Meta Boba 3 Prototype Hands-On: Ultra-Wide Field Of View Without Compromise

At SIGGRAPH 2025 this week, I went hands-on with Boba 3, Meta’s prototype of ultra-wide area of view PC VR in a type issue much like Quest 3.

I’ve lengthy contended that area of view is the basic driver of immersion of VR, and argued that the business ought to prioritize rising it.

Till the reveal of Boba 2 and Boba 3, it was unclear whether or not considerably rising area of view would at all times additionally necessitate vital tradeoffs to type issue and weight. If that had been the case, given the business’s rightful give attention to making headsets sleeker and lighter, it might need been many years earlier than we noticed huge gamers push area of view once more.

After attempting Boba 3, and seeing an enormous area of view in a viable type issue with my very own eyes, I am now extra optimistic than ever about the way forward for VR.

A Decade Of Stagnation

After I tried the unique Oculus Growth Equipment 1 (DK1) in 2013, like many others, I used to be blown away.

At this time, DK1 is a dinosaur in most regards. Its decision was lower than 640×800 per eye (round 6 pixels per diploma), and refresh fee simply 60Hz. It had a full-persistence show with instantly noticeable movement blur, and no positional monitoring, solely 3DoF rotation.

And but, regardless of all of this, most individuals who placed on DK1 exclaimed that they felt like they’d been transported to a different place.

Earlier than DK1, the one headsets you possibly can purchase for lower than tens of 1000’s of {dollars} had a area of view of round 45°. You possibly can solely peek right into a sliver of a digital world. However with DK1, you have been lastly in that digital world. And thus, the buyer VR revival of the 2010s had begun.

At this time we now have wi-fi standalone headsets with 2K to 4K per eye decision, 120Hz, low persistence, and markerless inside-out head, controller, and hand monitoring with extremely low latency. We even have colour passthrough for combined actuality, not simply VR, and headsets now not want a gaming PC.

But for essentially the most half, the sector of view has barely budged. Most headsets launched since have been someplace between 90° and 110° horizontal. For higher or for worse, the main target has been on making headsets smaller and better decision, not area of view.

There are exceptions. Pimax shipped a roughly 150° horizontal area of view in 2018, however at the price of a “hammerhead” type issue and fishbowl-level geometric distortion within the periphery. Extra just lately, Somnium VR1 and Pimax Crystal Tremendous have reached round 130° horizontal, for some folks, with tradeoffs of their very own.

For essentially the most half, although, the sector of view of headsets that folks really purchase and use en masse has stagnated. VR has gotten sharper, clearer, and way more interactive, however no more immersive. And that is why Boba 3’s lenses are one of many greatest VR breakthroughs in a decade.

For years now, the Show Programs Analysis (DSR) crew of Meta’s Actuality Labs Analysis group (initially Oculus Analysis), led by Douglas Lanman, has publicly introduced, and typically demoed, analysis prototypes that push the state-of-the-art for head-mounted shows.

This has included varifocal optics, retinal decision, ultra-high brightness, and reprojection-free passthrough.

Watch Oculus Element Its Varifocal Half-Dome VR Prototype Right here

Final month, we reported on a chat by Douglas Lanman of Oculus Analysis (now Fb’s Actuality Labs) from the 2018 SID Show Week occasion. The fascinating 40-minute session showcased among the crew’s newest work in VR {hardware}. Now you possibly can watch that speak for your self. Beneath is

Again in 2018 DSR confirmed off the unique Half-Dome headset which, in addition to being varifocal, had a area of view of 140°. Nonetheless, subsequent variations of Half-Dome had a smaller area of view, with Half-Dome 2 specializing in compactness and Half-Dome 3 shifting to an digital varifocal method with no shifting elements. In some ways, this was a mirrored image of the priorities of the business at giant.

Till just lately, we hadn’t seen any Meta prototype with a large area of view once more in any respect. Then, in October 2024, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth shared a photograph of himself holding a headset with a really extensive curved physique, suggesting an ultra-wide area of view.

