Pico 4 Ultra Review: Quest 3 remains unmatched

Our review of the Pico 4 Ultra shows that despite more power and mixed reality, the mobile VR headset cannot close the gap to Meta's Quest 3.

In the fall of 2022, Bytedance wanted to attack Meta and Quest 2 with the Pico 4. Ben titled his review "The good, the bad and the decent" and was not convinced. The lenses lacked sharpness, the software lacked polish, and the App Store, well, lacked apps.

Almost two years later, Pico is trying again with the Ultra version, which on paper offers more power, higher resolution and great new features. I got to try out the mobile VR headset with new mixed reality features for a few days.

Read my review to find out why the Pico 4 Ultra, despite being a year younger, feels like a step backwards compared to its competitor, the Quest 3, and why many of the criticisms of the Pico 4 also apply to the Ultra.

• Disclaimer: Pico provided me with the Pico 4 Ultra and the Pico Motion Tracker for a limited period of time. As soon as we have a Pico 4 Ultra permanently available, we will share our long-term experiences with you.

Pico 4 Ultra review in a nutshell

As with the Pico 4, many of the technical advantages of the Pico 4 Ultra over Meta's competitor are only on paper and have little effect in practice. The spatial videos are little more than a nice gimmick due to the low resolution, while the mixed reality mode works quite well. However, there is still a lack of content.

The lenses show clearly visible ghosting, fading, and reflections. The image is only sharp and clear in the sweet spot, but edge-to-edge clarity is far behind the Quest 3.

Hand tracking is still not really usable with Pico 4 Ultra, and the software does not seem to be fully developed yet. However, as a PC VR headset — with or without a cable — the Pico 4 Ultra does an excellent job.

Only die-hard Pico 4 fans will be satisfied with this upgrade. All others will be much better off with the Quest 3.

• Click here for the full verdict

What is the difference between Pico 4 Ultra and Pico 4?

The main difference between the two Pico 4 variants lies in their performance. With the Qualcomm XR 2 Gen2, the Ultra uses the same chip as Meta in the Quest 3 and is therefore much more powerful than the standard Pico 4. It also has 12 GB of RAM instead of 8 GB. With 256 GB, the Pico 4 Ultra offers a lot of storage space. There is no smaller version.

Also new is the new iToF depth sensor and two 32 MP cameras in the glass front, which is a prerequisite for a good mixed reality experience. The front is now a bit more curved and protrudes a bit more. On the Pico 4, a single 16 MP camera provided the color pass-through display. With the new camera setup, spatial videos and photos are also possible, and the controller's ample tracking rings are a thing of the past.

In terms of connectivity, the Ultra uses Wi-Fi 7 instead of "only" Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 instead of 5.1 compared to the Pico 4. The battery has grown to 5700 mAh (previously 5300 mAh) and the weight has remained about the same at 580 grams. No wonder because the housing of the Pico 4 Ultra is almost identical to that of the Pico 4, with all its advantages and disadvantages.

• Click here for the spec comparison between Pico 4 Ultra and Meta Quest 3

Pico 4 Ultra Review: battery and comfort

According to Pico, the slightly larger battery can be charged very quickly. In the test, the empty battery filled up to 65 percent in 60 minutes. By comparison, with the Pico 4, I got 63 percent in the same time using the same charging cable. In both cases, I used the Quest 3's power connector, as the Pico 4 Ultra only comes with a USB-C cable without a connector.

How long the battery lasts depends a lot on how you use the headset. If you just watch videos, you can get up to three hours. If you use the power for multitasking, Wi-Fi PC streaming, downloads, VR and mixed reality apps, you might have to stop after an hour and a half. The new, more power-hungry features quickly put the increased battery capacity over its predecessor into perspective.

As mentioned above, Pico uses the same housing and headband for the Ultra version as for the Pico 4. This means that the Ultra is just as comfortable or uncomfortable as its predecessor, depending on the shape of your head, and can only be slightly tweaked with accessories. For example, Pico offers a softer and sweat-resistant face pad for just under $30, but I wasn't able to try it out.

My subjective opinion on the comfort of the Pico 4 Ultra

For me personally, the Pico 4 Ultra is not a very comfortable headset. Since the battery of the Pico 4 headsets is located at the back of the headband, the comparatively low weight is actually pleasantly balanced. However, the thin padding on the face and the rigid, hard plastic back plate quickly negate this advantage.

To make matters worse, the Pico 4 Ultra, like its predecessor, is difficult to secure in place. To prevent the VR headset from constantly wobbling back and forth during fast movements, I have to tighten it very firmly, and after a few minutes I get unsightly and, above all, uncomfortable pressure marks on my forehead and cheekbones.

Eventually, this leads to headaches that quickly spoil my enjoyment of VR games. For applications such as working in a virtual office, watching videos, or playing less intensive VR games, this aspect is less of an issue because I can wear the VR headset in a more relaxed manner. However, one problem remains, which I will discuss in more detail in the Lenses and Display section.

