Psychic VR Lab, the Japanese studio behind XR content creation platform Styly has announced a new app specifically for the Nreal Light mixed reality (MR) glasses. Called Styly for Nreal, the app allows creators to distribute their work via the recently released device.
Available through Google Play, Styly for Nreal enables Nreal Light users to view cutting-edge immersive artworks from artists around the world. The app is merely a viewing tool rather than a creative one, all the has to be created on Styly Studio, Psychic VR Lab’s web-based platform.
Psychic VR Lab won an award itself recently, winning VRFocus’ very own The Better-Than-Reality Awards last week. The public voted for Styly AR as the Best AR App, beating a strong lineup of rivals.
Whilst accessing the Styly app might be easy, at the moment the real difficulty is in acquiring the Neal Light. The smartphone connect MR glasses first arrived in South Korea during the summer followed by Japan. As for western shores there’s still a bit of a wait, Vodafone has confirmed it’ll begin distribution in Europe starting in the Spring beginning with Germany and Spain.
As Qualcomm unveiled earlier this year when discussing its XR2 5G platform, there is going to be an influx of these ‘XR Viewers’ like the Nreal Light. Smaller, lightweight devices which offer new communication and entertainment possibilities without the limitations suffered by mobile VR headsets like Gear VR.
As further updates for Styly and Nreal Light are released, VRFocus will let you know.
Wie Vodafone mitteilt, wird das Unternehmen im ersten Quartal 2021 die Nreal Light von Nreal in Europa anbieten.
Nreal Light ab Q1 2021 bei Vodafone erhältich
Im Frühjahr 2021 möchte Vodafone die Nreal Light zunächst in Deutschland und Spanien ausrollen und verspricht Augmented- und Mixed-Reality-Erlebnisse über das 5G-Netzwerk mit extrem niedrigen Latenzen. Jedoch werden die Daten nicht direkt aus dem Netzwerk auf die Brille übertragen. Eine Verbindung zu einem High-End-Smartphone ist erforderlich.
Chi Xu, CEO von Nreal, sagt: „Mit Nreal Light können Kunden in Europa die Zukunft erleben. In einer 3D-Mixed-Reality-Umgebung im 5G-Netz von Vodafone können sie ihre Lieblings-Apps ganz neu erfahren und mit ihnen interagieren. Wir freuen uns, gemeinsam mit Vodafone Nreal Light in Deutschland, Spanien und anderen europäischen Ländern zur Verfügung zu stellen – ganz im Einklang mit unserer Mission, Mixed Reality für Kunden auf der ganzen Welt zugänglich zu machen.“
Durch den Verkauf über Vodafone scheint die Nreal Light die erste in Deutschland verfügbare Mixed Reality Brille für Konsumenten zu werden. Zudem kooperieren Vodafone und Nreal bei der Entwicklung neuer AR- und MR-Anwendungen. So sollen Sport-Apps, Multi-Player-Spiele, Navigationssysteme und viele weitere Anwendungen gerade in der Entwicklung sein. Zudem versprechen Vodafone und Nreal immersive Konferenzen und eine Remote-Zusammenarbeit für unterschiedliche Bereiche.
Aktuell haben wir noch keine Informationen darüber, zu welchem Preis die Brille angeboten werden soll. Denkbar wäre auch ein Bundle mit einem passenden Smartphone. Wir sind sehr gespannt auf die Nreal Light und freuen uns auf das kommende Jahr.
Wie Vodafone mitteilt, wird das Unternehmen im ersten Quartal 2021 die Nreal Light von Nreal in Europa anbieten.
Nreal Light ab Q1 2021 bei Vodafone erhältich
Im Frühjahr 2021 möchte Vodafone die Nreal Light zunächst in Deutschland und Spanien ausrollen und verspricht Augmented- und Mixed-Reality-Erlebnisse über das 5G-Netzwerk mit extrem niedrigen Latenzen. Jedoch werden die Daten nicht direkt aus dem Netzwerk auf die Brille übertragen. Eine Verbindung zu einem High-End-Smartphone ist erforderlich.
