XR Industry News

Microsoft Discontinues HoloLens 2, Support to End in 2027 with No Successor in Sight

October 1, 2024 From roadtovr

Microsoft announced to enterprise partners last week that it’s discontinuing its latest AR headset, HoloLens 2, and pulling the plug on support updates at the end of 2027, leaving many to question whether the Redmond tech giant is shelving the platform altogether.

One such enterprise partner was Jens Lauritsen, Chief Product Officer of the Copenhagen-based XR startup Virsabi, who published the email from Microsoft detailing their plans.

In it (seen below), Microsoft announced the “Last Time Buy” for HoloLens 2, noting that remaining stock is on a first come, first served basis.

Additionally, Microsoft says HoloLens 2 will continue to receive security updates through December 31st, 2027, further noting the original 2016-era HoloLens will receive its final servicing update on December 10th, 2024.

Released in 2019, that 2027 end date isn’t a terrible lifespan for HoloLens 2—or any mobile device for that matter. However if any company announced it was putting out a product to pasture without announcing a clear follow-up, it should rightfully raise a few eyebrows.

While purely speculative, some of it may have to do with the company shifting resources to refine HoloLens 2 into a military platform for its contract with the U.S. Army, worth up to $22 billion—creating what is also known as Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS).

Tailoring HoloLens 2 into the Army’s own IVAS has proven to be a big challenge though, and it may even be replaced. A recent Breaking Defense report suggests the U.S. Army is preparing a new open competition, called “IVAS Next”, which could mean Microsoft could be replaced if it’s outcompeted by other manufacturers.

It’s uncertain whether Microsoft shelving enterprise versions of HoloLens 2 is at all related, however we’re bound to learn more later this year when the Pentagon starts with official solicitation for IVAS Next.

The Microsoft message published by Lauritsen follows below:

Dear Valued Mixed Reality Partner,

In follow-up to previous communication regarding the Mixed Reality Partner Program and HoloLens 2, we have additional information to share about HoloLens device availability and support.

HoloLens 2 Device Availability & Support update

-We are now announcing a ‘Last Time Buy’ for HoloLens 2.

-HoloLens 2 will be sold by Microsoft and its authorized channels subject to availability and sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please contact your authorized reseller or the Microsoft Store Business Desk for availability and ordering.

-HoloLens 2 devices will continue receiving updates to address critical security issues and software regressions that impact major functionality through December 31, 2027.

-The HoloLens 2 device warranty remains unchanged, specific to the device model purchased. Customer Service & Developer Support remains unchanged.

HoloLens (1st Gen) Device Support

-HoloLens (1st Gen) entered Long-Term Servicing (LTS) state on November 23, 2021, and the final servicing update will be December 10, 2024.

-After December 10, 2024, HoloLens (1st Gen) devices will continue to function, however will no longer receive security updates or technical support.

-There is no out-of-warranty support or inventory for device exchange. Customers are encouraged to purchase HoloLens 2 if a replacement device is needed.

Precision Glass Maker Completes Major Factory Expansion in Anticipation of AR Glasses Demand

September 26, 2024 From roadtovr

In a strategic move that underscores the expected growth of the AR industry, SCHOTT—a global leader in advanced optics and specialty glass—has announced the completion of a new production facility in Kulim, Malaysia. This development comes just a day after Meta unveiled its latest AR glasses prototype.

The new facility in Kulim is set to significantly boost Schott’s production capacity for optical components, which are crucial for AR devices. The plant is expected to create approximately 400 engineering and production jobs.

“This new site will significantly enhance Schott’s capacity to supply high-quality optical components to international high-tech industries, including Augmented Reality (AR),” the company says.

Schott’s expansion is timely, aligning with the industry’s anticipation of a surge in demand for AR lenses and optical components. The company’s longstanding presence in Penang, Malaysia—where it has operated for 50 years—has laid a strong foundation for this new venture. The Kulim facility complements the Penang site, enhancing Schott’s ability to supply high-quality optical components to international industries.

The announcement closely follows Meta’s reveal of its ‘Orion’ AR glasses prototype, highlighting a significant industry push towards more immersive and compact AR experiences. For AR to become a mainstream technology, it needs to be built upon technologies than can be affordably manufactured at scale. Schott’s expertise in delivering high-precision optics—and its anticipatory expansion—positions the company to be a key supplier in this evolving market.

