Get ready to play Steam games on your AR glasses
Nreal is launching a Steam beta on its Nreal Light and Nreal Air AR glasses toward the end of June.
Steam Comes to Nreal’s AR Glasses, AR Hackathon Announced
One company at the forefront of augmented reality (AR) glasses is China-based Nreal, having released the Nreal Light followed by the Nreal Air. Outside of its traditional market in Asia, Nreal’s devices have only started to see global availability in the last year and in doing so the company is increasing content efforts. It’s doing so in a couple of ways, one with Steam compatibility and the other via its first hackathon event.
Unlike AR smartglasses that have features like 6DoF tracking, Nreal’s AR glasses allow users to connect their smartphones to watch movies or play videogames on giant virtual screens. Hence why the company has pushed towards native AR cloud gaming experiences by releasing “Steam on Nreal”. So yes, that does mean you can now stream Steam games from your PC onto a huge 130-inch HD virtual display.
Nreal does note that “Steam on Nreal” is a beta release that requires a bit of setup effort without going into specifics. The software isn’t yet optimized for all Steam games but gamers can enjoy titles like DiRT Rally and the Halo series. As an additional benefit, Nreal Light and Air users can already utilise Xbox Cloud Gaming via a browser inside Nebula, Nreal’s 3D system.
“We are excited to be the first to bring Steam into AR,” said Peng Jin, co-founder of Nreal in a statement. “The beta release is meant to give people a glimpse into what is possible. After all, AAA games should be played on a 200″ HD screen and they should be played free of location restrictions.”
As for the AR Jam, this will be Nreal’s first augmented reality hackathon, an online international contest with more than $100,000 USD in cash prizes to be won by creators. Kicking off on 27th June 2022, the AR Jam is looking for developers to compete in at-home fitness, art; games, video (highlighting Nebula’s multi-screen functionality) and Port (converting existing apps into AR) categories. There will also be three bonus categories should participants wish to enter, Multiplayer/Social/Networks; NFT Galleries, and Students.
“We’ve always been focused on creating consumer-ready AR experiences with groundbreaking tech, to redefine the way we interact with information and content in our everyday lives. With the AR Jam and content fund, Nreal is demonstrating its commitment to supporting pioneering developers and their AR passion projects,” Jin added.
Category winners will receive $10k, whilst those in second and third places will receive small cash prizes. Honourable mentions will get their very own Nreal Light Dev kit. The AR Jam will run until 27th July 2022.
For continued updates on Nreal and the AR market, keep reading gmw3.
Nreal Air AR Glasses Coming to UK This Spring via EE
Finally, after being made available in plenty of territories worldwide Nreal will soon sell its augmented reality (AR) glasses in the UK. Just like in countries such as Japan and the US, the latest Nreal Air will be made available in the UK via a mobile carrier – in this instance an exclusive deal with EE – later this spring.
Nreal Air connects to your smartphone so that users can watch TV or movies on a big virtual screen or utilise its AR functionality with a range of apps. Weighing in at 79g, Nreal Air supports two different modes; “Air Casting” and “MR Space”. The former allows users to mirror their phone screen, enlarging it up to a 130-inch HD virtual display. The latter can position multiple virtual screens for a range of tasks.
The AR glasses contain a micro-OLED chip that can support 49 Pixels Per Degree (PPD) at its maximum, all running at a 90Hz refresh rate. Connection is via USB-C to compatible smartphones (UK devices to be confirmed) using the Nreal Nebula app for the AR operating environment.
“We’re delighted to enter the UK market in partnership with EE and we look forward to building up the AR ecosystem together. At Nreal, we’re passionate about bringing AR into consumers’ everyday lives, which will start a revolutionary transformation just as the internet once did. AR will transcend the current mobile experience, especially when it comes to watching videos, exercising, and playing PC and cloud video games. As we continue to enrich the AR ecosystem with each update and upgrade, consumers will enjoy more mind-blowing digital innovations and experiences blended into everyday life,” said Peng Jin, Co-founder of Nreal in a statement.
