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WOW. That’s all we can say about the sheer number of augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headsets and mixed reality stuff and extended reality stuff being announced at CES 2023. Wow.
These gadgets, in all shapes, sizes and colors, aim to bring real-time translation, navigation, gaming, conversation and more to your field of vision. Some we were able to test and where possible we included an analysis of fit, wearability and usability.
But with this range of gear, we clearly couldn’t view or search through them all. And with an entry from Apple on the horizon, this market is clearly overcrowded. Who could succeed? What should you invest that hard-earned dollar in? Here’s a quick look at the latest announcements from the giant tech show.
TCL RayNeo X2
The TCL RayNeo X2 glasses share many similarities with other recent AR smart glasses coming onto the scene, such as the Nreal Air and VITURE One XR glasses. Like the ones that have come before, they look like some chunky specs, but the lenses are fitted with a pair of Micro-LED optical waveguide displays that provide the wearer with a personalized heads-up display, and inside the goggles’ stems find speakers so you can hear audio through them too.
Unlike the old Google Glass, they have screens in both lenses, which is essential for the information to look clear and fit in with the world around you. What “optical waveguide displays” means is that the screens are actually in the frame of the goggles and project down through the lens. Angled grooves in the glass reflect light towards your eyes, so there are no pixels or electronics in (or in front of) the glass itself. If you need corrective lenses, you can get them, and you can even swap lenses in the future without having to dispose of the electronic part.
It works exactly as described by TCL – you can see through it perfectly, but there is also information floating before your eyes. And that information is clear and sharp and can be displayed across a wide range of your vision, from top to bottom, left to right. It’s never at far from the center so you don’t have to move your eyes much and strain to look at something. Clearly a lot of thought has gone into the all-important ergonomics. Read more about the TCL RayNeo X2.
HTC Vive XR Elite
HTC is at the forefront of immersive and enhanced experiences for everyone. The original device you may be familiar with was VR only and required beacons placed in a room to know your position; the new HTC Vive XR Elite is completely self-contained. It’s also been redesigned to be lighter and support both AR and VR.
HTC set up half a dozen experiences for TechRadar to try, but first we had to get used to the new headgear, which now looks more like glasses attached to a soft head bezel. You fasten it on your head with a large button in the back. As with the Magic Leap headset, you must remove your glasses to use it. In the HTC Vive XR Elite, you can use small dials around the lenses to focus, and you can slide the eyepieces apart or closer together to match your own pupillary distance. On the display you will see a green grid that helps you position the lenses properly.
None of this was difficult or took more than a moment. For further support of the headset, there is a thin rubber band that goes over the top of your head. I found the fit to be extremely comfortable. Read more about the HTC Vive XR Elite.
PlayStation VR2
TechRadar didn’t get to test the VR2, but our friend at Tom’s Guide did. This is what they had to say in their practical assessment:
“With the PlayStation VR 2, Sony is trying to bring PC-level performance to its console-based VR platform. The PS VR 2 for the PS5 has a higher resolution than its predecessor and works smoothly thanks to the addition of eye trackers that enable foveated rendering, allowing the headset to devote more processing power to the area your eyes are looking at and less processing power to the areas you’re not focusing on.
Also impressive is the fact that the PS VR 2 doesn’t need the PlayStation Camera or the PS3 Move Motion controllers that the original PS VR used. The PS VR 2’s new upgraded controllers feel better in the hand and can be tracked by the sensors on the headset itself – solving two of our biggest problems with the original headset with one elegant solution. This could easily be one of the best VR headsets to date, at least for console gamers.
We have our reservations about the headset, which is a little disconcerting given the hefty $549 price point, but fans of next-level VR experiences on consoles will have a lot to be excited about when PS VR 2 releases in mid-February.” the PlayStationVR2.
Lumus Z lens
Lumus makes a lens that is nothing short of perfect. Or a waveguide, we should say, the technical term for projecting an image onto or into the glasses in front of your face. “There are two approaches to waveguides,” Dave Goldman, VP of marketing for Israel-based Lumus, told TechRadar. “One is called diffractive, and that’s the other guys. And I mean everyone else, I’m talking about some of the internal teams of the frontline companies and every competitor of Lumus right now.”
That includes, for example, the Nreal Air and VITURE One XR goggles – and the brand new ones TCL RayNeo X2 Goggles. Goldman’s company uses a different technology, reflective waveguides, which allow for much brighter images and much more efficient waveguides, equating to lower power solutions. It means the lenses are thin enough and clear enough to fit into regular glasses. The Z-Lens image is created by a projector module that sits in the frame; it has an LED and an LCOS display and a prism. Light from the projector is sent to the waveguide, where two sets of mirrors embedded in the lens expand that image to fill your field of view. So mirrors, they are all mirrors. Really, really smart mirrors.
