Last week was CES.
This year was very interesting, though.
It is the first edition that’s digital-only, so for the first time ever, all attendees
could sit on the couch wearing joggers while streaming the latest keynotes (if they wanted
to).
But this also means that no one got hands-on first impressions, which is a little bit sad.
For VR and AR this year, I didn’t have high hopes, but I’m positively surprised as we
do have some cool hardware announcements that will give us a look into the future of the
best [not biased at all] industry in the world.
Hello all!
Cas here & If you like to see more videos about XR, subscribe if you haven’t yet.
And now, join me for my favorite highlights of CES 2021.
Before we dive into XR headsets, let’s talk about the newly revealed hardware first that
will power our future VR content.
AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA all announced new hardware, and they seem to be all focused on mobile
versions, so for gaming laptops.
AMD announced its new Ryzen 5000 mobile CPUs.
Most are based on the 7nm “Zen 3” core, some on Zen 2.
The AMD CEO claims that this is the most powerful PC processors ever built.
Of course, Intel is also on their tail, announcing their 11th generation H-series CPUs also meant
for the next generation gaming notebooks.
During the AMD keynote, they also fired some shots at Intel with these graphs.
But let’s take this with a pinch of salt until we see some real-world benchmarks.
Then NVIDIA also revealed their mid-range desktop GPU; the RTX 3060 is coming late February
for 329 dollars.
Starting January 26th, RTX 30 series laptops are also coming with some interesting prices.
And look at this stab :’)
I’m glad to see more powerful hardware for more affordable prices, even though I’m
crying with my 2080TI, but this does mean we will get more people in the industry.
I also thought it is interesting that all these brands are focusing so much on laptops.
It looks like that may be where the future’s at for VR.
Then let’s talk about two very cool VR peripherals that look like it came straight out of Ready
Player One.
First of all, bHaptics has officially introduced their VR vests, the Tact Suit X.
Since I covered this before in Update Vriday, I’m not going to get into this again, but
the video link is below.
Then another VR accessory that seems to come right out of science fiction movies.
Senseglove, debut their wireless haptic feedback gloves called Nova.
This isn’t their first gloves, last year, we covered their wired versions, and it was
absolutely incredible as these gloves allow you to feel the shape and density of virtual
objects.
So you could feel the difference between a virtual soft ball or a glass bottle, realistically.
Now, the Senseglove Nova seems to be improved in design, and of course, this time, it’s
wireless, which is very exciting.
Since Senseglove is based here in The Netherlands, they already reached out to us, and we are
excited to share that we’ll be sharing hands-on impressions soon, so I’m not going to go
too deep into detail now.
But if you’re interested to hear a deep dive about their tech already, then check
out my last video on the Senseglove.
That link is below too.
And it’s an immense support to us if you watch more videos 😉
Now, I got some exciting new wearables for ya.
Let’s start with Lenovo.
These are the ThinkReality A3, and they are AR glasses.
It was already leaked before CES, but now officially revealed.
Lenovo says that these glasses are ultraportable, comfortable, and create a customized, expanded
personal workspace anywhere.
Imagine virtual monitors anywhere you want or use them for remote collaboration or 3D
visualization.
These glasses can show up to five virtual 1080p displays and have an 8-megapixel camera
that can provide 1080p video.
It also has room-scale tracking using dual fish-eye cameras.
Can you imagine how clean everyone’s setup will look in the future?
Just buy one of these glasses, and you have enough displays for life.
Plus, I think they look really nice, very subtle.
I’m super excited about this tech; I can see the future workplace here.
Then something a little different, Lenovo also released a VR 360 series about 10 women
in 10 different countries and the burning issues they face.
It’s free to watch on Lenovo.com/newrealities – so if you got some time left.
Now, it seems like AR glasses that look like regular glasses is the norm for this year.
This could also be the case for VR.
HTC predicts the rise of All-in-Two VR devices.
These are VR/AR devices that are lighter because they use an external computing device to display
content like a smartphone.
Unfortunately, that’s all we’ve heard from HTC so far.
But Panasonic does have a very interesting update for us on their very, very cool Steampunk-looking
“all-in-two” VR glasses.
They emerged during last year’s CES.
This year, they modified the design a little with these thicker arms.
It looks like cameras are housed inside, too, as the specs sheet describes that Panasonic
audio and visual technologies are embedded into the VR glasses.
The purpose for these glasses is still not very clear, but they did share that these
glasses have 2.6K micro-OLED panels with HDR capability.
They have adjustment options for IPD and diopter, and to deliver content; you need to connect
these glasses to a PC or 5G-capable smartphones.
Panasonic is apparently trying to solve the problem where VR headsets are bulky and uncomfortable.
They promise the opposite with these glasses and ease of use, making users feel like they
were wearing regular glasses.
How many times am I gonna say regular glasses today?
Last year, they said it was a prototype, so whether it will come out eventually wasn’t
sure.
But now, it seems to be more real, and I’m all for it.
Now Vuzix has taken the smart-glasses-look to another level as it’s getting hard to
distinguish these from standard glasses.
What gives them away are the cameras & sensors in the front.
They will come in different configurations; all come with noise-canceling microphones
& stereo speakers.
They all connect to a smartphone, but optional things are how they connect.
Either via WiFi, Bluetooth, and optional LTE.