Nreal Air Specifications
| Form factor | · 148mm x 52mm x 159mm (opened) · 148mm x 52mm x 60mm (folded) · 3-Position adjustment for optimal gaze angle · Head width from 120-186mm |
| Power | · Up to 5 hours video streaming in Air Casting mode |
| Weight | · 79 grams |
| Display | · OLED · 3840 by 1080 pixels with sRGB 108% colour gamut, 8-bit depth for 16.773 million colours · Up to 400 nits perceived brightness · 100,000:1 contrast ratio · ~46-degree FoV, 49 pixels per degree (PPD) · 130″ at 4m (Air Casting Mode), 201″ at 6m (MR Space Mode) · Fingerprint resistant coating, anti-reflective coating |
| Audio | · 2 open-ear speakers · Dual microphone array, omnidirectional MEMS microphones · Bass boost, virtual rendering · Echo cancellation, noise cancellation, beamforming, speech enhancement |
| Position tracking | · 3DoF head tracking |
| Controls and sensors | · Screen on/off button · Screen brightness adjustment button · Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer · Proximity sensor |
| Accessories | · Detachable cable · Prescription-lens frame · 3 nose pads · Case · Cleaning cloth · Light shield |
“We’re working with the best content providers and the most innovative technology companies in the world to create entirely new experiences for our customers. Nreal are at the forefront of AR, and we’re delighted to be the exclusive UK partner for the launch of their new Nreal Air AR glasses,” Alistair Wilson, Director of Devices and Partnerships, EE adds. “When combined with the power of 5G, it really does open up new possibilities for seamless streaming and access to new types of content on the move – these are really exciting times for mobile.”
EE will launch the Nreal Air AR glasses later this spring, no prices have been revealed thus far. The device arrived in Japan back in March retailing for 39,799 yen ($345 USD) so that would put the UK price around the £270 GBP mark, directly in competition with Ray-Ban Stories, the smart glasses collaboration with Meta.
You can register your interest here for Nreal Air and for further updates keep reading gmw3.
Nreal Light AR Glasses Review: A (Limited) Preview Of The Future
Nreal Light is the first AR glasses product available in the US. But is this new technology ready for regular consumers yet? Read on to find out.
Light is available in Verizon stores and on Verizon’s website. It weighs around three times a heavy pair of sunglasses, or a third of a Magic Leap One headset. To achieve this form factor Light is powered by a smartphone over USB cable – there is no battery or full-fledged chip onboard.
Price & Compatibility
Light is priced at $599. While Nreal says you can mirror any Android or iOS device to a floating virtual screen in front of you, to use the actual augmented reality capabilities including positional tracking and AR apps you’ll need a compatible Verizon flagship device:
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G UW
- Samsung Galaxy S20 5G UW
- Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G
- OnePlus 8 5G UW
The cheapest of these is $799, so the total buy-in price if you don’t already own one starts at $1398.
Visual Quality & Field of View
To start, I should probably really be referring to Light as sunglasses since the real world is darkened. Other than being darker, the view of the real world is clear and undistorted – this is the key advantage of see-through head mounted displays.
The problem with see-through display systems however is that the darker the pixel, the less opaque it will appear. True black is completely invisible, since it’s produced by turning the pixels off. This means some virtual objects can appear more like translucent holograms than real objects, unless they entirely consist of bright colors.
But this opacity limitation aside, Light’s dual 1920×1080 OLED microdisplays provide very impressive angular resolution. The visual quality is sharper than any (consumer) VR headset, and apps like the browser feel much like using a real 1080p monitor. Even at a distance, small text is easily readable. At no point using Light did I feel resolution was a limitation.
The major flaw with Light’s image is that it appears to blur as you move your head. It’s incredibly distracting, and suggests the displays are full persistence. The vast majority of VR and AR headsets since 2014 have used low persistence displays, precisely to avoid this blur effect.