Meta CTO Holds Large Subject Of View Prototype Headset In Photograph

Meta’s CTO shared a photograph of himself holding what seems to be a large area of view headset prototype.

Final week, Meta revealed that the prototype Bosworth was holding was referred to as Boba. Extra apparently than the identify, although, it additionally revealed that it had a show and optics stack from “about 9 years in the past”, the early days of Oculus Analysis.

Rather a lot has modified since then. So just lately, DSR re-examined what’s attainable with regards to area of view.

Enter Boba 2 & Boba 3

First revealed in a paper summary three weeks in the past, Boba 2 was developed final yr, when DSR optical scientist Yang Zhao realized that current developments in pancake lenses, pushed by Meta’s giant funding within the know-how, might be tailored to realize an ultra-wide area of view in a sensible type issue.

Additional, commercially out there LCD shows for VR had now reached the density the place a minimum of Quest 3 degree of angular decision might be achieved at ultra-wide area of view. Particularly, Boba 2 used 3K shows, reaching the identical 25 PPD as Quest 3.

Boba 3 is a more moderen model, from this yr, that makes use of 4K LCDs to succeed in 30 PPD, in addition to a refined lens manufacturing course of that improves high quality and apparently reduces the “peeling” I noticed on the sides of the lenses of the Boba 2 show unit on the stand at SIGGRAPH.

Each have a area of view of 180 levels horizontal by 120 levels vertical.

For comparability, Quest 3 has a area of view of lower than 110° × 96°, whereas Quest 3S has lower than 96° × 96°, and human imaginative and prescient may be very roughly 200° × 135°, relying on the form of an individual’s face. In less complicated phrases, Meta says Boba 3 covers roughly 90% of human area of view, in comparison with 46% for Quest 3.

So ultra-wide area of view in a Quest-like type issue, with larger angular decision than Quest 3. It sounds nice in principle. However does it maintain as much as a real-world demo? And what is the catch?

Boba 3 & The Pleasure Of Full Immersion

Placing on Boba 3, I could not assist however smile. What I noticed was a picture roughly as clear and sharp as Quest 3 however throughout a really large area of view, each horizontal and vertical. It engulfed nearly all of my area of view, with solely a small chunk on the acute horizontal periphery, and vertically under me, lacking.

Not like most different makes an attempt at ultra-wide area of view up to now, Boba 3 has solely minor distortion on the very edges, corresponding to what you see on the very edges of Quest 3 lenses.

In VR mode, Boba 3 gave me a deeper sensation of really being in one other place than every other headset has earlier than. And is not this the true goal of VR? The sensation was so intense that after going again to Quest 3, I am conscious about the sector of view I am now lacking, and I am unable to cease seeing it.

And this stronger feeling of immersion will not be the one benefit of an ultra-wide area of view. It additionally improves object permanence, which means you are constantly conscious of the digital objects beside you, not simply in entrance. In digital conferences, you’d proceed to see the tracked physique and facial actions of all individuals. Or when utilizing a triple monitor digital workspace, you’d be capable to look at a aspect monitor together with your eyes, fairly than rotating your head. When watching a 180° video, you needn’t transfer your head in any respect.

That lowered have to pan together with your head can also be a consolation benefit, another nuanced than simply the load of a headset. Positive, many future headsets may be slim and light-weight. However is it actually comfy to continually have to show your neck?

The variant of Boba 3 with cameras on the entrance helps passthrough combined actuality throughout the total ultra-wide area of view too – not only for VR. It is technically spectacular, as Meta needed to develop a customized FPGA pipeline chip with a fiber optic PCI-E interface to hold the twin 20 megapixel cameras at excessive framerate (USB is solely not ample). Nonetheless, Boba 3’s passthrough will not be depth-correct, and I noticed geometric distortion as I moved my head. Additional, I have already got open periphery headsets and equipment at residence, so I can already see the actual world in my periphery. Positive, that does not embody digital objects. However nonetheless, all this made Boba 3’s combined actuality expertise barely much less spectacular than its VR.