Controller and Hand Tracking

The Pico 4 Ultra uses Pico's first VR controllers without a tracking ring. The controllers are comfortable to hold, have a pleasant weight and use a similar button layout as their predecessors. However, the Ultra controllers have a little more space on the inside, so you can rest your thumbs comfortably.

The grip buttons could be a little deeper, but otherwise there is nothing to complain about. The workmanship is excellent, the pressure points are stable and the vibration feedback is good. Everything worked perfectly with tracking in the test, both in standalone mode and with PC VR streaming. Pico seems to have made no progress with hand tracking. It remains as imprecise and clumsy as on the Pico 4, which is a shame.

Resolution and picture quality of the Pico 4 Ultra

Apart from the housing, the Pico 4 Ultra seems to have the same lenses and displays as the Pico 4. At least, the view through the VR headset feels exactly the same. Both headsets use pancake lenses and two 2.56 inch Fast LC displays with a maximum of 90 Hz.

There is no change in resolution either, although the more powerful chip makes complex standalone VR games look better than on the Pico 4. The 2,160 × 2,160 pixels of the Pico 4 Ultra do not make a significant difference in practice in a direct comparison with the image quality of the Quest 3 (2,064 × 2,208) — the lenses, however, do.

Pancake lenses and display

Although both headsets use pancake lenses, the difference could not be greater. The Quest 3 offers excellent edge-to-edge clarity. No matter how far I move my eyes to the edge of the field of view, the image always remains clear and sharp. Not so with the Pico 4 Ultra.

There is a clearly identifiable sweet spot where the image is sharp and clear, similar to the Quest 3, but when I move my eyes to the edges, the image quickly becomes very blurry. I have to constantly move my head to get a clear view in all directions. I also see the transition into the blurry area all the time. In high-contrast scenes, it looks a bit like there is a thin, greasy ring around the sweet spot on the lenses.

This may not be noticeable in a fast, hectic VR game. But in mixed reality or productivity applications, I find it annoying when I can no longer see menus that pop up from below, icons in my virtual desktop's taskbar, or other text when I lower my gaze.

In very bright or dark environments, I also noticed a very fine mesh, a fly screen door effect similar to that of the Quest 3. A bit more noticeable is the still very present ghosting in high contrast scenes, for example a white logo on a black background. If you move your head here, a mirrored duplicate of the logo moves slightly offset to the original, just like on the Pico 4.

There are also unpleasant reflections due to the design. If there is a light source behind me, such as an open window in bright sunshine, I always see a small portion of the mirrored image in the VR environment at the upper left or right edge of the field of view. This is because I just can't get the rigid VR headset to fit tightly. No matter how hard I tighten it, there is always a small gap at the edges, through which light penetrates and is reflected into the lenses.

Pico 4 Ultra Review: Decent Mixed Reality

The Pico 4 Ultra offers a decent pass-through mode. Although there is noticeable image noise, I can easily read my smartphone's display in good lighting conditions — even if I have to get very close to it. This is not a problem with a mobile phone, it is more of a problem with a monitor, but the same applies here: Googling something, reading the login details for an online account or checking a WhatsApp message works perfectly.

Video: MIXED

In fact, the Quest 3 initially had a slightly weaker pass-through image at launch. For example, before the numerous software updates, the image was very distorted when I held my smartphone up to the cameras. Such distortions also occur with the Pico 4 Ultra, but I had the impression that they occurred less frequently. There are only occasional issues when displaying digital content.

What I noticed time and again were small inaccuracies. For example, in Mixed Reality mode, the controller cursor simply shines through the confirmation button when action windows are displayed. As a result, I get no feedback and don't know if I hit the window's hitbox correctly.

Video: MIXED

During the test, I tried out the mixed reality games Angry Birds VR and Infinite Inside. Both ran smoothly, and the controller tracking also worked perfectly. Only when displaying digital objects did I sometimes have the feeling that they were not perfectly anchored to the real ground, but instead hovered slightly below or above it.

Performance, software, and apps

As mentioned, the new Pico 4 has a lot of processing power under the hood and knows how to use it. In Passthrough mode, multitasking is no problem, and I can open dozens of windows at the same time and move them around smoothly. Mixed reality applications and current VR games like Arizona Sunshine 2 also run smoothly.

When it comes to software, Pico no longer just copies Horizon OS, but also takes inspiration from VisionOS. For example, there are now immersive landscape environments and the ability to adjust the level of immersion using a slider. The VR environment gradually transitions from front to back to mixed reality and vice versa, which is much less elegant than on Vision Pro.

The user interface is basically well-structured, and even VR newbies should find their way around quickly. However, Pico's OS still lacks polish. I keep coming across incompletely translated text boxes and important-looking messages with Chinese characters that I can't decipher due to my lack of language skills. Edge flickering and occasional controller jitter also detract from the overall experience.

