hey everybody its norm from Testim and
welcome back to projections where this
week where we talking augmented reality
cuz happening right now is this year's
augmented world expo although it's
happening virtually as when i a will
actually go to a convention and meet in
person but it was at last year's
augmented world expo that we got our
first hands-on with the end real light
these are a pair of AR glasses of an in
development and very excitedly earlier
this month they haven't launched the
pre-orders for their developer kit and n
real very generously also was able to
send us a pair of developer kits so yes
we're going hands-on with the n real
light developer kit which is basically
their five hundred dollar consumer in
our glasses or planning on shipping in
the future along with this compute unit
which is basically an Android phone
equivalent running a Qualcomm 845
processor and it's there for a tethered
connection for a our glasses but first
of all let's talk about the technology
in a our headsets as it stands today
since they're a bunch that go into
headsets ranging from hololens to things
like the magic leap and also headsets
like the end green light now magic leap
and hololens use a display technology
called wave guides we talked about them
before where they essentially our
manufacturing special optics that pipe
light into the actual lenses themselves
to then display while the in real light
uses a reliable type of display
technology called birdbath optics and
it's called that because you essentially
have two displays on the top here in
this very developed form factor and as
you can see if you look through what
looked like a pair of sunglasses the top
part of the lenses here are masked off
that's where all the display and lensing
optics
are so we essentially have our two of
these I think Sony displays high pixel
density 1080p point seven inch diagonal
displays OLED micro displays mounted
here that aim the image downward and
then if you look at the inside there's a
beam splitter right
right there see that's how it's angled
diagonally right there and so the image
goes down it then hits it forward into
what's essentially a one-way mirror
it's a combiner and that's this lens
here and then so light can pass through
from the outside world to your eyes as
well as that projected image from these
two displays into your eyes as well to
combine and then you see these essential
projections of these virtual objects in
your field of view now while they're a
bunch of air headsets that use similar
birdbath optics style design not all of
them are created equal it all boils down
to not only the displays that are chosen
but also the actual physical design of
the optics what types of lenses are
being used the placements relatively to
other all of the calibration needed to
make sure the image you see is then a
stereo image project in real space with
minimal artifacting which image quality
something we'll definitely talk about in
just a moment now you also notice that
these are basically fixed lenses so
there's no IPD adjustment and andriola
says that this should be comfortable for
anyone within like the 53 273 millimeter
IPD distance or someone like me with IPD
in the high 60s it was still very
comfortable at no headaches no
discomfort looking at these images for a
long period of time and they do fit over
my glasses so I did use them both over
my glasses by preferred to use them
without my glasses and for me I could
still see the images clearly but if you
do need a prescription
there are inserts that you can then get
lenses for that magnetically attached so
you can see it clearly if you need
glasses let's talk a little bit more
about the speed and speeds real quickly
because they did manage to pack a lot of
technology in this form factor if you
look the outside there are a bunch of
sensors so of course there is an IMU and
accelerometer inside they can very
clearly see there are also three cameras
on the outside there are two
black-and-white spatial cameras with a
120 degree field of view and these look
out into the world and do the slam map
in do plane detection
see flat surfaces walls tables your
floor as well as an RGB camera and video
camera photo camera it's five megapixel
right here I can't tap into that right
now with the applications but the idea
is then you can also do video capture a
photo capture or also hand tracking
there is an ambient light sensor right
here as well on the inside there's a
proximity sensor that turns on and off
the display when you put it on and then
control wise there are two sets of
controls on the underside of these arms
you have volume control as well as
brightness control and the brightness
control doubles as a mode toggle to see
the Android menu the home screen versus
what's essentially the image piped out
and then they're also stereo microphones
and stereo speakers all that built into
this headset there's no dedicated power
here because power is run through this
USBC cable which plugs into the compute
unit and that's what makes this similar
to magic leap in the sense of it's a
compute being something that you wear as
up on your hip or your pocket as opposed
something that's built into the headset
that you wear like with a hololens where
it's all on your head I actually like
this form factor a lot I didn't find
this cable get in the way it only the