That passthrough distortion, and lack of depth correctness, exists as a result of Boba 3 makes use of “direct passthrough”, a flowery time period for simply displaying the digital camera views with a lens-matched however static projection, fairly than utilizing dynamic reprojection. That is extra a restrict of time and venture scope than some inherent technical roadblock, Lanman informed me, and will in principle be improved with future growth.

What was most notable concerning the Boba 3 demo is that there was no deal-breaking “catch”. The three different DSR prototypes I’ve tried have, in pursuit of pushing the frontier of a specific facet of HMD show programs, concerned noticeable and apparent tradeoffs:

• Starburst delivered gorgeous 20,000 nit brightness, however in a headset so comically huge and heavy it needed to be suspended from above with cables, and so scorching that it had big followers on the highest.
• Butterscotch Varifocal delivered near-“retinal” decision and varifocal optics, however in a thick and heavy headset with solely 50° horizontal area of view.
• Tiramisu, which I will be sharing my impressions of quickly, combines past “retinal” decision with excessive brightness and distinction. However it’s additionally thick and heavy, and has a area of view of simply 33°.

That is to not say that these different prototypes aren’t spectacular in their very own proper. However Boba 3 is notably totally different. It felt full. If I had been allowed to take one residence, or pulled off a daring heist, I might be utilizing it as my PC VR day by day driver. Boba 3 is the general greatest headset I’ve ever worn, with no shut second.

To be clear, although, Boba 3 will not be a product, neither is it a prototype of a product, regardless of its polished really feel. Meta researchers spent a lot of SIGGRAPH repeatedly explaining this to attendees, dozens of whom I overheard asking “so when is that this popping out?” greater than every other query.

“We’re on the analysis crew, we do not make the selections round what to ship in merchandise.”

All that stated, essentially the most promising factor about Boba 3 is that if Meta did wish to ship it as a product, it most likely might.

Boba 3 will not be like Orion, Meta’s unshippable AR glasses. Its lenses do not use unique supplies, and its shows are neither curved nor tiled.

In truth, Boba 3’s lenses are constructed with a really comparable course of to Quest 3’s. They’re dual-element pancake lenses, with the novel addition being a high-curvature reflective polarizer layer. And shows are common 4K LCDs much like these already transport in Varjo XR-4 and Pimax Crystal Tremendous, no unique curved or tiled panels concerned.

Conceptually, Boba 3 is comparatively easy. It could be markedly costlier than Quest 3 to supply, positive. However it would not price 1000’s of {dollars}.

That is to not say that creating Boba 3 was straightforward, as DSR’s optical scientists are eager to notice. However what’s vital is that the tough half was the preliminary optical design, not the theoretical manufacturability.

Whereas Boba 3 would not have any flaws that I might take into account deal-breakers, there are nonetheless tradeoffs to notice.

One is that the eyebox is smaller than Quest 3, which means your eyes should be extra intently aligned to the middle of the lens to see an appropriate picture. Apparently, although, what you see when your eyes are misaligned with Boba 3’s lenses will not be a blurrier picture, however a darker one. In case your IPD is aligned on one eye, however not the opposite, this can lead to an uncomfortable brightness inconsistency.

This is likely one of the causes Boba 3 is designed to be very adjustable. It options guide per-eye IPD alignment, eye reduction adjustment, and tilt management for the visor, together with the power to flip all of it the best way up.

And once I say that Boba 3 has a type issue “comparable” to Quest 3, I ought to notice that it’s barely heavier, as its lenses are a lot bigger. Given this elevated weight and dimension of the lenses, and the necessity to maintain every thing solidly in place all through all attainable changes and stress, Boba 3’s visor is bolstered with aluminum, fairly than being an all-plastic design. That is a part of the explanation that Boba 3 weighs 142 grams greater than a Quest 3 with Elite Strap, regardless of not together with a battery.

That aluminum might theoretically get replaced with a magnesium alloy, Meta’s researchers informed me, to scale back the load. However this is able to drive up the fee.