Schott has been a longstanding partner of Lumus, which makes unique waveguides for AR. It’s likely the new facility has been geared toward the kind of manufacturing needed to manufacture Lumus optics at a large scale. Meanwhile, Meta says it new Orion glasses rely on silicon carbide lenses, rather than glass, to achieve a wide field-of-view.

Schott’s Advanced Optics business unit has a global manufacturing network with centers in Germany, North America, Switzerland, and China; the expansion in Malaysia is a strategic addition to this network.

Meta Reveals ‘Orion’ Prototype AR Glasses with Impressive Field-of-view and Wireless Compute Unit

September 25, 2024 From roadtovr

Meta today revealed a prototype of its first pair of AR glasses, codenamed Orion. The glasses are impressively compact, have a class-leading field-of-view, but also relies on a wireless compute unit that goes in your pocket.

Although Meta has been selling its Ray-Ban smartglasses for several years now, the company hasn’t actually shown any glasses-sized device with a display—until now.

Meta says it has been working on Orion for years to make something that’s truly glasses-sized, while still retaining a wide field-of-view, and the performance necessary to drive the display and processing.

The purported 70 degree field-of-view is class-leading for something in this form-factor, but still small compared to typical VR headsets. In order to achieve this wide field-of-view, the company says it had to use silicon carbide for its lenses instead of glass or polymer. From the description, it sounds like the Orion AR glasses are using a diffractive waveguide, with silicon carbide as the underlying medium. While other glasses have used diffractive waveguides, using silicon carbide as the underlying medium allows for a higher refractive index, allowing light to be directed into a wider field-of-view.

Achieving this properly glasses-sized device does require a bit of a ‘cheat’—much of the headset’s computing power is off-loaded into a compute unit designed to slip into your pocket. However, the company has made the compute puck wireless which eliminates a core complaint: the bothersome cable that would have to run from the glasses to the puck.

While the glasses are said to handle core capabilities like head-tracking, the compute puck takes on the work of rendering the content. Off-loading that rendering power to the puck means the headset can not only be smaller, but cooler too, relieving the key issue of heat dissipation on such a compact device.

And Orion leans on yet another device to complete its experience: a wristband loaded with sensors. The EMG wristband can detect subtle movements of the user’s hand and fingers, allowing for precise input without the users needing to hold their hands up in front of them.

Meta is also making sure that AI is built-in from the start, allowing functionality similar to Meta Ray-Ban, but with the benefit of a display.

With a 70 degree field-of-view, immersive content isn’t the focus. Instead, the underlying OS and capabilities are leaning mostly into flat panels and spatial computing.

Meta is clear that the Orion glasses are still just a prototype, but “not a research prototype”. That means the company actually thinks it can bring a comparable device to market—using these very technologies. The company says it will be mostly using the device internally to continue to hone its size, performance, and cost.

“While Orion won’t make its way into the hands of consumers, make no mistake: This is not a research prototype. It’s the most polished product prototype we’ve ever developed—and it’s truly representative of something that could ship to consumers. Rather than rushing to put it on shelves, we decided to focus on internal development first, which means we can keep building quickly and continue to push the boundaries of the technology and experiences,” the company wrote in its Orion announcement.

Immersed Visor’s First Big Showing Heightened Concerns About Deliverability

September 20, 2024 From roadtovr

The Immersed IRL event, held yesterday in Austin, Texas was the company’s big moment to showcase its upcoming headset and build confidence that it was on track to deliver on the promise of an ambitious headset. But a botched demo may have done the opposite.

Guest Article by Eric Liga

Eric Liga is Chief Scientist at Net Edge VR, a Houston-based company specializing in the creation of VR training software. He has run the Houston VR Meetup for the past ten years, and was programming director for the Immersive Technology Conference, one of the first conferences to focus on uses of AR and VR in business and industry. He has given presentations about VR at NASA, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health, the Houston Global Health Collaborative Conference, and many other industry events.

Immersed IRL drew attendees from around the world. I stood in line with a pre-order customer from Japan, another who had driven in from Canada, a journalist from England, and others from a dozen different US states, all eagerly waiting to try the company’s upcoming Visor headset. The long wait would end in frustration and disappointment for most of them, tempered somewhat by a widely-expressed hope that Immersed might yet deliver on its promises in the end.

