While the smartphone rules today’s technology world as the primary computing device, the next major hardware platform is widely expected as a version of augmented reality glasses.
The big picture: Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google are all pursuing this vision, and many pieces are starting to fit together. But the holy grail of an accessible computer inside something not much more bulky than a standard pair of glasses is probably still a few years away.
How it works: These glasses allow users to see what’s in front of them, but with overlapping digital information, such as map directions, contact information and messages. Cameras and microphones allow the capture of images and sounds and allow different types of input, with speech likely playing a key role.
Who is involved: Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft have shown interest and invested heavily in the underlying technologies. Analysts also expect phone makers like Samsung and PC makers like Lenovo to take action.
Be smart: If you look closely, you can see some of the main underlying technologies already being developed and tested for everyone to see.
- Facebook plans to launch smart glasses later this year, designed in partnership with Ray-Ban manufacturer Luxottica. These glasses – a more advanced variation of the niche glasses that Snap has sold – are unlikely to offer complete features, but will serve as a stepping stone, both in terms of technology and to help people get used to these devices in their lives.
- Facebook Oculus unity has focused primarily on virtual reality rather than augmented reality, but there is a fair amount of crossover between the two. Oculus Quest 2 and other VR headsets can deliver AR using cameras to see the outside world.
- Microsoft already sells Hololens, which combines the power of a Windows 10 computer into a headset, although it is still too bulky and expensive to attract consumers. Microsoft has made it available to developers and some corporate customers, and is also doing initial work with the US Army.
- google glasses, the first device in this category to attract public attention, failed as a consumer product, but a slightly updated version is still being sold to companies.
- Apple shared some details, but has made many changes – including a recent move by executive Dan Riccio, reportedly to lead Apple’s VR / AR efforts. According to reports by Bloomberg and The Information, Apple is preparing an VR headset that would also use cameras to see the real world. The device, which could cost around $ 3,000 and arrive next year, could serve as a chance for high-end consumers and developers to start testing the technology that would make fully developed AR glasses work.
- Apple AirPods and Apple Watch represent efforts to miniaturize technology and ways to test individual components, such as the space audio feature included in the latest AirPods Pro. Several companies hope to solve some of the difficult technical challenges of AR glasses by dividing computing work between multiple devices. Qualcomm, among others, intends to download some of the glasses ‘processing needs to users’ smartphones.
- Niantic, creator of Pokémon Go has a partnership with Qualcomm and has also been busy mapping the real world and developing the types of augmented reality experiences that consumers want.
Yes but: The technical obstacles are many, especially if the objective is really something as light and imperceptible as glasses.
- Miniaturization: Although many of the computing parts are available for these glasses, including tiny cameras, microphones and processors, the components are still not small enough to have something complete and light.
- Battery life: Just as you want your smartphone to last all day, I would like to have your smart glasses working wherever you go. Many of today’s headsets, both VR and AR, only last a few hours between charges.
- Heat: Today’s processor chips are more energy efficient than ever, but they still emit heat when they’re working hard and users won’t appreciate it when the device is resting on their faces.
- Exhibition: Many of today’s AR glasses have only a limited field of view, instead of the ideal experience of being able to place computer images anywhere that the eye can see. Devices also find it difficult to provide a light source bright enough to make projected information easily visible in sunlight.
- Cost: Putting all the necessary technology in a single device, even with the above limitations, results in a product that costs several thousand dollars.
“The challenge is to make the technology more energy efficient so that it can be used for a longer period, without affecting the shape,” Qualcomm vice president Hugo Swart told Axios. “AR glasses need to become smaller, lighter and have a long battery life. Qualcomm is committed to making AR glasses the next big thing,”
Even more difficult than technical challenges are the social dilemmas of the new technology, Facebook Reality Labs director Andrew Bosworth told Axios.
“How do you put all of this in a socially acceptable and comfortable format that people think fits the way they want to express themselves? And then, of course, you should consider people who don’t have glasses. How does it affect them, how do you resolve their discomfort? How do you overcome privacy concerns with cameras and microphones always on? “
– Andrew Bosworth from Facebook, for Axios
That is why Facebook launched the Ária Project, an effort to measure society’s reaction to smart glasses that have cameras and microphones always on.
Our thought bubble: Even if users can be persuaded to trust that their glasses are not spying on their friends and family or recording their private conversations, the new devices will demand new standards for every conceivable social situation.
Flashback: These questions came up when Google first introduced Project Glass in 2012.
- Part of what condemned the pioneering smart glasses as a consumer use – in addition to immature technology – was that they were widely seen as scary and intrusive. (Remember this?)