Field of view is much more difficult to convey. I could tell you it’s 53 degrees diagonal. I could explain how that’s equivalent to sitting in front of a 19″ monitor, or 2 meters away from a 77″ television. But none of these figures really capture what it’s like through the glasses.
The best way I can think to really get across the field of view is to express it as a percentage of the lens – ie. how much of the lens can actually show pixels and how much is just regular sunglasses. Before I express that though, you need to understand a few caveats compared to regular glasses:
- Light’s lens is narrower (vertically), so there’s lots of empty space below you
- the top of Light’s frame is much thicker, so you can’t see above you
- Light’s lens sits further in front of your eyes
With that out of the way – to my eye Light’s display extends across roughly 85% of the lens vertically and around 70% horizontally.
What this means in practice is you’ll want to position virtual screens and objects at least a few meters away to be able to see all of them at once. This severely limits what kind of content Light works well with, but this is a problem with all current see-through displays.
Comfort & Size
Nreal Light is more comfortable than any head mounted display I’ve ever used. Unlike bulky AR goggles and compact VR headsets it truly does feel like wearing a heavy pair of glasses – 109 grams to be exact.
Light comes with four separate nose pads, and everyone I demoed it to was able to find at least one they found very comfortable for their nose shape.
The only complaint I have about Light’s comfort is it sometimes gets warm. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but when it happens it limits how long it can be worn for.
Tracking
Nreal Light has two tracking cameras for inside-out positional tracking. It works, but there’s noticeable bounce and drift.
While Nreal’s SDK can detect horizontal planes like your floor and table, it doesn’t generate a depth map and doesn’t map your walls in any way. As such, it doesn’t support occlusion – meaning virtual objects and screens always appear in front of real world objects, even when they’re more distant.
From a core technology perspective tracking is the weakest aspect of Light, and the biggest difference between it and much more expensive AR hardware such as HoloLens 2 or Magic Leap One.
Input
Like HTC’s Vive Flow virtual reality headset, Light is controlled by your smartphone acting as a rotational laser pointer.
The control scheme on the touchscreen varies between apps. Nreal has a default, but apps can render their own phone UI and virtual buttons. Since you can actually see the phone this is much more usable than Flow, but since the phone isn’t positionally tracked it’s still awkward and clunky.
Nreal’s SDK actually supports hand tracking, but bizarrely almost no apps support this, and the system software (Nebula) doesn’t either.
Software & Content
Nebula is Nreal’s system software, the default app you’ll see in AR mode. It lets you open, move, resize and reposition web browser windows or phone apps in your real room as well as being the interface for launching AR apps.
Nebula is genuinely impressive. While I wish I could point and pinch with hand tracking, even using the phone to position browser windows means you can easily watch videos or read articles anywhere, without having to hold a phone or tablet in your hand.
While the hardware field of view limits Nebula’s usefulness, this is a genuine preview of a future where physical TVs and monitors are antiques of the past and your workspace is wherever you want it to be.
Other AR apps are far less useful. You get them from Google Play, Nreal doesn’t have its own store. There are maybe two dozen in total. Most are essentially demos. AR content still feels like VR content did back in 2014 when the only widely available hardware was the Oculus developer kits.
Should You Buy One?
If you’re a software developer or tinkerer interested in building for the latest technology platforms, and $599 is a reasonable price to you, picking up Nreal Light could be a great way to get started in AR.
But what if you’re not a developer? If you frequently spend time in hotels or temporary accommodation and find yourself missing your big TV from home, Light could effectively be a huge ultra-portable floating screen.
For everyone else though, unless you’re incredibly eager to preview the future and $600 is pocket change, AR just isn’t ready for you yet.
Nreal Launches $600 ‘Light’ AR Glasses in United States via Verizon
Nreal, the Chinese startup behind the Nreal Light AR glasses which made a splash back at CES 2019, has now expanded to the United States, making the smartphone-tethered device available through select Verizon stores starting today.
