The fleeting nature of virtual and augmented reality is matched only by the ubiquity of the technology at CES 2023.
Honestly, it felt a bit like the mid-XNUMXs, when every single tech company had an internet strategy. Now practically everyone on the planet has a way of superimposing images on the real world or diving into fantasy images.
The driving force behind this is hardware, and CES 2023 was full of . There were many on the floor: many AR Glass companies, unafraid to jump into the dangerous gap that once engulfed Google Glass.
But the real leaders are Meta, Magic Leap and HTC. At the same time that the once-secret, now newly released Magic Leap was on the floor of metaverse space encouraging everyone to run through a series of corporate arenas, Meta and Vive were offering invitation-only demos of their latest gear at the ballrooms. dance hall in the nearby hotel.
I started with a visit to Magic Leap where I met the company's CTO, Julie Larson Green, a retired Microsoft Windows legend who helps lead Magic Leap's transition from inscrutable, over-promising prodigy to practical, concrete AR headset. for industry, factories, response to disasters, etc.
As we chatted in the crowded booth about Magic Leap's early promise, Green told me, "The technology was too early and the consumer scenarios weren't as clear."
The company however is another story. Industry, factories and even the medical operating room "are used to wearing things on their faces."
Green encouraged me to get the latest headset, the Magic Leap 2, which is fifty percent lighter and smaller than the original. It also has a new and powerful adapted AMD SoC.
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(Image credit: future)(Image credit: future)(Image credit: future)(Image credit: future)(Image credit: future)Unlike the new HTC Vive XR Elite and Meta Quest Pro, Magic Leap 2 maintains its slim silhouette by putting the battery and processor in a separate grommet that you can wear on your belt. This has the effect of making the helmet lightweight and very comfortable to wear. It also means that you're going to have a wire running from the disk to your head, and I could feel the disk on my hip.
As promised, the Magic Leap 2 headset was comfortable to wear. I tried a scenario where I was standing on a replica of the Hoover Dam, and we played our emergency rest until an explosion. The graphics were good and the -XNUMX degree field of view meant that the slightly ironic bombardment seemed to be all around me. Using the supervisor, I put police cars and officers all over the virtual landscape. Meanwhile, I could still see my real planet.
Larson claimed that Magic Leap was working with NVIDIA on their "Omniverse" idea, but buzzwords aside, the association helped bring ray tracing support to headsets.
While the original Magic Leap was often discussed in muted and stunning tones and few had ever seen the demos in person, this release from the company and its new management has to do with utility. In my experience, I think they get the useful part, and even at $XNUMX, you might have a chance in business.
Where Magic Leap ditched its magician clothes for a costume, HTC is at the forefront of immersive and augmented experiences for everyone.
It's been a while since I've worn a Vive VR headset. The original device I tried was VR-only and required beacons placed around a room to learn its location; the HTC Vive XR Elite is completely self-contained. It has also been redesigned to be lighter and support AR and VR.
HTC put together twelve trials to try, but first I had to get used to the new headset, which is now more like a pair of glasses on a padded head ring. You press it on the head with a huge button on the back. As with the Magic Leap headphones, I had to remove the lenses to use them. There are little dials around the lenses on the HTC Vive XR Elite that let you adjust the focus, and you can move the eyepieces farther apart or closer to match your pupillary distance. On the screen, you will see a green grid that will help you position the lenses properly.
None of this was hard enough or took more than a while. For auxiliary support of the helmet, there is a thin rubber band that is worn over the top of the head. I found the fit extremely comfortable.
The demos did a great job of highlighting the HTC Vive XR Elite's specs and capabilities.
I used the two included controllers and my hands to interact with the games. Throughout something called Professor in which he conducted an orchestra, one hand held a remote control that he used to hold, play, and wave a virtual baton. My other hand was free and I used it to signal, in line, to multiple sections of the orchestra. I was surprised to see that the Vive XR Elite recognized the movement of all 5 fingers of my free hand. I'm sure the quad cameras and 3D depth sensor play a role here.
I played a game called Hubris that stood out primarily for how the system intuitively read my swimming, grappling, and climbing movements.
In the AR realm, I played Yuki, a game in which aliens emerge from holes in the walls. I did my best to take them all down with one hand because the other one in the game was incomprehensibly useless. The mixed reality effect was quite forceful.
I also drew in 3D with Gesture AR, which was very similar to Tilt Brush.
My favorite was the kayak. For this experiment, they sat me in a chair, handed me a real kayak paddle rigged with trackers near each yellow paddle, and then let me row. Again, the effect and motion trap made me think I could kayak on the real world.
Part of the reason everything looks so good is the HTC Vive XR Elite's 2K per eye LCD display. It also scores points for having a great walk-through camera which helped make AR experiences more engaging.
(*two*)
Me celebrating my HTC Vive XR Elite experience. (Image credit: Future)At two hours, battery life is surprisingly good, but I was more impressed that the battery is hot-swappable. When you take it, the device stays on because there's a small XNUMX-minute battery backup attached to the system.
When the system ships in February for €XNUMX, it'll beat out its closest Meta Quest Pro challenger by a few hundred bucks, but that system has a good charging base and remote controls that no longer require the ring. LEDs all around you.
Look, I'm not quite ready to say Metaverse is a thing yet, but VR and AR take substantial leaps from year to year, if not every 6 months. Hardware is becoming lighter and more powerful, and software keeps pace with ever more compelling and immersive experiences.
And to think that we have not even seen what Apple has up its sleeve.
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