“Setup requires an iPhone (iOS 10 or higher) or Android™ (6.0 Marshmallow or higher) smartphone …”
Source: https://www.oculus.com/setup/#quest-setup
September 25th … almost night.
How could they do this to me? I already had the Oculus App on my good old Note 4 because I used the GearVR with it. That was a long time ago, but I expected to be good here. Sadly my AT&T phone was never updated to an Android beyond 4.4.4.
And the Oculus app is gone on the phone as well and it is no longer shown in the Playstore on my Note 4 as my device is not supported.
And so there now is an Oculus Quest sitting in front of me that neither my Note 4 nor my iPad 3 are capable of connecting to.
I was annoyed. It was hidden in the fine print and I paid no attention. I guess I split the annoyance between “with myself” and “with Oculus”. Afterall I still don’t see what my Note 4 is lacking to work with the Quest.
There is no easy way out – ordering a cheap Smartphone on Amazon, a UMIDIGI A3, should solve the problem without impacting my budget too much at 70€. I am still too happy with my Note 4 to get a more expensive one yet.
One day later …
I am actually impressed with the build quality the UMIDIGI A3 brings to the table and while the documentary was a bit lacking I still was able to get the phone running in a few minutes (mostly spending time training the fingerprint sensor).
So back into the Playstore and this time I get to download the current Oculus App.
From here setting up the Quest was just a matter of feeding the right account information … and done without another serious hickup.
The worst part was waiting for the Quest to reboot after it updated the software,
because it just didn’t turn back on. After a few minutes I decided to risk it and turn it on manually (which is a risky thing as we all know we are not supposed to touch devices that are updating) … and it went well, the Quest booted up and I was finally able to go in, do the guardian setup and jump into the introduction experience.
And it was an eye opener! I am not a fanboy by nature, but I admit that the Oculus Quest is now my favorite VR device. Oculus managed to make me a believer in them with this lovely little device.
Where I was not very happy with the Index controllers (and you can believe me I really wanted to be), the Quest controllers are fantastic. Yes they don’t try as hard to give you perfect hand representations … but they are so much more stable with the poses than the Index was for me and they are using them much nicer. The demos that introduce you to the system are sooooo smooth that I couldn’t help but love it.
The only thing I miss is the strap that allows you to let go!
The screen resolution is great and I was very surprised to have so few lens artefacts spoiling the experience. Overall the image quality does not feel like you have to “suffer” because of the mobile chipset powering it.
The weight is also fantastic and the headset sits tight on my head. Played a few rounds of beat saber and the lack of a leash is making even this forward facing experience A LOT nicer.
I think the Quest will keep selling as fast as they can make them for a while!
VR Adventure 