CES 2024 AR glasses bonanza
There’s a lot to digest from the recent Consumer Electronic Show 2024 and just as well I’m currently on leave to try and, pardon the pun, consume it all. For now I’m focusing on what what was presented on the augmentative reality front and their impact on spatial computing.
This year saw offering from major IT companies that focused on wearables that, well, look like wearables should from an everyday perspective and not just for the ski fields. Three of the units stood out to me from the reviews of those (fortunate?) enough to attend the actual show are:
- XREAL’s Air 2 Ultra
- XanderGlasses
- TCL’s RayNeo X2 Lite
- ViXion 01
So what accessibility features stood out for me? Apart from the fact each unit doesn’t require a tethered battery pack (apart for longer term daily use) or smartphone this is what has impressed me about each of the units.
Air 2 Ultra
Six degrees of freedom and hand tracking anyone? For a unit so (relatively) small the XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses are a significant feature set in comparison to the larger and more expensive mixed reality sets like the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest Pro.
XanderGlasses
I’ve heard of the XanderGlasses from various social media posts and their ability to provide real-time captioning seems unworldly. What I would be curious to see is how accurate the translations are from different accents and dialects as this is reliant on the data model used. Of course the other question being how adjustable is the screen font to accommodate people with a vision impairment?
RayNeo X2 Lite
AI smart assistant? Check. 3D map navigation? Check. Real time translation for up to eight languages? Check. The RayNeo X2 Lite glasses have technical specs better than a lot of mid range smartphones. I am currently researching more about this unit in terms of its accessibility particularly for people who are blind or have a vision impairment.
ViXion 01
Now whilst not intended for AR the ViXion 01 glasses purport to provide automatic focus on what you are viewing therefore eliminating the need for multiple pairs of glasses. Curious how these would adapt for people with different baseline visual acuities in each eye.
Suffice to say one day I would relish the opportunity to see these technologies demonstrated first hand but given I’m on the other side of the world from Vegas that’s not going to happen any time soon.
