Hands on with the ODG R-8: AR/VR smartglasses that use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 - sainthaddlead

Microsoft's HoloLens light-emitting diode me to think that augmented-reality vision hardware needs to be big and bulky. But ODG's inexperient Android-powered R-8 smartglasses just made me think again.

Osterhout Design Group's R-8 specs will cost to a lesser degree $1,000, and coalesce both augmented realness (AR) and virtual reality (VR), offering 720p settlement severally to either eye for true stereoscopic vision. There's also an R-9 version that will fling 1080p resolution for $1,799. The 2 glasses are the first design wins for the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip, which Qualcomm revealed Tuesday at CES 2017.

IDG / Mark Hachman

Android-styled control buttons are built into the arm of the ODG glasses.

PC companies are banking on a virtual reality future in which headsets the like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are tethered to a powerful desktop GPU. But Qualcomm hopes that its Snapdragon 835 System-on-Chip—which will inevitably power a embarrassment of smartphones—will also find homes in automotive and smartglasses.

Right instantly, the flagship Atomic number 18 platform is the Microsoft HoloLens, a 20-ounce headset that dominates one's head—you never bury you're wearing away heavy hardware. The R-8, by contrast, weighs just 4.5 ounces. It's non as light as a pair of actual glasses, but it's still far hoy and more comfortable than HoloLens and various VR headsets.

IDG / Stigmatise Hachman

Two knobs, cardinal on either arm, control mass and connected-screen menus.

Now for some John Major caveats: I didn't catch to see either AR or VR content during my present. Nor has the company disclosed the size or longevity of the barrage. ODG's message is that Atomic number 18/VR specs Don't need to be large, and what I adage Tuesday confirms that—but we smooth don't know if the AR and VR experiences are any good.

Both the R-8 and R-9 runnel Android Nougat, which is potently reflected in the clitoris configuration on the underside of the glasses: You'll find Carte du jour, Back, and Power. The Back button is actually a rocker switch—rock the switch one way to perish back, and the other to trigger your choice. There are also dials to select options and control volume.

ODG is promising to show off an augmented-reality display demo, founded on theStranger movies, later this calendar week. But on Tuesday, the sum sum up of "testing" the ODG specs involved watching movie trailers protruding inside the lenses.

The R-8 uses a realistic display with a greater than 40-academic degree branch of knowledg of view, while the R-9 extends that to 50 degrees. Even in a moderately well-lit league room, the eyeglasses projected the movies clearly and brightly, and it appeared that all (OR almost complete) of the videos' details were preserved. I think I'd be volitional to watch out a moving picture on an airplane using the ODG glasses, if that's any beat of the experience.

IDG / Mark Hachman

The front of ODG's smart glasses.

Both models take in fore-facing cameras, with resolutions as high As 13 megapixels, according to a report by VentureBeat. Such high resolutions are necessary for augmented reality, where virtual objects are overlaid onto the real life.

Is it likely that consumers will shell out more than than $1,000 for an AR/VR solution? Perhaps not, especially with established VR products like the HTC Vive already descending below $800. Still, as AR/VR products become to a greater extent like-minded normal eyewear, it's likely that an increasing number of people volition be encouraged to try them out, too as possibly adopt them for workaday utilisation.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/411509/hands-on-with-the-odg-r-8-arvr-smartglasses-that-use-qualcomms-snapdragon-835.html

Posted by: sainthaddlead.blogspot.com

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