Oculus Quest may not have a specific release date yet, although now that both the headset and its Touch controllers have undergone FCC testing, there’s little left standing in the way of the headset’s launch this Spring.

Oculus revealed Quest in September, announcing that the high-end standalone headset would launch in Spring 2019 priced at $400. Now, filings for the controllers from Facebook have appeared at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC is tasked with certifying products with electromagnetic emissions to be safe and compatible with regulations. Products utilizing radio, WiFi, infrared, etc. need certification before they can be distributed for sale. Certification by the FCC marks one of the final steps in launching a consumer electronics product.

Image courtesy FCC

FCC documents specifically list the controllers by name, ‘Oculus Touch Controller’, replete with model numbers XH01 (right controller) & XH02 (left controller). Despite the fact ‘Quest’ doesn’t appear in any of the fillings, the silhouetted image reveals it is indeed Quest’s Touch (as opposed to Touch for Rift).

SEE ALSO
Oculus Quest Hits FCC on Its Way to Spring 2019 Launch

The filing’s test reports reveal that Quest’s Touch controllers connect wirelessly via 2.4GHz radio, likely indicative of on-board Bluetooth. The headset itself is already confirmed to include Bluetooth, as well as both 2.4GHz & 5GHz WiFi.

The Quest Touch controllers were received by the FCC on December 10th, 2018, and testing was completed on December 12th.

Image courtesy Oculus

Like many consumer electronics, the FCC has granted Facebook a 180-day temporary confidential treatment, so there’s still a few documents that haven’t been revealed including internal & external photos, the user manual, and test set-up photos.

There are a few big expos coming up where Facebook could potentially divulge a more specific release date for Quest, although our best guess is the company will likely mirror Oculus Go’s launch at F8 last year, the company’s annual developer conference. F8 2019 takes place April 30th – May 1st this year, and you can bet we’ll be there.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • AlanWake

    I believe Oculus Rift S will also be bundled with those Touch controllers.

    • Justme

      Makes sense as Rift S will also feature inside-out tracking cameras which those controllers are made for.
      Still seems to me as ergonomics wise the new design is a bit of a trade-off in favour of the new tracking technology. So i.e. as replacement controllers for Rift CV1 using external sensors I would still prefer the current CV1 Touch design, even *if* those new ones would be technically compatible as well.

      • impurekind

        I think the ergonomics are pretty much identical actually. It’s just the band that’s moved and the circle face area in thinner. But every else seems to be position and contoured exactly that same as the normal Touch, from what I can see, which means ergonomically it should feel identical–well, other than having that little spot to rest your thumb when not touching any of the buttons.

        • nalex66

          The downward rings are nice for for keeping the controllers on my hands when I relax my grip, plus they’ve protected my knuckles from many a bash when I’m wildly flailing and punching my walls in Echo Arena.

          On the other hand, the upward ring will likely protect the thumbstick from being smashed off.

          • Proof XR Lab

            yeah that was really nice, i was doing that in “The Great C” where you have 30 minutes of non interactive storytelling, super comfortable way let your hands relax

          • G-man

            downward rings wont work when the tracker is your face

          • nalex66

            I understand why they’re switching to upward rings for Quest and Rift S. I was just stating that they’re not ergonomically identical.

    • Bob

      Honestly I think if you loved the Oculus Rift, are tight on money, and are looking to upgrade you might as well wait for the Rift S to get the best version of VR possible (under the Oculus first generation family).

      The Quest looks like a great no fuss VR experience but if you really want top-of-the-line visuals you will need the Rift S.

      • G-man

        we dont know anything about the “rift s”. top of the line visuals? it might be a piece of placeholder code for all you know.

    • I agree with you. They unified the departments to spare on production costs, so this seems a natural consequence

  • jean thompson

    Can’t wait for quest!! Finally an easy way to share VR without hauling my PC around!!!