Visor is an ambitious, productivity-focused headset designed by Immersed, a small, formerly software-only company, in conjunction with an array of industry partners. It is intended for a largely unmet use case: doing ‘desktop productivity’ work to make use of the unlimited canvas afforded by VR, but with a lightweight, comfortable, socially acceptable, high-resolution headset.

While the Apple Vision Pro is largely intended for productivity (with Apple even coining the term “spatial computing” to emphasize its productivity and ‘computing’ focus), it missed the mark on a number of fronts. Its high weight and front-heavy balance make extended wear uncomfortable. Its size, shape, and uncanny-valley eye simulation on the front of the headset make many users hesitant to wear it in public or in social settings. Add to that its eye-watering price-point of $3,500—and the fact that only users of Apple laptops and desktops get the full productivity benefits—and it’s easy to understand why there’s interest in bringing a competitor to the market that chooses some different trade-offs.

The Visor’s final hardware design, revealed on stage by Immersed founder Renji Bijoy, weighs roughly 185 grams (less than a third of the Apple Vision Pro’s weight), in a thin form factor.

From the front, it does a credible job of looking like a slightly oversized pair of sunglasses. The illusion is less successful from the side due to the width of the optics, but it’s at least in the ballpark of something a user could wear while working at a coffee shop without drawing too much attention. Its screens boast a slightly higher resolution than the Apple Vision Pro, and are intended to allow it to simulate up to five large 4k monitors in a virtual or mixed-reality workspace. It eschews handheld controllers for eye-tracking and hand tracking, for any interactions not handled by a mouse or keyboard.

The tethered battery (which also houses the headset’s wi-fi and Bluetooth hardware) can be set on the desk while working, dropped in a pocket when collaborating on a virtual whiteboard, or excluded completely when connected to a PC. The fact that the radio-emitting components are housed in the optional battery pack means the headset (with some other minor adjustments) could be viable for use in high-security military and government facilities—a potentially lucrative market.

The headset is priced at $400 (but will rise to $500 after October 1st) is subsidized by a required one or two year subscription to Immersed’s software ($40/mo for 2 years, or $60/mo for 1 year). This means that the total cost is a good deal higher than it appears, but makes the up-front cost more palatable. When the subscription is included, a total cost of between $1,120 and $1,460 places it at over double the price of a Quest 3, but less than half of the price of an Apple Vision Pro.

While the Visor is usually shown with over-the-ear stems, like a pair of sunglasses, it will also ship with a head strap designed to better balance its weight and improve comfort. Bijoy was candid about the fact that the stems are there to make non-VR users more comfortable with the idea of wearing a headset. He fully expects users to switch to the strap for extended, every-day use, and said future versions might not include the over-the-ear stems at all.

The prospect of a high-end productivity headset at a reasonable price being produced by a small software company raised an understandable mix of excitement and skepticism from the VR community. The Immersed IRL event was intended, in large part, to demonstrate that the company can deliver on its ambitious promises. But it may well have done the opposite.

At the end of the keynote, Bijoy said that the headsets were being updated to a new firmware, and that the start of promised demos might be slightly delayed. I headed to the demo line, scheduled to be part of the first demo group at 11am. At 11:30, a harried-looking group of Immersed employees pressed quickly through the crowd with headsets cushioned in styrofoam and disappeared behind the black curtain screening off the demo area.

For the next couple of hours, we waited patiently, getting occasional hints from event workers that setup was still in progress, and that demos should start soon. Eventually, a voice over the intercom announced that demos were starting, but that software issues meant that they would be “hardware only” demos.

What that ended up meaning was that we could look at and handle the headsets, and we could even put them on our heads to feel the comfort and weight. But that none of the headsets would actually be powered-on. I asked if we could at least power them up to see the quality of the displays, even if we couldn’t use them running a proper virtual environment, but was told no. Questions to determine when an actual demo might be possible—late in the day? Tomorrow?— were met with discouragingly noncommittal responses.

Finally getting one of the headsets in hand, I did my best to learn what little I could without seeing it in action. The weight was indeed lighter than any headset I’ve tried, other than the Bigscreen Beyond; more like an oddly heavy pair of sunglasses than an XR headset.

It wasn’t as comfortable on the bridge of my nose as I’d hoped, but pressing down on the stems slightly to take a little of the weight off of the front (as the to-be-included, but apparently yet-to-be-manufactured head strap would do) made it comfortable enough that wearing them for a full work day should be reasonable. The lenses appeared to be of high quality (but I won’t be able to fully judge them until the headset is fully functional) and the build and materials looked reasonably good.

