After launching the Quest 2 last fall, Oculus has returned to give its flagship VR headset some major upgrades for both work and gaming thanks to new support for 120Hz refresh rates, updates to Infinite Office, and wireless tethering for PCs.
For both general use and gaming, the addition of support for 120Hz refresh rates is the most important new feature in Oculus’ v28 software update. When it launched last year, the Quest 2 originally topped out with the 90Hz refresh, so by upping that limit to 120Hz, not only is Oculus looking to deliver smoother graphics and animations, Oculus may also help reduce the occurrence of any motion-induced nausea.
In general, it’s pretty rare that a device gets an upgraded refresh rate post-launch, so the move to 120Hz on the Quest 2 is certainly a pleasant surprise. That said, 120Hz does not work when using Oculus Link at the moment, and because this update is brand new, there aren’t actually any apps that support 120Hz just yet, so it might be a little while before developers can update existing titles or ship new apps that support 120Hz natively.
Meanwhile, for people who’ve dreamed of using VR for work, Oculus is adding two new features to its Infinite Office productivity collection: the ability to place a virtual desk on top of actual furniture to better match your virtual workspace with the real world, and the ability to pair a physical keyboard with the Quest 2 for better typing experience.
While Oculus’s physical surface integration will launch as an experimental feature, the idea is that by creating a virtual desk space that mimics your IRL setup, users will feel more at home in their virtual office while also smoothing out transitions when switching between VR and meatspace. Oculus even says that your virtual desk boundary will be detected and saved automatically, so you don’t have to repeat the setup every day.
As for the Quest 2's keyboard integration, anyone who has used VR even a little knows it can be awkward to try to interact with physical objects when you can’t see them virtually at the same time. However, by partnering with Logitech, it will soon be possible to pair a Logitech K830 keyboard with the Quest 2, so you can see a 3D model of the keyboard (along with your hands) in VR, which should greatly improve your overall VR typing experience. The obvious downside is that only a single keyboard model is supported right now, though Oculus claims it will “expand support for additional keyboards in the future.”
Finally, while it’s another thing that’s launching as an experimental feature, Oculus is giving the Quest 2 a new wireless tethering option for connecting to a nearby PC with Air Link. Previously, if you wanted to use a PC to play Oculus Rift games or use that performance to pump out higher-quality graphics, you needed to use a physical link cable to send video from your PC to the Quest 2.
But now with Air Link, Oculus is testing out sending video to its VR headset over wi-fi, so you can get increased graphics fidelity without the need for a physical cable. Of course, with the Quest 2 reliant on good wi-fi when using Air Link, Oculus recommends that users should make sure they are on a trusted network and that they are connected to a 5Ghz signal on an 802.11 AC or AX router. Also, you’ll need to make sure both the Quest 2 and the Oculus PC app have been updated to v28, the latter of which Oculus says will be available soon.
Still, for a device that’s been out for the better part of a year, the Quest 2 continues to receive regular and rather significant updates, which is always nice to see. Unfortunately, Oculus says its v28 update will be rolling out gradually, so if you don’t have access to the new software already, keep checking back throughout the next week or so.