By the best way, if you happen to’re questioning how Boba 3 is tracked, the reply is that it makes use of the Constellation monitoring system from the unique Oculus Rift, and the demo had two Rift Sensors on the desk in entrance of me. This might fairly simply get replaced with inside-out monitoring, although, if Meta ever wished to ship Boba 3 as a product.

Given how full Boba 3 feels, how few flaws it has, and its obvious manufacturability, you could be questioning why it is only a analysis prototype.

The choice of what to really ship is totally out of the palms of the DSR crew. It lies, as an alternative, with Meta’s product groups, and finally its executives, Mark Zuckerberg and his CTO Andrew Bosworth.

Considering the repeated statements of Bosworth, the choice to not ship a product with Boba 3’s lenses doubtless comes all the way down to compute.

When requested about Boba 1, which he held within the October photograph, Bosworth repeated his long-standing view that an ultra-wide area of view is not definitely worth the tradeoffs on “weight, type issue, compute, and thermals”.

Meta CTO On Wider Subject Of View: ‘So Far It Hasn’t Felt Like The Proper Tradeoff’

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth shared his ideas on rising the sector of view of Quest headsets. Throughout his most up-to-date Instagram “ask me something” session, Bosworth was requested “is fov a serious concern? what options are extra vital with reference to ar/vr immersion”. He responded: I really like this query

Boba 3 actually proves that an ultra-wide area of view might be achieved with out considerably altering the shape issue, and if streamlined and refined for transport, I might guess it will solely add round 100 grams of weight. Not trivial, but it surely might be mitigated with the best head strap, and it is greater than price it.

However Boba 3 does nothing to handle the compute challenge Bosworth typically raises. The broader the sector of view of a headset, the extra pixels that should be rendered every body to realize the identical angular decision. And the efficiency price is worse than simply rising the decision of the identical area of view, as a result of extra geometry, entities, and results are actually seen, and thus need to be rendered and simulated. In digital scenes with few objects beside you, this additional overhead may be trivial, however in dense scenes, similar to open worlds, it might be catastrophic for efficiency.

The Boba 3 demo was powered by Nvidia’s RTX 5090, a $2000 2-kilogram PC graphics card that attracts round 600 watts of mains energy. In the meantime, Meta shipped its final PC-only VR headset in 2019 and dedicated to by no means transport one other with the discharge of Quest 2.

Meta is solely targeted on standalone headsets powered by cell chipsets, drawing round 10 watts from a comparatively small battery, with orders of magnitude much less efficiency than a gaming PC. Inside these constraints, rising decision, refresh fee, or area of view trades off harshly towards the already restricted graphical constancy of standalone VR.

Fb Killing Oculus Rift Line, Goals To Make Quest 2 ‘Finest PC VR Expertise’

Oculus Rift S is being retired in Spring, and Fb tells us it gained’t be releasing any new PC-only VR headsets. RIP, Rift! The just-announced Oculus Quest 2, like the unique Quest, helps Oculus Hyperlink- it could actually act as a PC VR headset through a USB cable. In Hyperlink

None of that is to say that Meta will proceed to ship the identical circa-110° area of view without end, although. There may be a whole lot of room between 110° and 180°, and the basic method of Boba 3’s lenses might be tailored to realize a gradual enhance in area of view over time.

Tiramisu: “Hyperrealistic VR”

Whereas Boba 3 pushes area of view, it nonetheless has comparable angular decision and the identical low brightness and distinction of headsets like Quest 3. However Boba 3 was not the one Meta prototype headset I attempted at SIGGRAPH 2025.

I additionally went hands-on with Tiramisu, Meta’s prototype of “hyperrealistic” VR that mixes beyond-retinal decision, excessive brightness, and excessive distinction, albeit with a slim area of view.

We ought to be publishing my impressions of Tiramisu later at the moment – so maintain checking UploadVR.

I additionally plan to put in writing up a comparability of the course every headset takes, so keep tuned in coming days for that.