Meta Quest customers can now faucet and swipe in VR with out controllers

At this time, Meta announced new enhancements to the Quest platform as a part of the v50 OS replace, together with an experimental function referred to as “Direct Contact,” which lets customers faucet and swipe with their naked fingers. The corporate additionally rolled out an in-game multitasking function to Meta Quest 2 and upgraded the Meta Quest Contact Professional controllers.

Whereas Meta already has hand monitoring, which launched on the Quest platform in 2019, customers will now be capable of do extra than simply pinch the air with a view to work together in VR. The Direct Contact setting permits customers to faucet on buttons, swipe by the sport library and use their fingers to kind out messages on the digital keyboard — all with out using controllers.

Final week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted an Instagram Reel that reveals a demo of the brand new function. From what we are able to see within the video, it feels much like utilizing the touchscreen on a smartphone — which is able to doubtless be interesting to many customers.

Zuckerberg wrote within the Instagram caption that these new hand gestures are “far more pure.” The corporate added in in the present day’s announcement that Direct Contact affords a “extra intuitive and fascinating approach to work together with the system and 2D panels usually.”

The function may be situated inside the Experimental Settings tab. It’s obtainable on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Professional.

Meta Quest 2 customers are additionally getting the in-game multitasking function, which was beforehand solely obtainable on Meta Quest Professional. When taking part in a sport, customers merely choose the Meta Quest button and launch 2D apps from their library, akin to Instagram, the Meta Quest Browser and extra.

Picture Credit: Meta

With the v50 replace, the corporate additionally decreased the period of time it takes for self-tracking to start out on the Meta Quest Contact Professional controllers. So, now when a person places on their headset, it is going to take much less time for the controllers to know the place they’re. It can additionally reply faster for customers who change from hand monitoring to controllers.

The corporate added that, sooner or later, it’s launching extra upgrades to Meta Quest Contact Professional.

Meta continues to put money into the metaverse, regardless of Actuality Labs, Meta’s VR and AR division, dropping $13.7 billion in 2022. Actuality Labs solely gained $2.16 billion in income. The corporate plans to launch a client VR headset later this 12 months.

Plus, Meta might quickly should compete with Apple as the main tech firm is reportedly launching its personal VR headset. Bloomberg reported that the headset would have superior eye-tracking and hand-tracking capabilities.