2025 Mar 14, 17:20
In 2023, XR hardware, VR games, and apps saw significant advancements and releases. Here are my top picks for the best AR/VR hardware and apps of the year. Starting with hardware, the Meta Quest 3 took the spotlight as the best all-in-one VR headset available. With its high specifications, including pancake lenses, higher resolution displays, and a fast Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip, the Quest 3 shows potential to surpass the Quest 2's popularity. On the other end of the spectrum, the Pimax Crystal impressed with its ultra-sharp and vivid display, surpassing the quality of the previous top contender, Varjo Aero. Although it may be expensive for standard VR gaming, the Crystal is worth the investment for those with high-performance GPUs who want to experience games like Microsoft Flight Simulator in VR. In the realm of smart glasses, the Rokid Max stood out with its larger field of view and brighter displays, beating competitors like Xreal's Air 2 and RayNeo's Air 2 to market
The Rokid Max also offers a diopter adjustment for adjusting sharpness. Moving on to the best feature, Meta made significant improvements to the Quest operating system and apps in 2023. The addition of a swipe keyboard in the Meta browser greatly enhances productivity, allowing users to type on the Quest with ease. Additionally, the ability to download images from the browser provides a useful feature for saving product images and app screenshots. In terms of gaming, several titles stood out in 2023. Asgard's Wrath 2 impressed with its action-packed gameplay and compelling storyline
The 7th Guest VR offered a chilling mystery experience with atmospheric puzzles, while Drop Dead: The Cabin provided an immersive mixed reality gaming experience with zombies. Soul Assembly's zombie survival game also gained recognition for its multiplayer VR mode. When it comes to apps, Fluid and Softspace caught attention for their innovative solutions to productivity and spatial computing. Fluid rethinks the Quest user interface, making it more suitable for productivity tasks, while Softspace creates a dimensional interface that allows users to manipulate their workspace in a unique way. In the realm of VR films, Soloist VR and Oceania VR stood out. Soloist VR offered a nerve-wracking documentary about a free climber's attempt to scale El Capitan, while Oceania VR provided soothing environments and stunning underwater cinematography. The biggest surprise of the year was the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses
Despite initial hesitation, their photo and video quality, along with Meta AI voice chat and image recognition capabilities, proved to be impressive features. Although they don't include displays, the glasses represent ongoing development in the glasses form factor for future Meta AR glasses. However, the biggest disappointment of 2023 was the Microsoft Office Suite on the Quest. The web apps lack certain features and functionalities, and the performance on different Quest headsets varies. It felt like an attempt to meet contractual obligations without truly optimizing the experience for VR usage. Overall, 2023 was a great year for XR, and there are even more exciting developments to come in 2024
Stay tuned for the latest advancements in VR and AR.