To try them out, Goldman gave us a pair of thick, blue Buddy Holly-style glasses with flexible wrap-around cords that extend from each temple. We put them on – they are light and feel like regular glasses. And there, floating before our eyes, was a perfectly legible, perfectly crisp and clear grid of photos and text – a simple demonstration of what the Lumus Z-Lens can do. Everything worked flawlessly, bright enough to be visible in normal sunlight, bright enough to see through, and completely invisible to anyone looking at us. Read more about the Lumus Z-Lens.
Magic jump 2
To test the latest from Magic Leap, TechRadar met with company CTO Julie Larson Green, a once-retired Microsoft Windows legend who helps steer Magic Leap’s transition from inscrutable and promising prodigy to a practical and purposeful AR headset for industry, factories, disaster relief and more. Speaking at full booth about Magic Leap’s early promise, Green told me, “The technology was too early and the consumer scenarios weren’t so clear.”
Enterprise, however, is a different story. Industry, factories and even medical theater: “They are used to wearing things on their faces.” Green encouraged me to adapt to the latest headset, the Magic Leap 2, which is 50% lighter and smaller than the original. It also has a powerful new custom AMD SoC.
Unlike the new HTC Vive XR Elite and the Meta Quest Pro, Magic Leap 2 maintains its slim form by packing the battery and processor into a separate puck that you can wear on your belt. As a result, the headgear is lightweight and quite comfortable to wear. It also means there’s a cable running from the puck to your head, and I could feel the puck on my hip. Read more about the Magic Leap 2.
Vuzix ultralite
Bee CES 2023, Vuzix unveiled new Ultralite AR glasses, plain-looking plastic frames with a small projector in one stem and a small battery and Bluetooth radio in the other. Combine that with Vuzix’s waveguides – a layer in the glasses that bends the light from the projector into your field of vision – and you’ve got ordinary-looking glasses that do the extraordinary.
We put on the Vuzix Ultralite and saw a line of green text in the corner of the right lens, the kind you’d see on old mainframe computers in the War Games movie. It was sharp, perfectly legible and clear as day. It was a real-time transcription of what another Vuzix employee said; the device is equally adept at displaying directions, with arrows to indicate where to travel, training status, text messages and so on.
To be clear, this is not 30fps full-color video. But the Vuzix Ultralite is here today, and it’s affordable and probably just what you’re looking for. It doesn’t have a huge battery pack (or a cord for a battery that you put in your pocket) because it works directly with your phone, thanks to a simple Bluetooth connection. There isn’t much video going over that connection, so that cable isn’t necessary either. It’s just regular glasses that harness the power of your phone. Read more about the Vuzix Ultralite.
Somnium VR1
Somnium Space is a metaverse platform from the Czech Republic. At CES 2023, the company unveiled Somnium VR1, an open source high-end PCVR headset with high-resolution displays, special custom non-fresnel, crystal clear lenses, eye tracking, hand tracking, and a modular design that allows users to do a lot change, add or change. parts of the headphones.
In addition, Somnium Space gives access to most sensors, enabling advanced users to create custom mixed reality experiences.
Viture One
The Viture One XR goggles are like a wearable projector for your face. Put them on, connect them to a compatible smartphone, laptop or game console and their full-HD OLED screens virtually project a 120-inch screen right before your eyes.
We say virtual projection because spectators can’t see the screen you see floating in the air. Instead, these AR glasses give you a personalized home theater experience, complete with surround sound – and you can take them with you wherever you go.
While the goggles promise a lot, they don’t really deliver thanks to the missing design. They don’t sit quite right on your face, which means too much light can get in and spoil the experience. In addition, the edges of the image can get quite blurry, making playing games and watching shows a bit of a challenge. Read more about the Viture One XR Glasses.
AjnaXR
Developed in secret over the past few years, Indian company AjnaLens unveiled at CES its entry into the world of advanced mixed reality headsets called AjnaXR.
AjnaXR isn’t built to play games, the company explains, but rather transform the way you find and keep a job. This particular headset is designed for learning and offers the wearer a wide variety of immersive courses; pair the headset with haptic gloves the company also sells and you can get hands-on training remotely – which is one of the least talked about and most practical uses of virtual and mixed reality.