As glum looking attendees filed through the demo area, trying on the lifeless headsets, a single engineer worked feverishly in a corner. It was clear from the glow emitting from his headset that it was powered-on. A crowd gathered to watch him from just outside the demo area, with an armed guard periodically asking them to step back, as the clock ticked down to the time when the event would be required to vacate the venue.

Less than half an hour before the event ended, the engineer sprinted to a demo station, headset in hand, and a small handful of us were ushered back in. We were each given a minute or so to try on the headset… but it still wasn’t exactly what we expected.

The Visor was displaying a series of images and videos, but it was spreading the image across both eyes without adjusting for stereo overlap. This meant that the only way to view it without discomfort was to close one eye. There was no head-tracking or virtual environment, just a video playing directly to the displays.

From what I could see, the optics looked very good, with high clarity, a relatively large sweet spot, and minimal distortion at the edges, when the headset was properly aligned. The screen itself appeared to be vibrant, sharp, and very high resolution. You could not make out individual pixels. It was difficult to say given the limited content and brief demo time, but it looked like it was plausibly in the same league as the displays in Apple Vision Pro in terms of resolving power.

While the cameras on the headset appeared to be legitimate, it was impossible to test the passthrough view, hand-tracking, eye-tracking, positional-tracking stability, and a host of other critical features.

I asked if I could drive back to Austin for a proper demo once the software was up and running, and was promised that I could. If and when such a demo takes place, I’ll have more to share.

After the brief and botched demo, Bijoy acknowledged that Founders Edition headsets would not be shipping soon after the event (as was originally announced). While the hardware may be close to final, I wasn’t shown anything that gave me confidence that the necessary software is approaching completion.

The Immersed crew seems sincere in their intention to bring the Visor to market, and their goals and design choices strike me as good ones. That said, I’ll be holding off on ordering one until I see signs that the software is stable, nearing feature-complete, and the promised features work as intended. I’ll be watching their progress closely, as, I’m sure, will their financial backers and pre-order customers.

Meta’s Newest Quest Headset Could be Its Most Affordable Yet, According to Apparent Leak

September 20, 2024 From roadtovr

Meta is widely expected to reveal the Quest 3S headset next week during the Meta Connect event. The company aims to introduce a new headset with mixed reality capabilities similar to Quest 3, but at a cheaper price. An apparent leak suggests the headset could be its most affordable yet.

According to Reddit user Vast_Front259, an Amazon ad seen on the Peacock streaming service shows the Quest 3S with 128GB of storage priced at just $300. This comes before the headset has been formally announced, which would mean the ad aired ahead of schedule.

While the ad looks legitimate, the Reddit user in question does not have a strong account history. The video that plays before the price is a previously released ad that only shows the Quest 3 in the video itself. So we remain somewhat skeptical, but nothing about this leak is fundamentally implausible.

If Quest 3S is priced at $300, it would be the most affordable Quest headset yet.

The original Quest headset was launched in 2019 for $400.

And while Quest 2 actually launched at $300, Quest 3S is expected to run on a newer processor and have mixed reality capabilities that are much closer to Quest 3—and it should run upcoming Quest 3 ‘exclusive’ content that Quest 2 cannot. So Meta has never offered a headset with such capabilities and performance at this price.

And let’s not forget about inflation. Quest 2 launched in late 2020 at $300. If Quest 3S is indeed priced at $300 in 2024, that would be just $250 in 2020.

Quest 3 launched in late 2023 for $500. And while it’s clearly Meta’s best Quest headset yet, the price and lack of killer apps for its mixed reality capabilities gave it less traction than it might have had otherwise. As far as we know, Quest 3 still hasn’t outsold the much more affordable Quest 2.

At $300, Quest 3S could finally hit the price point needed to bring Meta’s mixed reality features to the majority of Quest users—finally giving developers more incentive to build rich mixed reality content.

Microsoft’s Struggling Military AR Headset Gets Boost From Oculus Founder’s Latest Venture

September 19, 2024 From roadtovr

Anduril Industries, the defense tech company founded by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, announced it’s partnering with Microsoft to boost the company’s militarized, HoloLens 2-based AR headset, which is currently under contract by the United States Army.