Although the App store has been constantly expanded since Pico 4, it is far from being able to keep up with the Meta Horizon Store. Not only are Quest exclusives (of course) and other big VR games missing, there are also far too few good mixed reality apps. Pico would have to do a lot more work here, or — this would probably be the best, albeit unrealistic case — license Meta Horizon OS.

Pico 4 Ultra Review: A strong PC VR headset

The Pico 4 Ultra performs best with a PC. When tested with Half-Life: Alyx on a high-end machine with RTX 4080, PC VR streaming with the original Oculus Link cable ran flawlessly at high settings.

Half-Life: Alyx runs excellently on the Pico 4 Ultra both with and without a cable connection to the PC. | Video: Valve / MIXED

I wasn't able to try the new WiFi 7 connection because I don't have a router that supports it, but I doubt it will make much of an improvement. Streaming with WiFi 6 or WiFi 6E already works perfectly for me. I had no problems with sound or stuttering during the WiFi 6 connection with the Pico 4 Ultra. For streaming, I used a standard router in the same room as the Pico.

The free Pico Connect streaming app is clean and reduced to the bare essentials in terms of settings. If you want more, you have to switch to Virtual Desktop. In combination with Steam VR, there were a few bugs during setup. The Steam app stubbornly refused to recognize the headset. However, restarts reliably solved the problem.

Pico 4 Ultra: Spatial videos and images

The Pico 4 Ultra can record and play back both spatial images and video. The latter also works with content created via Apple devices. However, this is currently little more than a nice gimmick. When you open the corresponding app, a small transparent frame appears in Passthrough mode, marking the recording area. Press a button to start recording.

If you record a spatial video with the Pico 4 Ultra, you have to make sure that only the area in the small transparent window is recorded. | Video: MIXED

The footage can then be viewed in window mode or in the much larger 180-degree view. I took some photos and videos in my office on a bright summer day with the window open.

Spatial photos and videos can be played back in either window or 180-degree mode. | Video: MIXED

I liked the depth effect of the photos much better. Watching videos quickly becomes uncomfortable if I have moved my head horizontally during recording. Overall, the resolution and FPS of the recordings are too low for me to enjoy the spatial images and videos in the long term.

The Pico motion trackers are a great piece of technology

I also took a look at the motion trackers from Pico and have to say that I had a lot of fun with the little plastic parts. The trackers are tiny, lightweight and very easy to use: Using a USB connector, you click the trackers into the holders on the included elastic fabric strap and strap them around your ankles.

Once the appropriate configuration app is running, you briefly press the pairing buttons, and you're done. The trackers track my leg movements with amazing accuracy, as long as there is no piece of cloth blocking the view of the VR headset. In Pico's VR version of Wii Sports, I was able to play sliding field hockey, soccer, and kung fu with them and couldn't detect any tracking dropouts.

If you want to add leg movement to your VRChat avatar, you should take a closer look at the trackers that are also compatible with Pico 4 and Pico Neo 3. It remains to be seen if there will be many games that support Pico's motion tracker.

My verdict on Pico 4 Ultra: Too little, too late

The Pico 4 Ultra is not a bad VR headset, but it compromises too much. For every plus point, there is at least one minus point:

• It delivers a good, sharp image, but only within the comparatively small sweet spot and suffers from ghosting and fade-ins.
• The weight is comfortable and well-balanced, but the headband and face pad are uncomfortable and rigid.
• The controller tracking works perfectly, but the hand tracking is a disaster.
• The operating software is still a neatly structured Quest clone, but it feels years behind the original in terms of usability, functionality, and stability.
• Photographing and filming spatial content is nice, but due to the low resolution and frame rate, it is currently no more than a gimmick.

In addition, the built-in speakers have a mediocre sound, there is no AUX port for good headphones, and the microphone is weak. Only as a PC VR headset does the Pico 4 Ultra do a good job. There, users also have the advantage of being able to access SteamVR. The app catalog in the Pico Store is still poor and lags miles behind Meta's offering — especially in the area of mixed reality.

The question of the target audience remains

Yes, the Quest 3 also had many teething problems at launch and has been and will continue to be improved through software updates. The Pico 4 Ultra has the same opportunity. However, with numerous reports of job cuts, cancelled plans and a lack of support from parent company ByteDance, there are serious doubts whether Pico has the resources to provide similar long-term support.

If Pico had launched at a lower price and also on the US market, the Ultra might have been able to steal some market share from Meta, despite its many minor flaws. But for $600, the evolution of the Pico 4 offers too little in every respect to be a serious competitor to the Quest 3, which is worlds ahead in terms of hardware and software. If Meta actually launches a cheaper but hardly weaker Quest 3S in the fall, or even manages to gain a foothold in Asia by licensing Horizon OS, things will soon look bleak for Pico.

Only those who want to avoid Meta at all costs and still want a mobile and PC VR-ready mixed reality headset should consider the Pico 4 Ultra.

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