While the smartphone rules today’s technological world as the primary computing device, the next major hardware platform is expected to use a version of augmented reality glasses.
The big picture: Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google are pursuing this vision, and many pieces are starting to fall into place. But the holy grail of an affordable computer in something not much bigger than standard glasses is probably still a few years off.
How it works: Such glasses allow users to see what is in front of them, but covered with digital information such as map directions, contact information and messages. Cameras and microphones make it possible to record images and sounds and allow for different types of input, with speech likely to play a key role.
Who is involved: Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft all showed interest and invested heavily in the underlying technologies. Analysts also expect phone makers like Samsung and computer makers like Lenovo to respond to the act.
Be smart: If you look closely, you can see the most important underlying technologies that have already been developed and tested.
- Facebook plans to debut smart glasses later this year, designed in partnership with Ray-Ban manufacturer Luxottica. These glasses – a more advanced twist on the niche glasses that Snap sells – probably do not offer the full capabilities, but rather serve as a springboard, in terms of technology and in helping people get used to such devices in their lives.
- Facebook is Oculus unity focuses mostly on virtual rather than augmented reality, but there is a fair amount of intersection between the two. The Oculus Quest 2 and other VR headsets can deliver AR by using cameras to see the external world.
- Microsoft already sells Hololens, which packs the power of a Windows 10 computer into a headphone, even though it’s still too bulky and expensive to appeal to consumers. Microsoft has made it available to developers and some enterprise customers, and also does early work with the U.S. military.
- Google Glass, the first device in this category to attract mainstream attention, has jumped as a consumer product, but a slightly updated version is still being sold to businesses.
- appeal shared few details but made many moves – including a recent move by CEO Dan Riccio, allegedly as head of Apple’s VR / AR efforts. According to reports from Bloomberg and The Information, Apple is preparing a VR headset that will also use cameras to see the real world. The device, which could cost in the region of $ 3,000 and arrive next year, could be a chance for both high-end consumers and developers to test the technology that will make the fully developed AR glasses work.
- Both Apple AirPods and Apple Watch represents efforts to miniaturize technology and ways to test individual components, such as the spatial audio feature included with the latest AirPods Pro. Several companies are hoping to solve the difficult technical challenges of AR glasses by splitting the computer work on different devices. Among other things, Qualcomm wants to download some of the glasses ‘processing needs to users’ smartphones.
- Pokémon Go Creator Niantic has a partnership with Qualcomm and has also been mapping the real world and developing the kinds of augmented reality experiences consumers will want.
Yes, but: The technical obstacles are many, especially if the goal is really something as light and unobtrusive as a pair of glasses.
- Miniaturization: Although many computer pieces are available for such glasses, including small cameras, microphones and processors, the components are not all small enough to offer something that is both functional and lightweight.
- Battery life: Just like you want your smartphone to last all day, you want your smart glasses to work everywhere. Many of today’s headers, both VR and AR, only last a few hours between charges.
- Heat: Today’s processor chips are more energy efficient than ever before, but they still give off heat when they work hard, and users will not appreciate it if the device rests on their face.
- Show: Many of today’s AR glasses have only a limited field of view, rather than the ideal experience of being able to place computer images anywhere. Devices can also provide difficult enough light sources to make their projected information easily visible in sunlight.
- Cost: Placing all the necessary technology in a single device, even with the above limitations, contributes to a product that costs thousands of dollars.
“The challenge is to make the technology more efficient so that it can be worn longer without affecting the form factor,” Qualcomm deputy director Hugo Swart told Axios. “AR glasses need to get smaller, lighter in weight and have longer battery life. Qualcomm is committed to making AR glasses the next big thing,”
Even more difficult than the technical challenges are the social dilemmas of the new technology, Andrew Bosworth, head of Facebook Reality Labs, told Axios.
“How do you fit it all into a socially acceptable, comfortable form factor that makes people feel fit the way they want to express themselves? And then of course you have to consider the people who don’t have the glasses. How does that affect them ?, how can you “How can you overcome the privacy concerns with always on cameras and microphones?”
– Andrew Bosworth, Facebook, to Axios
This is part of the reason why Facebook launched Project Aria, an attempt to measure the social response to smart glasses that always have cameras and microphones.
Our thought bubble: Even if users can be persuaded to trust that their glasses will not spy on their friends and family or record their private conversations, the new devices will require new standards for every conceivable social situation.
Flash back: These questions arose when Google Project Glass first launched in 2012.
- Part of what doomed the groundbreaking smart glasses as a wearable consumer – beyond the immature technology – was that they were widely regarded as creepy and intrusive. (Remember that?)