    • Hivemind9000

      To be fair you can already do that with a decent phone and Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR. Quest should definitely be a better experience (especially with decent controllers and 6 DOF) but it will still be a step down from a PC in terms of graphics fidelity. It will be interesting to see how much of a compromise it is.

      • jean thompson

        Lol Google cardboard? I want to show people REAL VR with position tracking and hand controllers without having to bring my PC with me. No other option.

        • Firestorm185

          Agreed. Back when I was in high school a google cardboard might have been a passable option for showing what VR could be like, but now that Quest is soon to arrive it will definitely be what I haul around with me.

          (edit: I’m a junior in college rn, for time perspective)

        • Hivemind9000

          Yeah I know mobile phone based VR seems shitty once you’ve experienced it on a decent PC VR headset, but that’s precisely my point – how close to the PC experience will Oculus Quest really be? I’m not knocking it – just curious.

          • jean thompson

            What i have read so far it seems like it will be on par not including graphics though. That’s fine because, since im a game designer, I can make my own “Experiences” to showcase to friends and family and optimize them till they are perfect. Low poly here I come!

      • WyrdestGeek

        My Samsung Gear VR, with Galaxy s6 phone, is too crappy for me to want to share it with other people.

        At the first sign of things getting exciting it invariably overheats– and it takes an agonizing number of seconds for it to clear the screen and tell you that it will have to degrade its performance for a bit. Seriously that aspect of the design is atrocious.

        A dedicated unit with *full* 6dof will be orders of magnitude better.

        Google cardboard? *shrug* it’s ok for 360 photos (not videos) and that’s about it.

        • Hivemind9000

          I did say a decent phone ;-)

        • jean thompson

          My S7 does the same thing. Plus without hands controllers it sucks!

  • gothicvillas

    If they manage to get Beat Saber on this, it will sell as hot cakes. If for some reason, Beat Saber is not coming to Quest, then it will be huge alarm bell.

    • HomeAudio

      Beat Sabre is a small, funny game that should not be a main title on this platform. I expect something more engaging… and more serious.

      • jj

        quest is inherently a smaller less powerful platform than pc-vr solely because its not tethered. so the games will be inherently smaller which is theoretically less engaging and less serious.

        • MosBen

          I’m not sure what makes a game serious, but I suspect that it means “really gives my RTX 2080 a workout”. I’d first suggest that that doesn’t necessarily equal quality, and also that that’s not the route to achieving mainstream success.

          • jj

            it surely isnt a direct correlation by any means but yeah more cartoon graphics tend to be less serious while more realistic graphics tend to be for more serious games. Obviously these aren’t set in stone but also logically it makes the most sense that games with a more powerful platform behind them have a greater capability of being serious in comparison to games being ran on less powerful systems.

          • MosBen

            I think that “serious” is a bad label to use if what we mean are either “realistic graphics” or “a straightforward dramatic tone of storytelling”. The VR experience “Why We Wait” doesn’t feature bleeding edge graphics, nor does it need them to make it’s point. People are also plenty used to light-hearted, comedic story telling with a high degree of realism through, you know, movies and TV shows.

            But moreover, neither “realistic” graphics nor “straightforward dramatic tone” are necessarily more engaging. Many people are plenty engaged by Pixar movies, which do not feature realistic art and are mostly comedic. And indeed, Pixar movies also succeed at expressing a dramatic tone from time to time despite their less detailed depiction of the world. But also, there’s often an idea, implied in HomeAudio’s post, that “serious” is a good stand in for “worthy of attention or time”, which I think is just wrong. Music games like Guitar Hero and Rockband brought people together to play games. The tabletop world is filled with games that are both incredibly silly and very worth the players’ time. “Serious” is too often an undefined term to separate a group that perceives themselves as hardcore or the true fans from interlopers or less-sophisticated people.

            I suppose that I want some “serious” games/experiences for the Quest, meaning tonally dramatic experiences, but ultimately I don’t care about tone as much as I just want something engaging that either has me coming back for more on a regular basis (like Beatsaber), or produce a significant emotional reaction (like Henry or Dear Angelica). But more than anything, I want things that appeal to lots of different types of people so that VR can become a more mainstream media.

