Thanks to my friends at @ThirdEye I was able to spend three days with 7,000 of the best innovators, thought leaders and entrepreneurs in the wearables industry. As I listened, demoed and asked questions I got a feeling we are about to see the world change and these are the people that are going to help make it happen.
There was something for everyone, from the enterprise to learner and gaming, marketing and more. companies working to improve the VR experience, others showcasing great use cases in the enterprise to companies enabling the creative side in everyone. Here are some of the highlights that got me excited.
My creative side was excited to see Logitech’s VR Ink stylus. This lightweight device has taken the unfamiliar controller and brought a real stylus to the virtual world. The stylus allows you to create a beautiful three-dimensional sculpture in virtual reality. The natural feel makes it easy to use. Though no price or release date yet, this will spark lots of creativity.
Adobe announces Project Aero. The application allows you to use content created in Illustrator, Photoshop, tilt brush, etc and place it in reality. Both 3D and 2D imaging that you create can be placed and viewed with your phone. Aero could be the beginning of more great street art without the defacing of walls and sidewalks. The app will be free and released later this year.
This year also brought announcements for consumer Smart Glasses. nReal surprised many with their nReal Light Glasses at just $499 coming in early 2020. At that price, it will need to be tethered to a phone however it makes it light, fashionable and powerful. They also announced their nReal developer kit with the compute device shipping later this year for just $1,299. This could be a great alternative to the Magic Leap at half the price.
For the enterprise Augmented Reality had a lot of software and hardware announcements this year. Most notable was the Lenovo ThinkReality Platform. Their device was polished and well thought out. It is similar to the HoloLens in form factor and perhaps a little lighter, however it is tethered. The software demo was also very polished and I can definitely see where companies might prefer it because it is Lenovo. It is nice to see the mainstream companies investing in the space.
nReal also spoke about enterprise applications for there device and at $499 it might do well. The sub $500 dollar device is something the industry has been looking for. I was also very happy to see ThirdEye continue to push forward the X2 MR glasses. They are a nice binocular device that fills the whole ODG left behind. At $1950 it is at a good price for the category and just about ready to ship.
Vuzix was also demoing their latest device the m400. Running Android 8.1 OS and using Qualcomm’s XR1 chip, it is speedy and the new LED screen is a great upgrade.
Finally, I had the opportunity to try the Varjo XR-1. This is their human eye resolution VR headset with camera sensors. The headset resolution was almost perfect but it was the mixed reality demo that showed us the future XR. The Volvo looks as it was just parked in front of you and then you are transported to the streets of Europe with impeccable resolution. But perhaps the best feature was the ability to see the people around you as if they were in the scene and hold a conversation.
Ready Player One and Minority Report may not be here yet but they are getting closer.