The company maintains its Lattice platform, integrated into Microsoft’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), will provide soldiers real-time threat detection, aiming to improve battlefield awareness and survivability by looping in data from sources such as drones, ground vehicles, or aerial defense systems, Wired writes.

As noted on the Anduril website, Lattice uses a host of technologies—including sensor fusion, computer vision, edge computing, machine learning and AI—to autonomously parse data from thousands of sensors and data sources into “an intelligent common operating picture in a single pane of glass.”

“Soldiers wearing Lattice-enabled IVAS headsets are rapidly warned of incoming autonomously-detected airborne threats, enhancing survivability in complex, contested environments,” Anduril says in a press release. “The integration of Anduril’s systems, alongside third-party technologies, is set to propel the IVAS mission capabilities forward.”

Luckey, who was ousted from Meta (ex-Facebook) in 2017 following backlash over his donation to a pro-Trump group, emphasized the importance of the collaboration, highlighting its potential to revolutionize military operations.

“This project is my top priority at Anduril, and it has been for some time now. It’s one of the Army’s most critical programs being fielded in the near future, with the goal of getting the right data to the right people at the right time,” Luckey says. “This is Anduril’s bread and butter, and we’ve been building the backbone for this for years. I can’t wait to show our customers what’s next — I’m incredibly excited about what’s to come.”

Notably, Luckey announced earlier this summer that he was developing a new XR headset, which he later revealed at AWE 2024 in June would be “driven by military requirements, but also going to be used for non-military stuff.” We still haven’t seen the headset in question.

Microsoft Struggles to Scale IVAS

Microsoft’s HoloLens 2-based IVAS has faced a number of challenges since it was first awarded the U.S. Army defense contract in 2019, worth up to $22 billion.

According to Breaking Defense, in 2019 the Pentagon’s testing arm reported that early units garnered poor ratings during initial field testing, which was primarily due to reliability and ruggedness concerns, specifically citing a lack of rain resistance. At the time, IVAS was seemingly based on off-the-shelf units, augmented with additional sensors.

Concept testing in 2019, Image courtesy CNBC

In 2022, newer, more ruggedized versions reportedly received another round of negative field testing, owing to issues with the device’s low-light and thermal imaging performance, as well as soldiers’ experience with headaches, eye strain, and nausea.

Then, in late 2023, 1.2 versions of IVAS demonstrated critical improvements in “reliability, low light sensor performance, and form factor,” a U.S. Army spokesperson told Bloomberg at the time, further stating that “soldier feedback was positive.”

Still, the U.S. Army hasn’t ordered Microsoft to scale up its IVAS efforts despite continuous improvements, which more recently included replacing 1.2’s helmet-style form factor with a less cumbersome flip-up display, reportedly shrinking the 70-degree field of view to 60-degrees in the process, but also providing better clarity.

Furthermore, a recent report from Breaking Defense suggests the U.S. Army is preparing a new open competition, called “IVAS Next”, meaning Microsoft’s IVAS could be replaced entirely if it’s outcompeted by other manufacturers, such as Kopin—or even Anduril if it decides to enter. Industry solicitation could happen later this year, Breaking Defense reports, so it’s possible we’ll learn more then.

Meta Extends Ray-Ban Partnership into 2030 to Make Smartglasses Fashionable

September 19, 2024 From roadtovr

Meta and eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica announced they’re expanding their smartglasses partnership into 2030, which promises to see further development of “multi-generational smart eyewear products” from the companies.

Working together since 2019, Meta and EssilorLuxottica released the first-gen Facebook Ray-Ban Stories glasses back in 2021, later launching the follow-up Ray-Ban Meta Glasses in fall 2023, which included improved cameras, audio and more design options.

Notably, Ray-Ban Meta Glasses don’t include displays, instead offering input through voice assistant and touch on the glasses’ struts for things like taking pictures, videos, and listening to music. Since the launch of its second-gen Ray-Ban smartglasses, Meta has also released AI-powered object recognition from Microsoft’s Bing.

Meta Ray-Ban Glasses, Image courtesy Meta, EssilorLuxottica

Besides Ray-Ban, EssilorLuxottica also owns Oakley, Persol, Oliver Peoples, and Vogue Eyewear, as well as eyewear retailers LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, and Sunglass Hut.