Nreal Light is a pair of AR glasses that are physically connected to a smartphone via USB Type-C to drive its graphics and provide power, making it lighter than standalone AR headsets like HoloLens 2 since it’s offloaded the need for an internal battery, chipset, and cooling to the phone itself.
Relative to enterprise-focused AR headsets like Magic Leap 2 and HoloLens 2, it’s also less expensive due to the inclusion of cheaper and less complicated optics, called ‘birdbath’ optics, which project light from a microdisplay to the eye via what’s essentially a curved see-through mirror (among other things).
As for apps, the AR glasses play bespoke content in pre-defined playspaces, all of which you can download from Google Play, such as Table Trenches, a 1v1 tabletop strategy game.
It also boasts a screen mirroring function for your phone so you can use every app on it, as well as the ability to use multiple browser windows so you can watch a video and surf the web in different floating monitors. The tethered smartphone acts primarily as a laser pointer selector, something Oculus Go and Google Daydream users will be very familiar with in terms of UI interaction.
That’s the value proposition at least, as Nreal Light goes on sale in the US today for $599. Rollout in that country comes first to select brick-and-mortar Verizon stores. According to Tom’s Hardware, online sales via Verizon will kick off on December 2nd and those physical stores will act as places to demo Nreal Light before consumers buy it.
Nreal Light boasts a fairly wide compatibility list, with the following phones offering support:
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G UW
- Samsung Galaxy S20 5G UW
- Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G
- OnePlus 8 5G UW
- OnePlus 9 5G UW
The company says Light will also support iPhones in some capacity, however it hasn’t specified how that works.
Before its release in the US, Nreal has rolled out via telecoms in South Korea, Japan, Germany and Spain. The Beijing-based company also recently closed a $100 million Series C financing round which it will use for R&D and to widen its international reach.
Nreal Light has yet to launch in its Chinese homeland, however Nreal CEO Chi Xu has previously said it may happen at some point in 2022 along with “more countries as well.”
The post Nreal Launches $600 ‘Light’ AR Glasses in United States via Verizon appeared first on Road to VR.
Nreal Light is Finally Launching its AR Smartglasses in the US
Getting your hands on actual consumer-focused smartglasses isn’t the easiest thing to do, there are plenty for enterprise but not for the general public. That’s beginning to change thanks to companies like Rokid and Qualcomm. For those in the US, however, Nreal Light will be going on general sale via Verizon stores later this month.
The deal will see Nreal Light sold exclusively through Verizon stores and online for $599 USD, available from 20 Verizon brick and mortar stores from 30th November 2021, whilst online sales begin on 3rd December. Customers who head in-store will be able to trial the smartglasses before buying.
Nreal Light is a smartphone-powered augmented reality (AR) device which allows users to interact with general apps on their phones as well as utilising specific AR apps designed for the headset. Compatible with Android and iOS phones, Nreal Light features 6 degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) tracking, plane detection and image tracking, a 52° field of view (FoV); spatial sound, and a USB-C, all weighing in at 106g.
As for smartphone compatibility, Nreal Light will work with the following Verizon sold devices:
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G UW
- Samsung Galaxy S20 5G UW
- Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G
- OnePlus 8 5G UW
“Although Nreal Light’s availability in the U.S. has been highlight anticipated, we couldn’t be more excited to be announcing the sales of Nreal Light at Verizon retail stores as this marks a momentous milestone not only for Nreal, but also the AR industry as a whole,” said Chi Xu, CEO and Founder at Nreal in a statement.