Chi Xu, CEO von Nreal, sagt: „Mit Nreal Light können Kunden in Europa die Zukunft erleben. In einer 3D-Mixed-Reality-Umgebung im 5G-Netz von Vodafone können sie ihre Lieblings-Apps ganz neu erfahren und mit ihnen interagieren. Wir freuen uns, gemeinsam mit Vodafone Nreal Light in Deutschland, Spanien und anderen europäischen Ländern zur Verfügung zu stellen – ganz im Einklang mit unserer Mission, Mixed Reality für Kunden auf der ganzen Welt zugänglich zu machen.“
Durch den Verkauf über Vodafone scheint die Nreal Light die erste in Deutschland verfügbare Mixed Reality Brille für Konsumenten zu werden. Zudem kooperieren Vodafone und Nreal bei der Entwicklung neuer AR- und MR-Anwendungen. So sollen Sport-Apps, Multi-Player-Spiele, Navigationssysteme und viele weitere Anwendungen gerade in der Entwicklung sein. Zudem versprechen Vodafone und Nreal immersive Konferenzen und eine Remote-Zusammenarbeit für unterschiedliche Bereiche.
Aktuell haben wir noch keine Informationen darüber, zu welchem Preis die Brille angeboten werden soll. Denkbar wäre auch ein Bundle mit einem passenden Smartphone. Wir sind sehr gespannt auf die Nreal Light und freuen uns auf das kommende Jahr.
Nreal, the China-based company behind the Nreal Light AR glasses, today announced its secured another $40 million in funding.
As reported by TechCrunch, the latest financing round was led by Chinese video sharing platform Kuaishou, with participation by iQiyi, GP Capital, CCEIF Fund, GL Ventures, and Sequoia Capital China.
This brings the company’s overall funding to $71 million, according to CrunchBase.
Since its penultimate funding round in February 2019, the company has since commercialized it Nreal Light AR headset, which is currently only available in South Korea. The very glasses-shaped headset, which requires a smartphone to drive its visuals, is being bundled with the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or LG Velvet and a 5G data plan.
In that country it costs ₩349,500 (~$295) with a data plan; without the smartphone/5G bundle, the headset is priced at ₩699,000 (~$590).
Having more than doubled its lifetime funding with its recent Series B raise, Nreal is no doubt planning on expanding its area of availability. According to Forbes, Nreal Light is slated to launch in the US sometime this Fall, priced at $500, and we’d expect to see other markets open up in the months to come.
Following its consumer debut in South Korea this summer, Nreal is getting ready to expand availability of Nreal Light, its sunglasses-style AR headset, to Japan with the help of one the country’s largest telecoms, KDDI.
Update (November 10th, 2020): According to Mogura (Japanese), Nreal is preparing to launch Nreal Light to consumers in Japan, with pre-orders starting tomorrow, November 11th. The company says it will support Sony XPERIA 5 II and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G, as well as future 5G-enabled devices.
Nreal Light is slated to cost ¥69,799 (~$663 USD) both through au Online Shop and KDDI brick-and-mortar stores throughout Japan, presumably offered there in some sort of hardware bundle.
Original Article (August 17th, 2020): As reported by The Verge, Nreal is now taking pre-orders from Korea-based consumers, available through Korean telecom LG Uplus. Light AR will be available in stores there starting August 21st.
When bundled with the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or LG Velvet and a 5G data plan, Nreal Light AR comes to a pretty reasonable ₩349,500 (~$295). Without the smartphone/5G bundle, the headset is priced at ₩699,000 (~$590).
Image courtesy Nreal
Nreal Light launched pre-orders for its $1,200 developer kit late last year. The dev kit is driven by a tethered compute unit running a Snapdragon 845 mobile chipset, however the slim-line, sunglasses-style headset for consumers is supposed to rely on smartphones to drive the headset, tethered via a USB-C cable.
Like other AR headsets, such as HoloLens or Magic Leap One, Nreal Light AR includes 6DOF inside-out tracking, letting users walk around the room and interact with 3D content naturally. The consumer headset, which sports a relatively wide 52-degree diagonal field of view, comes with a variety of nose clips, a corrective lens insert, and an opaque shielding (dubbed “VR cover”) that is designed to block out light for a brighter, more immersive view. While hand-tracking isn’t available yet, Nreal says it will arrive at some point.
