Xiaomi presented its new AR glasses in front of some members of the press. We were able to see a quick grab without using them ourselves. Our first impressions are good.
Xiaomi surprised everyone by introducing a slightly different product than usual at MWC 2023: the Xiaomi Wireless AR Smart Glass Discovery Edition (which we’ll call Xiaomi Glass throughout this article if you don’t mind). frandroid I was lucky enough to be able to attend a presentation of the glasses and see them wearing them. What to have a slightly more precise idea of the concept.
Because on paper, the device incorporates a large number of technologies. They tell us about Micro Oled, Xiaomi AR Gesture Control, an angular resolution or PPD (pixels per degree) close to 60… in short, we were a bit lost and scared before the somewhat captivating and disembodied product. In fact, we have seen them and can confirm that they exist, although they will probably never appear in this form or for several generations.
use cases
Let’s start with the arrangement of these glasses. Taking a closer look at them gave us a better understanding of where each item was. Instead of a glass that would house a screen, here there are two layers: a first with a Micro Oled screen, therefore relatively thick, then a second that mimics traditional glasses. Thanks to the use of “electrochromic” lenses, the glass in this second layer, the one that your interlocutors actually see from the outside, can take on a more smoky tone. You can choose between the so-called transparent aspect and the so-called “immersive” aspect that allows you to isolate yourself from the world.
Source: Xiaomi
Source: Xiaomi
Source: Xiaomi
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The glasses are intended to be as light as possible, as Abi Go, Xiaomi’s product marketing manager in charge of the presentation, reminds us, who lists three components for their manufacture: carbon fiber, a magnesium-lithium alloy and a battery in silicon. and oxygen anode. All this to fill your glasses with technology and allow them to reach a weight of 126 g.
No doubt he will tell us: all these technologies are very good, but what are the uses of such an object? Xiaomi’s presentation went out of its way to show us some of them. One of the two glasses wearers we saw, for example, scrolled through web pages with simple gestures. What caught our attention was that these gestures were anything but broad, they were small finger movements, very dry and precise. We hope this bodes well for some real sailing with little onions.
Source: Xiaomi
Source: Xiaomi
The other interesting use that was presented to us is that of video games. On the large table that crossed the presentation appeared, at least to the eyes of the wearer of glasses, a tank harassed by small enemies. By using his smartphone as a controller, he was able to play in front of us in augmented reality. A very nice promise, but let’s remember that the first virtual reality headsets did more or less the same thing in their time. Let’s hope that the technological advance offered by Xiaomi and its competitors will finally allow us to transform this old fantasy of augmented reality games into… reality precisely.
Our journalist Titouan Gourlin is in Barcelona to cover MWC 2023 in its entirety, but he is present there as part of a press trip organized by Xiaomi.
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