touches over on the compute unit side so
it doesn't have a disconnect on the
headset side but there makes the headset
much lighter than it would be if they
had all of the battery all of the
compute on the headset this is 88 grams
which well most of the hardware is kind
of front loaded because of the displays
and the optics are still very
comfortable to wear while using these
demos also on the compute unit you have
micro USB for power although data if you
want to plug it into a computer to do
your development is over that USBC cable
or you can do it over tcp/ip over your
local Wi-Fi network and on the top here
is the controller so it's a three Dolf
controller three axis it's not
positionally track
it's basically accelerometer with you
know your standard up-down left-right
white control
and I think they chose that because then
you would also have parity if you plug
this into an Android phone running a
Qualcomm processor 8:45 or newer select
phones because then you use that phone
itself as the controller and use
accelerometer and the touchscreen on
your phone to substitute for this
controller so out-of-the-box want to
reiterate that this is not the shipping
consumer version this is very clearly
the developer kits and so there's a lot
of the full experience that we're not
being able to test or talk about at this
time but we can talk about are things
like the image quality the optics the
ergonomics the general usability what it
feels like to wear this for long periods
of time as well as the basic demos that
come pre-loaded with this developer kit
so let's first talk about image quality
and a caveat the images that you're
seeing right now are captured off of my
phone and a handheld camera and it's
really tough to capture what you see
through the lenses here because you're
why they're focusing on the projected
image and exposure exposing for the
projected image or you're capturing and
trying to see the the world around it
and there is a big difference because of
the tinting required in the birdbath
optic design so you shouldn't judge what
you see on screen right now as a full
and accurate visual representation of
the experience of actually wearing this
headset because the images that I saw an
experience were pretty great that small
OLED screen high pixel density at 1080
meant that the images were vivid they
were crisp they were sharp the contrast
was great I could see fine details I
could imagine reading text without any
problem when it's within that field of
view and these images felt and looked
solid the pixel fill was very good with
this display now contrast was also good
and most of my use was indoors and there
are optimal use conditions for displays
like this you know a normally lit room
with overhead lights whether the daytime
or nighttime image
gonna look good but stepping outdoors I
would try using this in my backyard and
right across the street from my house
images start to get washed out it's
harder to see these projections yeah
under the luminance of the sky even
though it is tinted a little darker then
using it indoors I do think they are in
the short term especially with this type
of optics is gonna be meant to be use
indoors looking at objects in your room
on your desk as opposed to on the
sidewalk or on the street now feel the
view is something which you definitely
talk about it's because one of those
attributes that we're always cognizant
of and we're putting on whether a VR
headset or an AR headset we want to see
these projected images in their entirety
and not have them cropped off or cut off
abruptly when we're looking at them and
every VR had said every AR headset is
gonna have its limitations based on its
optical design the same applies here and
real saying that their headset has about
52 degree diagonal field of view and
much like our experience last year
that's good for certain types of imagery
certain types of content that you're
looking at and it's certain distances so
if you're looking at an object that's
like yea big and it's you know maybe
simulated five feet away from you you're
gonna be able to see that entire object
but if you want to see something like a
projected 100 inch flat screen if you
place it within three feet of you you're
not gonna be able to see it and there is
a certain sweet spot in terms of the
distance because the way these optics
are the sign it doesn't solve for the
convergence accomodation conflict they
get stereo 3d through convergence
through your left eye right eye seeing
different images and then your brain
interpreting that as being 3d in a
position in space you know a couple feet
in front of you but you can't with one
eye shift focus as you would with a
light field display which is ways away
we think in terms of being ready for
consumers so there really is a nice
sweet spot for the type of images and
for the menu options displayed here for
a lot of the demo objects whether it's a
hologram
the person singing or a model of a skull
or an exploded diagram of a robot place
you know again that three feet four feet
away from you on a tabletop surface
you're gonna be able to see the entirety
of that image but once you get close
then your brain tries to focus in places
they may not be and also it does the
same thing that magically did if you get
too close there is a clipping plane
where if you get maybe under a foot