The 20 Verizon stores which will have stock are:
| Verizon Retail Store | Address | City | State |
| Clarendon | 2930 Clarendon Blvd | Arlington | VA |
| Buckhead | 3275 Peachtree Rd NE STE 270 | Atlanta | GA |
| Ponce De Leon | 650 Ponce De Leon Ave NE Suite 660 B | Atlanta | GA |
| Boston – Washington St | 340 Washington St | Boston | MA |
| The Hub – Boston Retail | 98 Causeway St | Boston | MA |
| Cambridge – Harvard Square | 95 Mount Auburn St Harvard Square | Cambridge | MA |
| Millennium | 36 S State St | Chicago | IL |
| Hoboken Store | 93 Washington St | Hoboken | NJ |
| River Oaks | 2071 Westheimer Rd | Houston | TX |
| Grand Central | 420 Lexington Ave | New York | NY |
| Madison Avenue | 342 Madison Ave | New York | NY |
| 80th & Broadway | 2239 Broadway | New York | NY |
| Hudson Yards | 20 Hudson Yards RU311 | New York | NY |
| Bryant Park | 125 W 42Nd St | New York | NY |
| SoHo | 581 Broadway | New York | NY |
| Wall Street | 100 Wall St | New York | NY |
| Palo Alto | 219 University Ave | Palo Alto | CA |
| SF Mission | 2654 Mission St | San Francisco | CA |
| Short Hills Mall | 1200 Morris Tpke | Short Hills | NJ |
| DC 14th Street | 1529 14th St NW | Washington | DC |
Nreal originally launched its latest generation of smartglasses in South Korea during 2020, following that up with a European release through Vodafone in Spring 2021. Whilst Nreal Light is only just arriving in the US, the company has already revealed the next iteration, Nreal Air, a smaller and lighter device due to arrive in Japan, China and South Korea during December. For continued Nreal updates, keep reading VRFocus.
Nreal’s Next AR Glasses Will be Apple and Android Compatible
While Facebook’s first foray into smart glasses tech, Ray-Ban Stories, was putting a camera and speakers in sunglasses, companies like Nreal have already been outfitting their’s with augmented reality (AR) features. Nreal Light launched back in 2019, today seeing the next iteration coming to light in the form of Nreal Air.
Just like its predecessor, Nreal Air is a smartphone tethered pair of AR sunglasses, enabling you to watch videos or play games on a giant virtual screen. This time, though, Nreal has managed to make the Air smaller, lighter and much more stylish than before – although the only images released so far are renders.
The company says that Nreal Air weighs in at 77g – Nreal Light was a chunkier 106g – and is capable of projecting a 130-inch virtual display at 3 meters or a whopping 201-inch display at a virtual six meters. This is thanks to a micro-OLED chip that can support a claimed 49 Pixels Per Degree (PPD) at its maximum. And to make sure the experience is nice and smooth it all runs at a 90Hz refresh rate.
That weight reduction works in conjunction with several other features to ensure the Nreal Air is comfortable to wear. An adjustable 3-Step Rake System gives you the option to adjust the viewing angle by tilting the lens, whilst the elastic temples hug the head so the glasses don’t suddenly slip.
One of the most important additions in terms of compatibility and customer reach is that Neal Air will not only support most Android devices but Apple iOS products as well, beating Apple’s own AR headset plans.
“Consumers today are seeking lighter, but longer-lasting AR glasses exclusively for streaming media and working from home. For instance, in Korea we’ve found that 78% of our users use Nreal Light to watch streaming content,” said Chi Xu, Founder of Nreal in a statement. “Nreal Air builds on our Nreal Light offering and furthers our mission to spread AR globally. With Nreal Air, we’ve zeroed in on the perks of a portable movie theatre and condensed this into lightweight AR sunglasses with a zero-footprint display, while making it affordable.”
When it comes to getting hold of an Nreal Air the process is going to be similar to the Nreal Light. Nreal Air will initially launch in Japan, China and South Korea during December, available through telecom companies. The rest of the world will have to wait until 2022. No Price has been revealed although Nreal has said the new glasses: “will retail at a fraction of the price of Nreal Light,” which retailed for around $586 USD.
Depending on where you live you might be waiting quite a while to purchase an Nreal Air. Outside of its home Asian markets the Nreal Light only came to Europe via Vodafone, and that was only in Germany and Spain. As further details on these new AR sunglasses are released, VRFocus will let you know.