“The incredible work we’ve done with Meta, still in its early stages, has already proven to be an important milestone in our journey to making glasses the gateway to the connected world,” EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri says in a press statement, further noting the company is looking forward to “continuing to chart the future of the category together.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed excitement about the companies “long term roadmap ahead,” noting Meta and the Italian-French luxury eyewear group have “the opportunity to turn glasses into the next major technology platform, and make it fashionable in the process.”

This follows a report from June that Reality Labs, Meta’s XR division formed in 2020, was reorganized to better serve its wearables category.

An alleged internal memo from Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth, Meta CTO and head of Reality Labs, maintained the company was “doubling down on finding a strong product market fit for wearable Meta AI, building a business around it, and expanding the audience. Our north star to overlay digital content seamlessly onto the physical world remains the same, but the steps on that path just got a lot more exciting.”

Then, in July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta was considering a minority stake of about 5% in the company, worth an estimated €4.33 billion euros (~$4.73 billion). At the time of this writing, the deal still hasn’t been confirmed, however it’s clear Meta is well on its way to deepening ties to EssilorLuxottica in effort to make smartglasses, and possibly AR glasses, an undeniably fashionable accessory.

Mixed Reality Flight Sims Are Accelerating F-16 Pilot Training in Ukraine

September 11, 2024 From roadtovr

Flight simulator company Dogfight Boss, and Varjo, the high-end XR headset creator, announced they’ve shipped their first mixed reality F-16 simulator to the Ukrainian Air Force to help accelerate pilot training. And there’s likely more to come, as the country inevitably looks to scale training to keep pace with the influx of the American-built fighter jets.

Last month Ukraine began receiving its first F-16s from NATO members Denmark and the Netherlands, which are meant to replace its aging Soviet-era MiG and Sukhoi jets. Belgium and Norway have also signed on to provide Ukraine with over 60 of the fighter jets.

A handful of Ukrainian pilots began training to fly F-16s in Arizona late last year, however Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration they simply can’t train enough, as F-16 training programs in the US and across Europe have limited seats.

Now Dogfight Boss and Varjo have partnered to deliver a MR headset-equipped F-16 C Viper simulator to an unspecified Ukrainian Fighter Pilot Base in Kyiv, which will allow pilots to fly virtual missions while seeing a passthrough of their instrument cluster, allowing for a more realistic training experience.

Although such a platform doesn’t address the training crunch at hand, it will allow pilots to train and maintain skills in-country, which has been an active war zone since the Russian invasion began in February 2022.

Dogfight Boss maintains in a LinkedIn post that the reception to the MR simulator has been promising thus far, noting there is an “urgent need for additional units to support cooperative training scenarios.” This could see at least eight more simulators shipped to the Ukrainian military, the company says.

“After nearly a year of detailed fine-tuning and extensive testing with the help of EU F-16 pilot instructors, we are honored to deliver Ukraine’s first fully functional F-16 simulator,” Dogfight Boss CEO and founder Lukas Homola says. “This simulator is a testament to our commitment to precision and excellence, which is being developed and produced in-house. From construction to electronics, every component, including the complete instrument panels, throttle quadrant, pedals, and force-sensing stick base, has been crafted to meet the highest standards.”

Both the Finland-based Varjo and Czechia-based Dogfight Boss have worked extensively with defense customers over the years, with Varjo’s XR headset currently used by 60 such entities, including the U.S. Army Reconfigurable Virtual Collective Trainer (RVCT) program which uses Varjo for portable training for the Apache, Chinook, and Blackhawk helicopters.

Sharp & Japan’s Largest Telecom Unveil Lightweight AR Glasses ‘MiZRA’

September 9, 2024 From roadtovr

Sharp and Japan’s largest telecom NTT Docomo today announced a new pair of AR glasses called MiZRA, which is hitting the Japanese market sometime his Fall.

It would be pretty tough to mistake Mizra for a normal pair of glasses, what with its chunky struts and rims, 6DOF tracking sensors, and center-mounted camera—not to mentions its unique AR optics, which incorporate so-called ‘mirror bars’ courtesy of South Korean AR lens creator LetinAR, promising a 45-degree diagonal field of view.

Created by NTT QONOQ Devices, a joint venture between Sharp and NTT’s XR development branch NTT QONOQ, Mizra isn’t going to be cheap either. Priced at an eye-watering ¥248,000 (~$1,730 USD), the funky but functional device more than likely will be squarely targeted at enterprise.