          • jj

            i agreeeeeee

          • MosBen

            Hooray! Sorry, I do go on…

          • Proof XR Lab

            Virtual Virtual Reality and Eclipse:Edge of Light were both games I found incredibly engaging and immersive on the lowly Daydream View. Great examples of fantastic VR experience within platform limitations. Quest has great potential!

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0131c256dc6c734f92961fc793d84050b2a7fc4c553addffc8eaead2f83c14c9.jpg

          • jj

            yeah we just wernt on the same page in terms of what a serious game means.

          • That’s a generous statement for you to give him, he was clearly arguing over semantics. Both of those guys knew exactly what “Serious” meant. This hyper-defensiveness over the generally poor state of VR graphics is super counter productive.

          • I’m with MosBen here. Someone needs to start a new blog:
            Serious Games! for Serious People!

          • jj

            like ben stated below and then i agreed on, long before you made this comment. the terms serious and engaging aren’t being used in the best way here and it quickly became about technical terminology and not what either of us really intended.

            so no not a troll, unlike you…..

          • HomeAudio

            @Battlenun:disqus
            I am with you! All my heart! Let’s start this blog!

          • HomeAudio

            I would like to see something more than only two sticks moved by my hands. I would like to see some games with story, with more sofisticated mechanics (maybe RPG game)… and I am NOT writting about graphics!

          • MosBen

            Those are reasonable things to want. I’m not sure that “serious” is really the best term to describe them, but I’d certainly like to see more games like those as well. I think a big concern is just that a lot of people aren’t super comfortable wearing a VR HMD for long periods of time. Eye strain, lens fogging, fatigue from roomscale movements, etc. all push experiences towards being in shorter chunks, or just shorter overall. And, of course, bigger, longer games require more development time and effort, which means more money, and we’re still in the “novel experiments” phase of development.

        • Yup. Because Candy Crush is less engaging. Less serious, yes…but then again, are we talking about games or insurance actuaries?

          Seriously, JJ. Are you a troll or just not-fun in real life?

          /Cheers!
          BN

          • jj

            he said serious and engaging… not me. so thats what i was responding to.. if u want to argue the terms take it up with home audio

    • impurekind

      Pretty sure that’s either already confirmed or basically confirmed.

    • Bob

      Beat Saber is fun but it’s novel. People pick up and play and then they will get bored. You need more than that to get user retention on these HMD’s.

      A “Facebook” or “Instagram” for VR is the only way to sustain casual user interest because people love social and sharing.

      • Nope.

        It is now my primary exercise routine. 1 hour of Beat Saber in the morning with push-ups, sit-ups and stretching every 3 songs and I am in better shape now than I have ever been.

        Not going away for me.

        • jj

          speak for yourself

          • LOL, WUT?

            I never speak for anyone but myself.
            Directly:Not going away for ME!

          • jj

            yeah i think i left out a me in there and thought u said the, so thats makes a lot more sense

      • MosBen

        I mean, how much playtime does it take for something to transition from “novel” to whatever we consider normal games to be? If someone plays Beatsaber for 5 hours, is it still a novelty? 10 hours? 20? While I’m sure that most people who have played Beatsaber would love more and more varied songs, I’ve definitely stuck with Beatsaber longer than I have for plenty of other VR experiences.

        But the reason that I think that Beatsaber is an important addition to a product like the Quest is that it’s an example of a really compelling game that doesn’t require super high end graphics hardware to display properly. I’m hopeful that the Quest will sell a bunch of units and really goose development of interesting VR games that don’t push graphics too hard.

      • Proof XR Lab
      • WyrdestGeek

        I respectfully disagree that the *only* way to sustain the casual user is Facebook/Instagram (and in any case Facebook owns Oculus *and* Instagram so you can bet they’ll be on here regardless).

        Casual users play games on their phone all the time.

