Can VR Headsets Revitalize Virtual Reality?

I’m not planning to drop $1,299 on the Meta VR Glasses anytime soon. That price is a bit steep for my budget, and my feelings about Meta are mixed. However, it’s important to recognize that Meta has truly shifted the landscape. We’ve seen glasses before, but nothing quite like this.

The Meta VR Glasses aren’t your typical opaque VR headset, nor are they just transparent AR glasses. They might just be the perfect blend of both. After testing the Meta VR Glasses alongside Valve’s Steam Frame, the Apple Vision Pro, and the Google/Xreal Aura, I believe they could be the first design to entice everyday users into the world of VR.

It’s not just their appearance as glasses or their lightweight design at around 100 grams—five times lighter than a standard headset—that makes them appealing. The price tag, while high, is still a fraction of the $3,700 Vision Pro.

What truly stands out is the experience you have when you wear the Meta VR Glasses. You’re not completely enclosed or isolated. Since they’re designed like glasses rather than goggles, you maintain real peripheral vision. You get a live video feed of your environment in the center, surrounded by thick “rims,” and you can still see your surroundings beyond that. Even while gaming, your peripheral vision remains intact.

Many people feel uneasy in VR because they don’t want to be cut off from their kids or pets. Personally, I’ve never felt comfortable wearing headsets in public spaces like planes or parks, where I can’t easily see those around me. Women have shared that VR is a no-go for them due to long hair or makeup concerns. Traditional headsets often press down on your head, making it a hassle for those with high ponytails or makeup to deal with.

Glasses could be the answer, resting comfortably on your ears and floating in front of your eyes without the pressure on your head. The industry has long suggested that headsets would eventually give way to glasses.

Typically, when we think of glasses, we envision transparent ones that seamlessly blend the real world with virtual elements. While today’s transparent-display glasses have made significant progress, they still fall short. The lenses may resemble regular glasses, but the displays inside illuminate a much smaller area. When I turn my head, virtual objects can vanish even if I’m still looking in their general direction.

Back in 2013, I tried Google Glass, which had a tiny screen above my eye with a limited 15-degree diagonal field of view. Microsoft’s HoloLens followed in 2015 with a 34-degree field of view, and HoloLens 2 later improved to 52 degrees. The Xreal One Pro glasses I’ve been testing offer 57 degrees, and the upcoming Xreal Aura will finally push transparent glasses to 70 degrees diagonal.

However, even with the Aura, 70 degrees diagonal translates to about 60 degrees horizontal by 40 degrees vertical. Humans have around 120 degrees of binocular vision, while VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 and Steam Frame provide about 110 degrees horizontal, creating a more immersive experience.

Transparent glasses face the challenge of competing with real-world light while allowing you to see through them. This often results in projectors positioned close to your brow, making virtual objects appear ghostly unless you use electrochromic lenses to darken the clear lenses at the push of a button.

In contrast, VR headsets like the Steam Frame, Meta Quest, and Apple Vision Pro provide a more vivid experience, where virtual and real light don’t compete. You see the real world through “passthrough vision,” a live camera feed that allows virtual objects to appear at the correct depth, blocking real-life elements behind them.

That’s how the Steam Frame, Meta Quest, and Apple Vision Pro operate. Yet, they weigh four to eight times more and are fully enclosed. Imagine a lighter, open-air pair of glasses that utilizes passthrough vision instead of transparent lenses. You can see where I’m headed with this.

The Meta VR Glasses offer a field of view of 70 degrees by 66 degrees, and it feels more significant than it sounds. The real game-changer is that my real and virtual fields of view align perfectly. Anywhere I look through the lenses, virtual objects can fill that space without being abruptly cut off.

Additionally, the VR Glasses provide higher angular resolution than most AR or VR devices (37ppd), making text easier to read.

However, at 70 degrees by 66 degrees, you don’t get full immersion. Some enthusiasts might argue that the Meta VR Glasses don’t deliver true VR since the field of view is limited, making it harder to feel completely “there.” But it didn’t feel like I had tunnel vision, and the headset can track your hands well beyond your field of view.

Wearing the Meta VR Glasses made me question whether there’s such a thing as “enough” field of view. While I’ll always crave more, perhaps the challenge for virtual reality isn’t about immersion. The real hurdle is convincing a broader audience that wearing any kind of headgear is worthwhile.

The 1-pound Steam Frame was a step forward, but it’s still aimed at hardcore fans. Quarter-pound VR glasses that allow you to see your real world clearly will likely be a much easier sell. Even if you’re not considering a $1,300 purchase from Meta, it seems likely that other companies will soon follow suit.

When Meta unveiled the VR Glasses, it heralded “a new era for virtual reality.” In an interview, a VP of wearables mentioned that “the future of everything we’re doing is a pair of augmented reality glasses.”

As of February, it appeared that more traditional headsets were still on the horizon from Meta. However, if the VR Glasses succeed, it wouldn’t surprise me if they pivot away from making headsets altogether.