In the press release (Japanese), the company highlights its ability to take photos and make calls, and also display multiple screens positioned anywhere around the user. Mizra promises a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, although it’s unclear if that’s referring to perceived brightness to the end user or the brightness of the 1,920 × 1,080 microOLEDs.

To boot, Mizra promises good weight distribution thanks to placing components closer to the back of the glasses’ struts. Both internal battery and processing (Qualcomm Snapdragon AR2 Gen1) is on board, however it boasts wireless connectivity to Snapdragon Spaces-compatible smartphones.

For now, the company has only certified the AQUOS R9 SH-51E, a Japan-only flagship from Sharp, however the company says more compatible phones will be announced in the future.

We’re still waiting for more clarity on launch regions, however it’s likely Mizra may be a Japan-only device. In the meantime, check out the specs below:

MiZRA Specs

Weight:125g
Size: Approx. 187mm (W) x 45mm (H) x 184mm (D) (when in use), Approx. 187mm (W) x 45mm (H) x 96mm (D) (stored)
Chipset: Snapdragon® AR2 Gen1
Display: Resolution: FHD (1,920 x 1,080), 45° FOV (diagonal), 1,000 nits brightness, MicroOLED binocular full color
Optics: LetinAR’s unique thin mirror bar type optical module
Battery: continuous use time: 1～1.5 hours, charged in under 2 hours using the included USB Type-C cable
Camera: 1x front RGB camera (image quality: FHD), 2x side monochrome cameras
Audio: 4x microphones, 2x speakers
Other sensors: Touch sensor (for operation), Proximity sensor (for determining wearing status), Illuminance sensor (for automatic brightness adjustment), Acceleration/gyro/camera spatial recognition sensor (for 6DoF tracking)
Connection: Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E

Snapchat and Meta Reportedly Plan to Reveal Dueling Visions of AR Glasses Next Month

August 22, 2024 From roadtovr

According to a report by The Verge, both Snapchat and Meta will each reveal new AR glasses for the first time next month. Both companies have been working on such projects for years.

According to The Verge’s Alex Heath, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. will reveal its fifth generation of ‘Spectacles’ AR glasses on September 17th at the company’s annual Partner Summit conference in Los Angeles. Just a week later, Meta will debut its own pair of AR glasses (codenamed Orion, according to Heath) during its annual Connect conference on September 25th.

Snap has been building out its ‘Spectacles’ line of smartglasses for several years now, but it wasn’t until the device’s fourth generation in 2021 that it actually gained proper AR capabilities. Now the company is said to be poised to reveal the fifth generation of Spectacles which will further enhance the device’s AR uses.

Snap’s fourth-generation Spectacles, the first with AR | Image courtesy Snap

Similarly, Meta has been building and improving upon its Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses since the first generation in 2021. A second generation of the device launched late last year, but the company has yet to add a display or sensors for any kind of AR capabilities.

While both companies are racing toward a future where they believe AR glasses will be mainstream, the devices to be shown off next month aren’t yet ready to be productized, Heath writes. At best they’ll be released to developers for experimentation before some future version of the products reach consumers.

According to Heath, Snap’s latest pair of AR glasses will be pretty similar to the previous generation, but with an improved field-of-view and battery life. That would surely be welcome considering the first pair had a mere 26.3° diagonal field-of-view (not even half of what you’d find on a modern MR headset) and a 30 minute battery life (also not half of what you’d find on a modern MR headset!).

As for Meta’s first true AR glasses, we’ve heard the company tease that “nothing prepares you for the high field-of-view immersion,” but it’s still unclear if the field-of-view will be large in comparison to other AR glasses, or actually approach the current bar set by VR headsets. It’s also unclear if Meta’s AR glasses will be presented as another partnership with Ray-Ban, or if it the device will use Meta-owned branding, similar to Quest.

While both companies ultimately aim to create AR headsets that match the incredibly immersive capabilities we see in MR devices like Vision Pro and Quest 3, fitting those capabilities into something that’s even close to a pair of glasses remains a huge challenge.

Magic Leap 2 | Image courtesy Magic Leap

Best-in-class devices like Magic Leap 2 are still more like bulky goggles than glasses, and that’s even with much of the compute and battery being offloaded into a ‘puck’ that goes into the pocket.

Check out Alex Heath’s report for more background and insight on Snap and Meta’s plans to reveal new AR glasses next month.

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