AR Glasses Creator Nreal Secures $100M Series C Financing to Expand Internationally
Chinese AR glasses startup Nreal announced it’s raised a fresh $100 million Series C financing round, something it says will be used for R&D and to fund wider international expansion.
As first reported by CNBC, the latest round reportedly brings the company’s valuation to $700 million. That figure was obtained by an anonymous source with knowledge of the deal, CNBC says, however the company has yet to comment.
The Series C round was led by YF Capital, NIO Capital, and Angel Plus China, with participation by Sequoia Capital China, GP Capital, GL Ventures. According to data reported by Crunchbase, this brings the company’s lifetime funding to $171 million.
Nreal is probably best known for its smartphone-tethered AR glasses, dubbed Nreal Light which made headlines back at CES 2019 for its relatively small form-factor in comparison to Magic Leap One or Microsoft HoloLens.
Nreal Light achieves this by offloading processing to a compatible smartphone. It also incorporates what are called ‘birdbath’ optics, which are notably cheaper to produce than waveguides and typically have greater light efficiency.
Nreal Light has been on sale through telecoms in Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Spain, typically priced between $600 and $820 depending on the region.
Notably the Beijing-based company hasn’t launched Nreal Light in China or the United States, something Nreal CEO Chi Xu says may happen at some point in 2022 along with “more countries as well,” Chi Xu tells CNBC.
The company’s Series C comes at a time when Apple is clearly making preparations for its own XR headsets. A recent report holds that Apple is sourcing parts for its VR headset. A mid-2020 report from serial leaker John Prosser holds that Apple’s AR glasses are headed to market sometime in late 2021 or early 2022.
The post AR Glasses Creator Nreal Secures $100M Series C Financing to Expand Internationally appeared first on Road to VR.
Nreal Light ausprobiert: AR für Konsumenten?
Die Nreal Light wird aktuell in Deutschland für Konsumenten und Konsumentinnen angeboten und ist damit die erste AR-Brille, die einem breitem Publikum zugänglich gemacht wird. Doch ist die Technik schon bereit, um uns im Alltag zu begleiten?
Nreal Light
Die Nreal Light ist eine AR-Brille, welche über 2 Spatial-Computing-Kameras ihre Umgebung erkennen und somit virtuelle Objekte in der realen Welt platzieren kann. Für den Betrieb ist ein Smartphone nötig, wobei aktuell nur wenige Modelle unterstützt werden. Wir haben die AR-Brille mit dem OPPO Find X3 Pro ausprobiert, welches für die Verwendung der Brille empfohlen wird. Für die Anpassung an euer Gesicht liegen vier unterschiedliche Nose Pads bei und und ein magnetischer Rahmen, damit ihr auch Korrekturlinsen verwenden könnt. Diese solltet ihr auch verwenden, da die Schärfe der Darstellung deutlich von eurer Sehstärke beeinträchtigt wird.
Bildeindruck
Bei der Nreal Light wird das Bild an der Oberseite der Brille dargestellt und in eurem Sichtfeld gespiegelt. Das dargestellte Bild ist sehr scharf, farbenfroh und überdeckt bei schwachem Tageslicht noch gut die Umgebung. Dennoch wirken die gezeigten Inhalte stets nicht wirklich in der realen Welt integriert zu sein. Dies liegt an zwei Faktoren: Das Tracking ist nicht akkurat genug, um die Position der Objekte konstant zu halten und Wände und andere Objekte verdecken nicht die virtuellen Darstellungen. Hierdurch verpasst die Nreal Light die Chance, eine tatsächliche Erweiterung der realen Welt zu erzielen und übertrifft nicht wesentlich das Niveau von Smartphone-AR-Inhalten. Zudem ist das Bild bei hellem Sonnenlicht kaum zu erkennen, wodurch die Einsatzmöglichkeiten deutlich eingeschränkt werden.
