Reviews Pico Neo 3 Pro: a solid VR headset to compete with the Oculus Quest 2

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Pico Neo 3 Pro review: a solid VR headset to compete with the Oculus Quest 2 Cornershop

While Meta (ex-Facebook, for those who missed the latest episode in the crazy metaverse series) recently announced that its VR headset would be given a new name to reflect that of its parent company (becoming the Meta Quest 2), Pico released the third iteration of its Neo range in early October. The Pico Neo 3 Pro is now available to professionals in two versions (with and without integrated eye tracking).

Charles, one of Immersion's experts, gives us a feedback on the latter.

Promising technical characteristics

First point, and not the least: the visual quality of the rendering is there. With a field of view of about 98°, a resolution of 1832 x 1920 per eye (4K display) and a refresh rate of 72 to 90Hz, the images are flattering.

Precision, brightness and good contrast ensure a comfortable visual immersion. Admittedly, a few artefacts linked to optical distortion are sometimes visible when you turn your head and areas in peripheral vision are slightly blurred. Such phenomena are nevertheless common with this kind of technology and represent only a minor inconvenience compared to the overall visual quality of a stand-alone headset.

The second important point for any self-respecting Virtual Reality headset is the quality of the tracking, in other words the tracking of the controllers and the head. In this respect, it is clear that the Pico Neo 3 hits hard. It's hard to fault the controllers! They manage the 6 degrees of freedom with precision, are comfortable in the hand and have a fairly impressive lifespan. A welcome bonus on the interaction front is that the headset also has three side buttons to access basic controls if you ever need to keep both hands free.

Forget about using the video-see-through mode for long periods of time, though. The headset does have the required cameras and uses them to allow the user to calibrate the area of use, a necessary step in VR to avoid any unexpected encounters with fragile objects. Nevertheless, the video return of the cameras is far from perfect and even quickly causes a headache. It is difficult to envisage this mode outside the calibration phase: the headset is designed for VR only. So no mixed reality is possible with this iteration.

Software

The Neo 3 offers two options for streaming content from a PC: one wirelessly via a Wifi network (Wifi6 is supported according to Pico but we haven't tested it yet) and the second wired. The latter is via a proprietary USB-C/DisplayPort cable. Support for Nvidia's CloudXR is also a real plus.

Another positive point: an SDK for Unity is also available via the manufacturer's website. Although the documentation needs to be expanded and refined, this is a welcome addition for developers. Interesting point: the SDK includes functionalities to recover camera images. In the absence of video-see-through, it may be possible to detect and insert elements from the real environment into the 'classic' virtual environment. For example, a VR user could see their own arms and hands rather than just 3D models floating in the air. This is the principle behind one of the lesser-known subsets of Mixed Reality: Augmented Virtuality. To learn more about these concepts, we invite you to read our article on Mixed Reality.

The inevitable comparison with Meta Quest 2

That's where we started this article, and deliberately so: the Pico Neo 3 is immediately reminiscent of the Meta Quest 2. Whether it's the design or the technical specifications, the two headsets are often neck and neck. For example, they both have the same processor (a Snapdragon XR2) and a battery life of between two and three hours depending on their use.

The first difference is the price: around 600 euros for the classic Neo 3, which is 200 euros less than the pro version of the Quest 2. The Neo 3 with integrated eye tracking (and 8GB of RAM instead of 6) is currently priced at around 750 euros. It's hard to find a cheaper VR headset for professionals at the moment.

In addition, the Neo 3 does not require the use of a Facebook account, which may have put off many users of the Quest 2. It should be noted, however, that Pico was recently acquired by ByteDance, which already owns TikTok. The company is known to be fond of user data analysis. Only time will tell how Pico's privacy policy will evolve in relation to the GDPR.

Finally, Pico's catalogue of applications is not insignificant but is nowhere near as comprehensive as Meta's. The entertainment offer can be considered secondary for a headset aimed at professionals, admittedly. However, in terms of the overall catalogue, the Quest is the clear winner.

Recommendations from our expert

In summary, Charles believes that the Pico Neo 3 may be of interest to you if:

  • You are a professional looking for a Virtual Reality headset that offers a solid compromise between performance and accessibility
  • You don't want to create or use a Facebook account to use a VR headset

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