One area of particular interest to me is what Qualcomm calls “XR,” or “augmented reality,” an umbrella term for virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality wearable technologies that move forward. That was my decision. Aside from the fact that the initials should really be ‘ER’ (although I can understand why Qualcomm would want to avoid that), the expo has some very impressive XR products powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips. There was
These chips included the newly announced Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1. This is a purpose-built platform designed to power lighter and more efficient AR wearables such as smart glasses. Qualcomm was keen to promote its presence with Lenovo’s sleek new ThinkReality A3 glasses. I was lucky enough to test it at an event and found it to be very impressive.
There is a clear argument that AR, not VR, will be the true frontier for technology products in the near future. VR has its uses. best VR headset It offers hours of fun, but it’s still a niche technology and has too many flaws. VR gaming is an expensive hobby that usually requires too much physical space and effort for most people to invest.
AR, on the other hand, has far more practical applications. You probably won’t see anyone on the bus wearing a full VR headset, but wearable tech like smart glasses is slowly, very slowly beginning to seep into real life. google glass It may have been a struggle at first, but with the growing global interest in AR glasses, I was thrilled to see such a wide range of AR products on display at MWC.
So did Qualcomm, apparently. The VP had real enthusiasm for the future of AR wearables when he joined the company’s XR operator panel hosted by Hugo Swart. Deutsche Telekom’s VP Sven von Aschwege expressed his belief that smart glasses and similar wearable hardware will eventually replace the phone entirely, and Swart (and Telefonica’s Daniel Ortega) agreed.
Now, clearly, this group of tech industry executives will fuel the excitement about XR at MWC. Qualcomm was proud to announce at the show two of his new Snapdragon-powered AR glasses, one from Goertek and one from Xiaomi.USA Editor-in-Chief Lance I had a few things to say I have to say I agree with him on the current plethora of AR products. But there’s a bigger problem with Qualcomm’s glorious vision of a utopian future.
Xiaomi’s new smart glasses look good, but they’re loosely similar to other flagship AR wearables. (Image credit: Xiaomi)
Not-so-smart glasses
Setting aside the primary concerns around price, practicality, and user accessibility issues. These issues can and will likely be resolved over time as hardware becomes more sophisticated and cheaper to manufacture. Virtually all new technologies are prohibitively expensive and not viable for the average user. After all, back in 2000, the idea that anyone could have a touchscreen computer in their pocket seemed strange to most people.
But there’s another problem that Qualcomm and its partners have to deal with, and it’s one that may simply have no solution: The Snapdragon AR2 chip was specifically designed with distributed processing in mind. In other words, it is meant to be connected to smartphones with their own CPUs in order to offload some of the processes and improve functionality.
Several sales stats were thrown around during the XR Operator Panel. About 15 million VR/AR products were sold in 2022, and that number is projected to grow from 20 million to 25 million by 2023. However, when compared to telephone sales, 1.5 in 2022 a billion sales quantity. So AR/VR sales are literally 1% of phone sales. These numbers certainly show that smart glasses aren’t going to overtake phones anytime soon.
Distributed processing issues can be circumvented fairly easily by dedicated development of chips such as the Snapdragon AR2 and XR2. Sooner or later, there will be a chip capable of powering his high-end AR products without needing to support connected phones.but it doesn’t solve need for phone.
If you can afford the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, it has plenty of processing power to power Qualcomm’s AR chip. (Image credit: Peter Hoffman)
we love mobile phones
Let’s face it: we’re all glued to our phones all the time. According to our reader metrics, it’s statistically more likely that you’re reading this article on your smartphone or tablet. you have a cheap old model or best phone In the market they are indispensable tools in modern times.
Some work needs to be done to replace the products that are fully entrenched in our society.Simply put, smart glasses aren’t going to do that, Chief. lenovo glass t1 , which we also saw at IFA 2022 in Berlin last year, works best when connected to a smartphone, making the smartphone a sort of controller in your hand. A mobile phone can act as a motion controller with virtual pointing capabilities for AR overlays, or use the screen as a large touchpad for user input.
This is great. Both options are intuitive ways to use augmented reality glasses. The feel of a smartphone in your hand is universal, so pairing it with wearables makes sense. Some AR products (such as his aforementioned ThinkReality A3 from Lenovo) use external cameras and hand-tracking software. have understood but cannot provide the same degree of haptic and feedback as a physical controller.
No matter what phone you choose, you can bet your hands will look like this for a good chunk of your free time. (Image credit: Google)
The perfect blend of phone and AR
This is why AR glasses don’t overtake smartphones. and phone. These are accessories that make your phone better, not the next step in the evolution of mobile technology. Saying it will replace your smartphone is like saying keyboards and printers will replace your computer.
Aside from these issues, glasses aren’t as practical as a phone. I don’t wear glasses for my eyesight, but I do have nice sunglasses. I always remember to keep it in its case when not in use to prevent damage. It costs less than a good pair of AR glasses right now.i can slip my google pixel 5 Easily slips in and out of your pocket. The idea of having to wear glasses over your face just to see your notifications sounds silly.
However, Qualcomm isn’t afraid of naysayers like me. Hugo Swart said at MWC, he noted that the idea of a mobile internet was met with resistance when it was first developed. – And well, we all know how it turned out.
But to be honest, I don’t think smart glasses are the way of the future. Honestly, it has more to do with the strengths of smartphones than the weaknesses of wearables. Oppo Find N2 Flip Ultimately, a cell phone’s cultural staying power is important. Think science fiction media. Are you wearing AR goggles? spread No they all have fancy little glass phones.