It’s unclear when other regions will see the consumer launch of Nreal Light AR, although Nreal may be planning its launch in stages to better gauge demand. Nreal initially hoped to launch its consumer version Light AR glasses in early 2020, however like many, the Beijing, China-based company was forced to delay production in February due to COVID-19 concerns.
The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating the use of virtual reality and augmented reality, experts say, especially in retail, education and health.
Taylor Freeman
“The trajectory is clear that this technology is set to become the next ubiquitous computing platform, much like we saw with mobile devices and personal computers,” Taylor Freeman, founder of Axon Park, an extended reality training simulation platform, told Hypergrid Business.
“Gaming has seen a large uptick in playtime and sales,” he said, “and personal well-being, with meditation and mindfulness apps.”
But the biggest growth areas are health care and education, he said, as well as events and conferences that have moved from in-person events to virtual reality.
And WaveXR just raised $30 million for its virtual events platform, which proves there are unique opportunities for augmented and mixed reality in the event space, as conventions, concerts and conferences start to move digital, Cory Grenier, CEO of Genee — an augmented reality authoring and publishing platform, told Hypergrid Business.
Dave Dolan
The growth is expected to continue after the pandemic. According to a May report by Vynz Research, the virtual and augmented reality market will grow from $22 billion of revenue this year to $161 billion by 2025.
“We are also seeing a surge in many other areas, such as showrooms, remote training and walk-throughs,” Dave Dolan, chief product officer at virtual reality education platform Veative, told Hypergrid Business. “Just in the last two months, we have seen a 30 to 40 percent increase in demand for remote training.”
Retail shopping and advertising
Seek XR, an extended reality company whose augmented reality platform is used by companies to increase sales and to create interactive customer experiences as well as for interactive learning, has noted a 600 percent increase in usage of augmented reality through its customers’ websites since the beginning of March when much of physical retail shut down.
Jon Cheney
To date, Seek XR has deployed more than 10 million experiences to over 100 million users.
And the company reports increases of between 10 200 percent in its corporate clients’ conversion rates — that’s the percent of visitors who turn into paying customers.
“Product returns are dropping by 25 percent and time to make buying decisions has been cut in half,” Seek XR CEO Jon Cheney told Hypergrid Business. “Augmented reality is making impacts with real return on investment that can’t be ignored, even without the looming fears of coronavirus.”
Some of these schools are turning to virtual and augmented reality to help address the needs of these students.
This was a challenge for some platforms, since students don’t usually have VR headsets at home.
Veative now has own virtual reality headset to diversify their products. (Image courtesy Veative.)
One such company, Veative, offers virtual reality-based STEM educational content, serving over 200 schools in more than 24 countries.
During the pandemic, the reported an increase in use — but only after they started to offer web-based mixed reality content that didn’t require that students have virtual reality headsets.
“We managed to pivot and offer our virtual reality content on web-based extended reality,” said Veative’s Dolan. “Schools have welcomed it and we expect to double our user base by the end of summer.”
Other organizations are responding to the challenge by issuing headsets to at-home users, especially enterprises using virtual reality for training.
Nathan Pettyjohn
“Lenovo’s ThinkReality team is receiving more customer inquiries specifically as a response to the global pandemic,” Nathan Pettyjohn, commercial augmented and virtual reality lead at Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group told Hypergrid Business. “Companies are looking for solutions to enhance their workforces through training and re-skilling with immersive virtual reality experiences or using augmented reality to enable workers to do more remotely or be more productive with fewer workers on site.”
It is supported by Lenovo’s ThinkReality software platform, on which companies and enterprises can deploy and manage applications and content.
Healthcare
During the pandemic, companies in healthcare are using virtual and augmented reality for health-based learning, simulation such as surgery, VR-based treatments, and remote monitoring of patients.
XRHealth, for example, has added 500 clinicians on-board its platform and between 500 to 1000 new active patients per month as a result of the pandemic.
The extended reality health company now runs extended reality clinics in 17 states in the United States, with certification from the Federal Drug Administration,
“During this time, both clinicians and patients are seeking out alternative and remote methods for treating various conditions,” company CEO Eran Orr told Hypergrid Business. “Extended reality is a unique platform that is designed to treat so many conditions like pain management, anxiety, memory loss, and hot flashes — and we have experienced a significant spike in interest during COVID-19.”