But the most exciting thing is how Vuzix’s tech maps the image onto the inside of the
glass; these latest glasses are powered by microLED technology.
Both displays have them, and they show a stereoscopic monochrome or colored image on both lenses
at a variety of pixel densities and resolutions.
No price has been given yet, but Vuzix says they should come out this summer already.
Now let’s take a short break from glasses, and let’s look at this....
This is a humanoid robot by Pollen Robotics that can be controlled remotely with VR.
Look, they’re even using the Valve Index.
It seems to work very well without much latency, and it can even perform complicated tasks
like baking a muffin I think in an oven.
So..
Back to glasses.
CREAL showed its first light-field VR & AR headset prototypes.
Light-fields are interesting for our industry as they provide a genuine representation of
how we see light from the real world.
If you want to know more about this tech, I recommend reading up on this with our friends
RoadToVR.com, as they did a good job explaining everything.
So CREAL already showed off their light-field display technology before.
But now, they were able to fit them in much smaller form factors.
On these images, you can see that back in Q1 2020, CREAL’s headset prototypes were
massive, not something I would wear.
But only a year later, they have been able to shrink them into more comfortable looking
headsets.
This is a through-the-lens demo of the AR prototype.
This is a tethered headset that uses an Intel RealSense sensor for 6DoF tracking and Ultraleap
for hand-tracking.
This is a through-the-lens video of the VR headset.
This headset also uses an Intel RealSense sensor for 6DoF tracking but includes eye-tracking
from Pupil labs.
CREAL does not plan on releasing these headsets, however.
Instead, they are using these as demos to showcase their technology.
In the future, they hope to supply their display technology to headset manufacturers.
CREAL also claims that next year, they can fit their light-field tech into even more
compact form factors.
TCL also revealed their Wearable Display, which has been in the works for years, but
now is announced they will become commercially available later this year.
Interestingly, these glasses are, as the name gave it away, just a display that you can
wear.
By connecting these glasses to a device with a USB-C capable of video out, the TCL will
show a screen in front of you that looks like a 140-inch display from four meters away.
The glasses feature dual 1080p mini-OLED screens, and a small processor to run the screens.
That’s all they’re made for.
The company says to be working with an unnamed content subscription partner to bring it to
the US as part of a bundle deal with a 5G-enabled phone.
Even though these are not AR glasses, I still think these kinds of concepts are very interesting.
I tried glasses like this before, and it used Samsung’s DeX mode to display my Android
phone but then as an operating system that looks just like Windows.
My phone then turned into the mouse and keyboard, and it felt like I was using a computer.
So I feel like these kinds of wearable displays could become a nice alternative to pcs for
work.
Ok question of the day.
If the price isn’t an issue, I’m curious.
Would you get a pair of AR glasses or wearable displays this year?
Let me know in the comments below, as well as which one you would get.
Time for the last highlight, and it’s about standalone VR.
NOLO unveiled a couple of new VR headsets.
First have the Nolo CV1 Air; this is not a 6DoF head but a 6DoF tracking kit designed
for the Huawei VR Glass and similar VR headsets.
There’s the Nolo X1; this is a 6DoF standalone headset with a Qualcomm XR1 CPU, 3GB of RAM,
96-degree FoV, 75Hz refresh rate, and a 2.6K or 4K screen resolution option.
The headset allows for wireless streaming of cloud VR content over 5G or WiFi.
I like the concepts with cloud streaming, and it’s nice having more alternatives to
the Oculus Quest 2.
However, I’m not a big fan of the NOLO tracking system and controllers.
I tried this system on a DPVR headset before, and the tracking was subpar as the tracking
range was very small and the controllers decalibrated easily.
It could be that this is improved since the software should be different on these newer
headsets.
But we gotta see hands-on impressions first.
Now, I am happy to see Nolo has moved away from this tracking system with this Quest
2 look-a-like.
This standalone headset uses the companies own SodarTraq ultrasonic positioning technology
and a dual camera SLAM system to deliver 6DoF inside-out tracking.
No other specs have been released yet.
So for all these headsets, I am looking forward to seeing actual real-world impressions, but
I guess we have to wait for that.
So before we end this video, I asked you on a YouTube community post whether you had anything
you wanted to see from us from CES 2021.
Thanks for your comments there!
I wanted to answer one of these questions.
This is from The Black Neon: Best ways to workspace in VR!
Most of the things I mentioned today are things that are not released yet but later on.
So I wanted to quickly give some suggestions for working in VR now.
Like a couple of useful productivity apps are Immersed VR or Collabhub.
Big Screen can also be used for this, and you can try the free WebXR collaboration tool
Mozilla Hubs.
It’s best to use these apps with a high-resolution headset, though, like the Quest 2, because
then the text is still readable.
Using a combination of apps like these is currently a nice way to a workspace in VR.
I don’t think there is one best way yet, but as you could see in the video.
There is a lot of movement in the XR industry that wants to expand workspaces at home, which
is most likely accelerated due to COVID.
Right now, this tech is mostly for enterprise, but it usually starts there, and if it’s
successful, we will for sure see it for the consumer market too.
We just got to be a little more patient.
So what’s your favorite CES 2021 highlight?
Let me know in the comments below, and I hope you enjoyed this video.
If you got some time left, why not watch some more to support us.
A special thanks go to all our Champions, especially these Patrons down below.
As always, VR on!