The Meta Quest 3 was finally unveiled at Meta Connect 2023, giving us our first real look at Meta's new VR headset.

Of course, this is more than just a VR headset; Quest 3 is actually a mixed reality headset that allows you to play immersive VR games as well as drop augmented reality holographics into the physical world. And you can digitally move between these worlds without having to remove the headset.

Aside from the Apple Vision Pro, which won't be available until early next year, we've never seen anything like this before. So I went through everything we know about the Quest 3, including an early hands-on Meta Quest 3 review, and compiled a list of five features you can experience in mixed reality once you get Meta's new headset. At the end of the list are some bonus features that will be available soon.

One of the mixed reality features Meta showed off at Meta Connect is the ability to learn to play the piano in mixed reality. Whether at the coffee table, at your desk at work, or on the go, you can simply put on the headset and start practicing. As a musician myself, I am actually very excited about this.

But you might want to choose headphones as well; the Quest 3 speakers play rich, immersive audio, and I was impressed with them during the demo at Connect. However, you should connect your headphones via the 3.5mm headphone jack, as its rich, immersive sound may be audible to those around you. Unfortunately, despite its support for Bluetooth 5.2, it cannot connect most wireless earbuds due to latency issues. Instead, you should opt for earbuds like the Soundcore VR P10 wireless earbuds, which use a USB-C dongle so that latency is not an issue.

When you put on the Quest 3, you can initially see your surroundings thanks to the headset's full-color video pass-through. However, a simple double-tap on the side of the headset allows the wearer to move back and forth between the physical and virtual worlds around them.

Unfortunately, we were unable to test this feature while using the headset, but we will certainly do so in our Quest 3 review. Furthermore, while you can switch between realities from the home screen and some apps, other apps and games only offer either immersive virtual reality or mixed reality video pass-through. Therefore, playing "Assassin's Creed Nexus" would not place Ezio in the physical world.

Speaking of games, there are a large number of Meta Quest 3 games thanks to backward compatibility with the Quest library, not to mention several new ones to be released in the future.

Connect was able to try a few of these and was generally impressed with what we saw; First Encounters is a fun shooter where you capture cute aliens before they overwhelm you. Lego Brick Tales is a Lego puzzle game that runs on an adjustable tabletop; for those who had Meta Quest Pro, Demeo will be a familiar mixed reality game. It's a tabletop game that lets you explore a Dungeons & Dragons-like dungeon, literally played in mixed reality on a tabletop.

The only complaint. So far, there are not enough mixed reality games to convince me to reserve Quest 3. In fact, this is the biggest reason to hold off on purchasing Quest 3 for now.

Your favorite shows and movies from the best streaming services are projected larger than life on a virtual screen in your room thanks to Quest 3's mixed reality. You can even place a video screen in your own room. This feature was teased at WWDC with the announcement of the Apple Vision Pro, so it's great to see Meta replicating this in a more affordable headset.

And for console gamers, Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming in December. Gaming in the living room will no longer require a console and a TV, although a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is required.

Quest 3's updated boundary feature can automatically scan a space to determine the boundaries of a play space. It can also automatically 3D scan your room to understand where walls, floors, furniture, etc. are located, allowing games and apps to work seamlessly with your play space.

Admittedly, this feature did not work in my demo. However, in our initial hands-on testing, my colleague Tony Polanco seemed to have a better time with this feature and left impressed. The review should fully test this feature, but I am willing to give it a second chance.

For those expecting to work in mixed reality, productivity apps are on the way. The biggest headline is this: the Microsoft Office app should be coming to Meta Quest devices next year. Of course, the headset's battery life is two to three hours, so you can't work all day without being connected. But in the end, it's still a nice feature, theoretically.