the Quest 3’s productivity imaginable alternatively of conscionable the gaming-centric ones. While Meta’s headset mightiness not grip that with the aforesaid pizzazz arsenic the Vision Pro conscionable yet, considering it costs $3,000 less, it truly doesn’t person to.