close ten inches close the model then
clips away and it won't show that image
which is a reasonable solution right now
for these type of displays another thing
I notice is that the 60 Hertz refresh
rate of these panels well it made the
images look solid and locked in place as
I was stare at them and kind of move my
head around them if I shook my head
really quickly I did notice a little bit
of smearing of the pixels as a visual
artifact and so image persistence while
good is not really made for fast
movement of the head it's not the same
type of artifacting you'd notice with
like a DLP display that rainbow effect
when you move your head quickly but it's
definitely something noticeable here and
I think attributed to that 60 Hertz
refresh rate but I got a commend and
real I think they did a really great job
on this optical design and while there
are you know minor artifacts that you
get with all birdbath type optics in
terms of you know very light ghosting in
the periphery and depending on how much
bright lights coming in from the outside
world you see some mirroring of images
below you which you can kind of see in
this video capture as long as the
content you have is clear in the center
and the content was very very clear in
these my brain just didn't notice any of
those artifacts I was focused on the
content and the tracking was good enough
that the content was really locked solid
in place above my floor above tables and
the slam was was pretty good I could
walk into other rooms come back and
images were retained no the one thing
was like occlusion I couldn't put my
hand over the images and lock that out
or go around
and so that's something that maybe in
software they can improve on in the
future
ergonomically like I said the 88 grams
here did make this very comfortable and
it's worth pointing out that you know
the sunglasses style design is something
that obviously they wanted to go for to
make this socially acceptable right we
want these AR glasses that you can wear
in public
that look like sunglasses or wouldn't
look necessarily out of the ordinary and
that's an interesting design choice
because you know microsoft hololens is
going completely the opposite way
they're targeting enterprise customers
they want to below when you're wearing
an AR headset when you're wearing a
hololens you know you're wearing an AR
headset and that could be for comfort so
you know that you know whether you're
interacting with someone wearing the
headset oh they're wearing something
there may not need to look at me or they
meet have cameras on their headset but
also acknowledging that right now AR is
being used not in the real world being
used in you know defined spaces or
people are either in their work
environments at home or doing things for
industry and you don't have to worry as
much about that social acceptance now
this design though I think really lends
itself to being something that you can
take on and off easily and that's I
think the biggest benefit of this it
wasn't about this blending in and
looking like sunglasses I would wear out
at the park of the beach we can't even
go there right now during about lockdown
it's more about the ease of removal and
ease of putting long because these
weren't glasses that I found myself
wearing all day long I wasn't I tried
you know leaving them on eating lunch
trying to interact with my family while
also running through these demos that
wasn't really working it was something
that I was keeping in the office maybe
wearing the living rooms try a couple
times and it's something that very easy
again super easy to put on pop off and I
could see being tethered to a phone or a
computer to then pipe that content to
hear discrete use like you would kind of
use with you know tether list VR headset
right now not kind of the same
persistence use that you would have with
a wearable SmartWatch or even your
smartphone it actually going for my
smartphone
flipping through messages on my iPhone
was something that was very very usable
with this design I think that was
something smart they did as well where
they didn't try to have these lenses
these optics obscure your entire field
of view they weren't trying to go for
that there's this expectation that when
you put this on you can still see what's
below you like I can still pull my phone
and look at it and read messages and
then switch attention between the
imagery on the display here or the
imagery on my phone kind of like you
would looking at a TV and then going
into your phone as well this isn't gonna
be replacing smart phones it's gonna be
used alongside smart phones I think part
of that also is because you know there
is the dimming of the outside world
through these lenses and because they
don't solve for convergence and
accommodation when you're focused on the
content you're focused on the content
not looking through and then reading
your computer screen reading through
these lenses it's more about the comfort
of seeing the projected image while also
being aware of your surroundings that's
what makes more sense to me for a are in
the near term now let's talk about the
content because like I said at the top
this is not the consumer experience and
we don't know what an reals you know
operating systems gonna look like what
you do get right now out of the box is a
small selection of demos when you've