Das Field of View der Brille ist mit 52 Grad aktuell nicht spürbar besser oder schlechter als bei der aktuellen Konkurrenz von Microsoft und Magic Leap, welche beide nicht direkt an Konsumenten und Konsumentinnen verkauft werden. Dennoch reicht diese Größe noch nicht aus, um nur annährend das Sichtfeld eines Menschen abzudecken. So seht ihr ständig sehr genau, wo die virtuelle Welt beginnt und wo sie endet. Dies sorgt ebenfalls dafür. dass wir die virtuellen Objekten sehr schnell als “nicht real” interpretieren.
Wer keine Lust auf seine Umgebung hat, der kann in einen VR-Modus wechseln, bei dem einfach die Gläser abgedeckt werden. Da die Brille hierdurch auch ihre Tracking-Kameras verdeckt, könnt ihr in diesem Modus euch jedoch nicht frei bewegen und die Lichteinstrahlungen von den Seiten führen schnell zu Spiegelungen im Bild.
Echte AR-Anwendungen?
Leider bietet die Nreal Light nur ein kleines Showcase an MR-Inhalten und setzt ansonsten auf die Darstellung eurer Android-Fenster im realen Raum. Hierbei kann die Brille bis zu drei Fenster bzw. Anwendungen gleichzeitig darstellen, wobei die Bildqualität ab drei Fenstern manchmal leidet und Darstellungsfehler auftreten.
Auch wenn die Verwendung von herkömmlichen Apps in AR zukünftig ein wichtiges Feature sein wird, hätten wir uns deutlich mehr über spezielle AR-Anwendungen gefreut, die die Möglichkeiten der Technik in den Fokus stellen.
Ist die Nreal Light dennoch eine Bereicherung für den Alltag?
Simon Graff und ich haben die Nreal Light in verschiedenen Situationen getestet und sprechen in unserem Video über mögliche Einsatzgebiete und gelangen schließlich zu dem Fazit, dass die Technik aktuell noch nicht ausgereift genug ist, um Menschen den Alltag zu erleichtern. Eine detaillierte Begründung findet ihr in unserem Video.
Der Beitrag Nreal Light ausprobiert: AR für Konsumenten? zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!
Nreal Partners With FinchRing to Offer 6DoF Tracking Solution
Finch Technologies has been making 6 degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) controllers since 2016, creating devices for the likes of Gear VR and then HTC Vive Focus. Today, the company is focusing its efforts towards mixed reality (MR) with its latest device, the FinchRing, revealed as part of a partnership with Nreal during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai.
Designed to be intuitive, bringing hands-free gesture control to MR products as well as laptops and smartphones, FinchRing’s patented IMU technology means it isn’t hampered by a headset’s FoV tracking. That tracking freedom enables FinchRing to be used both inside and outside, unaffected by lighting conditions.
The small device attaches to the index finger and comes equipped with haptic feedback, a touchpad and a force sensor. The battery allows for four hours of use, being able to recharge to 80% in 20 minutes the company claims. The FinchRing itself is capable of 3DoF with 6DoF flexibility achieved in combination with the FinchTracker which attaches to an armband strap.
“Natural 360-degree movement in mixed reality has been one of the major challenges holding back the mainstream XR market and is something developers and consumers alike have been waiting for,” says Gary Yamamoto, CEO of Finch Technologies in a statement. “At Finch, we combine the best proprietary 3D tracking technology, devices and software solutions to create natural user interactions for mixed reality, with no break in action or motion, so the promise of mixed reality for both consumers and enterprise can be fully realized. We can’t wait to see what developers create with our hands-free FinchRing controller.”
Finch Technologies will be selling the device in two bundles. The FinchRing and FinchTracker will be sold as a developers kit with a second bundle include an Nreal Light. Prices and availability have yet to be announced.
Nreal also revealed at MWC that it was scaling up plans to launch the Nreal Light in Europe and the US. “With the initial success we’ve seen with our
carrier partners, we’re scaling this strategy and excited to get Nreal Light into the hands of American consumers by April of this year,” said Chi Xu, CEO and Founder at Nreal.
As Finch and Nreal release further details, VRFocus will keep you updated.