Is there a simple way to increase the pointer distance ?

Ok, I digged into the meta scene sample and found a solution from what has been done in 'PremiumMediaSample'.

Create a new System that will look for collisions of your panel from controllers and dispatch back the hitInfo to the scene.

Here what I've done. Feel free to use it if it can help you.

package com.canal.android.quest.system

import androidx.core.net.toUri
import com.canal.ui.common.util.ALPHA_TRANSPARENT
import com.meta.spatial.core.Color4
import com.meta.spatial.core.Entity
import com.meta.spatial.core.Query
import com.meta.spatial.core.SystemBase
import com.meta.spatial.core.Vector3
import com.meta.spatial.runtime.PanelSceneObject
import com.meta.spatial.toolkit.Controller
import com.meta.spatial.toolkit.Transform
import com.meta.spatial.core.Pose
import com.meta.spatial.core.Quaternion
import com.meta.spatial.runtime.AlphaMode
import com.meta.spatial.runtime.ButtonBits
import com.meta.spatial.toolkit.Material
import com.meta.spatial.toolkit.Mesh
import com.meta.spatial.toolkit.MeshCollision
import com.meta.spatial.toolkit.Scale
import com.meta.spatial.toolkit.Visible
import com.meta.spatial.vr.KPOINTER_DISTANCE

class PointerInfoSystem(
    private val panel: PanelSceneObject,
) : SystemBase() {
    private var lastTime = System.currentTimeMillis()

    // Create a mesh that will be displayed as a cursor
    private val pointer3dEntity = Entity.create(
        listOf(
            Mesh("apk:///scenes/sphere.glb".toUri(), hittable = MeshCollision.NoCollision),
            Transform(Pose()),
            Scale(0.1f)
        ),
    )

    override fun execute() {
        val currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis()
        lastTime = currentTime

        val controllerEntities = Query.where { has(Controller.id) }.eval().filter { it.isLocal() }

        for (controllerEntity in controllerEntities) {
            val controller = controllerEntity.getComponent<Controller>()
            if (!controller.isActive) continue

            val controllerPose = controllerEntity.getComponent<Transform>().transform

            val worldOrigin = controllerPose.t
            // Set your new max distance you want to interact with
            val worldTarget = controllerPose * Vector3(0.0f, 0.0f, MAX_POINTER_DISTANCE)

            // check for a collision with the scene
            getScene().lineSegmentIntersect(worldOrigin, worldTarget)?.let { hitInfo ->

                // Use 3D pointer only if further than max default pointer distance
                if (hitInfo.distance > KPOINTER_DISTANCE) {

                    // Check if collisions with Panel happens
                    val i**bleep**tingPanel = hitInfo.entity != null && hitInfo.entity == panel.entity
                    // Do some visual feeback when you are clicking
                    val scale = if (controller.isClicking()) 0.08f else 0.1f

                    // Add pointer to Panel
                    val pointer3dPose = Pose(hitInfo.point, Quaternion.lookRotation(hitInfo.normal.normalize()))
                    pointer3dEntity.setComponents(
                        listOf(
                            Transform(pointer3dPose),
                            Scale(scale),
                            Visible(i**bleep**tingPanel),
                        ),
                    )

                    // Dispatch hitInfo to scene to be able to interact with Panel
                    if (i**bleep**tingPanel) {
                        getScene().onInput(hitInfo, controllerEntity, controller.changedButtons, controller.buttonState)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    private fun Controller.isClicking(): Boolean {
        // true if the controller is currently pressing the A button
        return (buttonState and ButtonBits.ButtonA) != 0 ||
            // true if the controller is currently holding down either of the triggers
            (buttonState and (ButtonBits.ButtonTriggerL or ButtonBits.ButtonTriggerR)) != 0
    }

    private companion object {
        // max distance to ray cast into the scene for a contact
        private const val MAX_POINTER_DISTANCE = 100f
    }
}