loaded up you have the option to change
your settings for brightness and volume
and then launch into either a loop of
demos which you can see right now it's
like goes through some examples of what
you know tabletop gaming could look like
what miniature building could look like
what 3d model viewing could look like or
holographic projections of you know
captured imagery could look like or a
projected flat screen tied to your wall
those are examples they also had a few
demos of things like a cat running
around and you can use the three Dolf
controller to point around and the
virtual cat would follow around and and
you know exist in that space and have a
little bit of persistence that was
pretty neat there was also a demo that
but it essentially would look like a
Stargate it was very much a Stargate
ripoff a portal in the middle of your
space and it allowed you to really show
the power of the spatial tracking the
slam of that portal being locked in you
could see the parallax if you move the
long left and right side of it because
behind the portal was this big space
battle and then you could also then
yourself walk through the portal and see
the space battle as well as again being
comfortable still acknowledging the real
world around you now and real also this
month announced that they are developing
their own content and one of that is a
kind of multiplayer tower defense game
called unreal tower and I was able to
load that up though not play with anyone
else right now how many people have
these and that required a big tracking
marker you print out and put on the
table and then you got to see this
really cool landscape displayed in front
of you with AI enemies that then you
would you know point your three dog
controller and fire at and while the
game itself wasn't complete because I
wasn't really playing the full
multiplayer experience I used as an
opportunity once again to examine that
landscape examine the 3d geometry detail
and I think the Qualcomm b45 processor
can do a really good job of rendering
really detail environment so reminded me
a lot of you know Lucky's tale for the
oculus when that first launched that
type of visual style and I do think a
lot of developers when they're making
their Android games for AR glasses will
maybe lend themselves toward that style
it's pretty cool to see that demo now
again there's so many things that we we
don't know we're not able to test yet
things like hand tracking you know will
the field of view of these external
cameras be good enough to do skeletal
modeling because I do want positional
interaction not just the three Dolf
controller
I think that's suitable for media
playing but if you want real interaction
with these objects I'm gonna want
something else and speed controllers
you know there's Bluetooth so will I be
able to pair like a gamepad play gamepad
games with this what their OS will look
like a lot of magic leaps resources was
put into developing their lumens OS
which was a full skin and AR skin on top
of Android and I don't know what n real
lanzar for that yep I do think that's
kind of essential for the consumer space
to make it easy for consumers to browse
through applications the side load to
configure their settings and also feel
like there is a persistent you know
interface around you and we don't know
what the killer apps will be for for a
are just such a wide spectrum of AR
technologies and AR experiences and I do
think for experience that this headset
provides I would love to see an easy way
to display 3d model some of the most
compelling parts of the demo experience
here was be able to walk around 3d
models I'd love be able to download
things obj files from the internet
something skin something textured people
just load it in quickly throw it up have
it locked into space and then be able to
actually examine it and be able to scale
up and down I think that's that would be
a really neat kind of killer app for
productivity and speaking of which I
really would love the ability to mirror
you know a desktop mirror my PC or a Mac
OS desktop and have that not just locked
into the headset but locked into space
floating in front of you I think that
would be an immediate easy way to take
advantage of these glasses because the
real question is will developers support
this and I do think there's potential in
this technology for this to be
compelling and the price port they're
going for at $500 for users will make
adoption more easier but you know will
developers spend months and months
working on games and will gain this be
enough to be a killer application for
people to pick this up and play for more
than just that first time and not sit in
their drawer all these are questions to
be answered as unreal moves toward their
consumer launch hopefully sooner than
later but this is super intriguing and I
can't wait to have more applications
it's a side load on the here the test
out we'll be sharing those experiences
with you guys in the future for sure so
thanks for watching if you have
questions about the Unreal Lite things
you'd like me to try out please post
them in the comments below I want to
thank unreal for sending this because
super interesting and I can't wait for
more people to get their hands on them
it's what developers as well to make
that content thanks for watching again
see you next time