        I saw someone playing Fortnite on their phone .

        Even if it turns out that Beat Saber, by itself, isn’t the killer app for the Oculus Quest, games that become popular and that are very engaging are what will make this be huge, if it is.

        That is of course only for those games that actually translate well into VR.

        • Bob

          Casual users play games on their phone because the smartphone is their “world”. Games just happen to exist on this device which allows them to engage with these applications and kill time so to speak.

          Virtual reality HMDs on the other hand are not a necessary product for connecting with their friends and families so there has to be a reason for them to be continually invested and this is where social applications specifically developed for virtual reality comes in to play.

          For virtual reality to be just as successful as smartphones meaning billions and billions of devices sold year-on-year it needs to be a sort of hub that acts an extension to their activities in real life. Otherwise it will stay as a niche product.

    • Chris Edwards

      It is hinted that Beat Saber will be on Oculus Quest.

  • Baldrickk

    Are Sobel filtered images common in FCC filings?

    • Hivemind9000

      Line drawings are standard practice for patents. Seems that government types don’t understand colored/shaded drawings – so maybe the FCC are the same?

  • JesuSaveSouls

    Lets hope they dont get sued again by infringing on technology already developed by another.

  • Hype hype hype

  • May??? Damn… wtf? Why is “Spring Release” automatically mean “The Final days OF Spring”? I was honestly hoping to buy a Quest in March.

    They should get this hardware out soon. Like I’ve said before, the Qualcomm spec that the Cosmo is using *will* filter out to other Chinese companies eventually. They are just waiting to see how well the Cosmo works before cloning the crap out of it! Competition from an open software market and cheaper headset prices could make the shelve life of the Quest rather short.

    The delay they had with getting the Touch controllers out was nearly fatal to Oculus’s hype-train. VIVE beat them out, and took away *ALOT* of their market share. They had to catch up (in a market THEY created) with steep price cuts and deep sales. It was a huge mistake thinking they could keep the lead without running the race, and it sorta looks like they are about to do it again.

    Years from now, as VR sets move closer and closer to a commodity market, it’s the chip makers that will become key. This is much in the same way Intel outlasted IBM. Who needs IBM when Intel makes the chips? Qualcomm knows this and has been pushing hard with their VR initiative for several years, and several iterations now. If they’ve cooked the “special sauce” right this time (unlike the HTC Focus, blah), Oculus is in *ALOT* of trouble.

  • polysix

    I just wish they had gone more cosmos/psvr style mounting.. why? well having owned all gen 1 hmds, while i prefer the rift ergonomics overall even to PSVR, it’s a pain when sharing with my GF as the straps are hard to keep adjusting to ‘just right’ everytime, to the point I stopped her using it as I needed it set for me most of the time (I tried putting tape markers on the velcro for my settings but something was always off/annoying).

    Anyway, with quest it feels more share-able, cool, even if under-powered, but good enough for her for simple games, and me for dev and trying things out, but if it was like PSVR/Cosmos it would have been very easy to swap heads, tighten nut-cracker, slide screen in – done. I see similar straps on the side/top to the rift which I think is an annoying mistake for something aimed at the more casual user. Also should have been flip up front like cosmos as casuals won’t like feeling hemmed in all the time.

  • oompah

    I wish all VR headsets be like oculus quest
    totally independent from console/pc
    yet be able to play skyrim loaded within
    (its possible , 1 TB sd cards r now available
    but 500 GB will do)

    • jj

      and i want a million dollars, but who doesnt?

    • G-man

      sure you can get a 1tb sd card. that runs at a speed comparable to a 2.5″ 5400rpm hard drive. as in, slooowwwwwwww. not that a headset with a 2tb nvme drive wouldnt be great but that component alone would be £300-400. or about £125 for a 500gb nvme. But then we need a mobile soc that can take nvme m.2 hardware like the Snapdragon 8cx. but then that doesnt really have a vr headset refference hardware. it shoudl do though. hopefully we will start to see things like this in the next few years.

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