XRHealth supplies patients with virtual reality headsets.
“Our challenge is keeping up with the demand and letting others benefit from our solution, now that we are out there,” said Orr. “Many patients have expressed that they have been getting better results from using our platform than from in-person therapy since their time with clinicians is completely focused on them without the outside noise that comes with being in-person.”
Technology isn’t quite there yet when it comes to a stylish pair of sunglasses which have virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR) tech built-in, but steps towards that end goal are being made. Today, Qualcomm has unveiled a selection of ‘XR Viewers’ which use its XR2 5G platform slated to arrive in the next 12 months.
Some of these have already been seen before, most notably the Nreal Light and the Panasonic UHD VREyeglasses which appeared during CES 2020 in January and XRSpace. What all of these represent is an immersive ecosystem of companies from smartphone makers to global telecommunications operators looking to drive a new category of headsets which are consumer-friendly.
All the XR Viewers are designed to tether to the latest 5G-capable smartphones powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 or 865 processors, thus providing quality XR content via 5G’s high bandwidth and low latency technology. Currently, XR viewer manufacturers include 3Glasses, iQIYI, Nreal, OPPO, Panasonic, Pico and Shadow Creator, while smartphone OEM’s who are participating are ASUS, BlackShark, OnePlus, OPPO, Smartisan, vivo and ZTE.
While devices like Nreal Light are slated for a 2020 release, Qualcomm expects most of these to arrive within a year, although some will likely be specific to certain markets like China. To ensure seamless connections for a consumer-friendly experience, Qualcomm’s XR Optimized Certification Program tests performance and validates compatibility between both devices, looking at head tracking, power, thermal, motion to photon latency and other variables.
“With the support of Qualcomm Technologies, we plan to optimize these VR glasses to work seamlessly with 5G-enabled smartphones,” said Michiko Ogawa, CTO, Appliances Company, Panasonic Corporation. “With a combination of 5G connectivity and compact, lightweight, ultra-high image quality VR glasses, we hope to deliver highly immersive experiences for live music & sports events in 2021 and beyond.”
At the same time Qualcomm has laid out its expectations for the future of this sector, envisioning that the tether will disappear within the next four years; devices wirelessly connecting to phones. While a full 5G standalone headset is somewhere between 5-10 years away.
As development continues and the XR Viewers come to market, VRFocus will bring you further updates.
As excitement builds for the consumer release of Nreal’s Light augmented reality glasses this fall, the company is continuing to entice developers to support the affordable, Android-based wearable. Today, Nreal announced two important upgrades to its Light software development kit — multi-user environments and WebXR support — as well as a couple of deals that will likely bring new developers into the stable.
If you’re not yet familiar with Nreal Light, here’s a quick recap: Unlike Microsoft and Magic Leap, which developed $2,300 to $3,500 enterprise AR headsets with their own computing platforms, Nreal created lightweight $500 glasses that use Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, 855, or 865 smartphones for processing, storage, and wireless network connectivity. Currently available as an $1,119 Development Kit, Light has already been embraced by multiple cellular carriers and XR collaborative workspace developer Spatial, thanks to the headset’s ability to facilitate next-generation remote work, remote assistance, and entertainment. An all-in-one enterprise model is planned for release in the last quarter of this year, directly challenging Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 and the troubled Magic Leap One.
Starting today, users of the Light Development Kit will be able to access “multiplayer” mode, a feature that lets multiple headset wearers see and interact with one another inside a shared mixed reality environment. Business users will be able to share digital collaborative workspaces and meeting rooms using the feature, while developers will also be able to develop multi-person cooperative or competitive games. To facilitate multiplayer mode testing, Nreal is offering a bundle with two Light headsets and a $500 magnetic prescription lens set for $2,559, a 14% discount off their separately purchased prices.
On May 28, Nreal and Deutsche Telekom’s tech incubator Hubraum will globally launch a Mixed Reality Program partnership to find, accelerate, and release new mixed reality apps for Nreal Light. The partners will focus on productivity and entertainment apps, with plans to either include or feature the apps during Light’s consumer launch. Additionally, developers interested in learning how to create Nreal-compatible apps will get access to Nreal Tower, a tower defense-style sample game, as well as a Slack channel to co-build the game with the Nreal team. A finished version of Tower will become generally available along with the Light Consumer Kit.
Last, but not least, Nreal says it’s adding WebXR support to the Light platform, enabling web applications to properly display content through the stereoscopic 3D glasses. WebXR apps effectively allow developers to offer their mixed reality content over the web in a platform-agnostic format that doesn’t require Google, Apple, Microsoft, or another company to serve as a gatekeeper. These apps will apparently be accessible through the Nebula 3D launcher Nreal developed for Android phones, following an SDK update coming “later this year.”
The written content of this post by Jeremy Horowitz originally appeared on VentureBeat.
Mixed reality (MR) headset maker Nreal is currently in the process of attracting developers to its platform as it continues to edge towards a consumer launch. This week the company has revealed its latest efforts which include a new multiplayer bundle, work on its first in-house videogame, new partnerships and WebXR support.
The Nreal Light Developer Kit has been available for a little while now, retailing for $1,199 USD. Expanding upon this initial kit is the new Nreal Hand in Hand bundle which comes supplied with two Nreal Light dev-kits and the Lens Box (normally $499) with 15 pairs of prescription lenses for $2,559. Saving developers 14 percent off the normal price.
Nreal has created this bundle as its software development kit (NRSDK) now includes a multiplayer mode. With this enabled developers can allow multiple Nreal Light users to see and interact with each other in the same MR environment, whether that’s for meetings or co-op videogames.
On the subject of videogames, Nreal has teased the first details for a tower defence-style MR title called Nreal Tower. Accessed in the default developer environment it will be used as an example for those new to the platform. Plus developers can also contribute and collaborate on Nreal Tower‘s creation.
Additionally, Nreal is collaborating with Deutsche Telekom’s tech incubator, hubraum, to find, incubate and publish new MR apps. These will be part of a new Mixed Reality Program that will launch globally on 28th May. Apps will have a chance to be among the first to arrive for the consumer version of Nreal Light.
Another feature in the works is WebXR support. The ability to display web applications is an important step to wider adoption. Support is expected to arrive for the NRSDK later this year.
There’s still no word on the consumer launch date when that happens VRFocus will let you know.
Spatial has been developing its combined virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) collaboration platform for a while now, looking to help teams work together no matter where they are or what platform they’re on. The current coronavirus pandemic has forced this kind of technology into the forefront of peoples minds, in doing so changing Spatial’s plans in the process. Which is why today the tech startup has announced the platform is now freely accessible for a range of devices including Oculus Quest.
The Spatial app allows users to get together, discuss projects, import content such as 3D models and even share their PC screens, all from inside their device. One of Spatial’s most interesting features to make the experience more personable is the use of realistic avatars, where users upload a selfie which is then made into a 3D model.
Designed as an enterprise solution, the opening up of Spatial’s premium services to everyone free of charge means whether you’re in VR or on an iPhone you can test the service out. As for the Oculus Quest version, that was only ever available in private beta, with Spatial pushing ahead with development in the last few months to ensure a public version could be released.
“Now is a time when feeling connected is needed more than ever, and while video chat is great, it just doesn’t replace people collaborating in the same room,” said Spatial CEO Anand Agarawala in a statement. “Over the last few weeks we’ve seen a surge in interest for Spatial’s services, ranging from Fortune 1000s, to schools and hospitals, to SMBs. We really wanted to respond to the global need and make Spatial Enterprise freely available to serve as many people as possible as we all navigate new territory with home and work life.”
“By opening up our immersive collaboration platform and allowing access on the devices people already have, we hope to connect more people in a way that isn’t confined by space, location, or even a pandemic,” adds Spatial CPO Jinha Lee.
Spatial offers one of the most device-agnostic platforms for remote networking, supporting Oculus Quest, Magic Leap, Microsoft HoloLens 1 & 2, Android, iOS, Nreal, PC and via web app. Free access will only be available for the next few months to help people connect during the pandemic. Once it has subsided Spatial will return to a premium service model.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Spatial, reporting back with the latest updates.
