I Wore Snap’s New Self Contained AR Spectacles and Snap OS video [CNET]

A self-contained new set of AR glasses can go outdoors, work with phones, connect with ChatGPT, and work with groups of people. But these big glasses also show how much work still needs to be done.

Snap self contained A R glasses, bring all sorts of Snapchat visual effects into the real world, but they’re not made for your eyes yet. The future of A R looks like it’s heading to everyday glasses so far. I’ve been looking at things like the Apple Vision Pro Meta Quest three. These VR headsets that can project virtual things onto the real world by showing you a camera feed that overlays that it looks really cool, but it’s not the same as everyday glasses. And then I recently traveled out to look at what companies are doing things. They make things like everyday glasses, but they connect with computers and phones. Snapchats, new Snap spectacles are totally self contained, but there are subscription pair of glasses for developers. They’re $99 a month. So certainly not meant for everyday eyes and they have limitations. They’re big. If you see them on my face, they’re not something I would wear around every day. They are compatible with prescription lenses, but they didn’t have my prescription for the demo. So I had to look at things through a couple of steps lower in prescription and things were a little bit fuzzy but I’m used to the territory. They also have twin Qualcomm system on chip processors, one on each arm. But I don’t know which type they wouldn’t tell me they also use if you’re into tech costs projector technology which then shines onto little wave guides which are rainbow colored patches on the lenses that basically project out the 3d effect. These glasses only have 45 minutes of battery life, which is not a lot, but it could be enough for developers to at least explore in some test environments. How apps perform the thing about these glasses that’s new compared to the one in 2021 is that there’s a whole new Os on this Snap Os and it runs multiple apps. It allows phone connection and it can also do things like run a browser. I watched a youtube video on it, you know, it has limits, it doesn’t allow a lot of multitasking, but that’s there. And they’re aiming to make it feel more like a complete system. The viewing area is smaller than a VR headset. It’s about 46 degrees and it looked kind of like this when I was looking around almost like a phone window projected onto the real world. Nice vertically will cramped horizontally to interact with Snap Os, use your hands so much like Apple Vision Pro or the Quest Three, I was able to use my hands to either reach out directly or to tap and pinch from a distance but doesn’t have eye tracking. Uh But at least it does have that hand tracking using its onboard cameras. But I got to see a whole bunch of snap visual effects transplanted onto the real world. A painting app where I got to overlay different plants onto objects. Furniture, recognize those things. I got to navigate a solar system using A I to recognize my voice and chat and these glasses are chat GP T compatible. They’re going to eventually work in generative A I to have conversations to pull up things in A R I actually was able to have a conversation and generate little 3d emojis that were generated uh via generative A I. But I found the experience was pretty mixed. You know, sometimes it wouldn’t really recognize what I was saying. And other times I created like a hamburger dinosaur. There are other apps I looked at too, including some other partners that are not with this company, niantic, which has been looking at air glasses for years has a test app of paradise, which is a virtual pet. I’ve tried on my phone and on Quest three and they have it on this. I could walk around and check it out. So why is this any different than a mixed reality headset? There are a couple of things this is doing that are really unique. One, obviously, it’s smaller two. It works with phones. Snap already has a Snapchat app and this is not only compatible with that for setting it up, but it allows you to use phones as a controller. I was able to control remote helicopters and a r using a phone. I was also able to use the phone as a golf putter to do some golf swings. And you can also show other people what you’re looking at. If you take a look at me constructing Lego bricks on a phone, you can check that out but very similar to what you’d see in mixed reality on headset. Sometimes the performance wasn’t quite up to par and other times it looked fine, but it’s a developer headset. I’m really curious where else it goes. The other thing this does that’s really unique is it’s meant for the outdoors. This has auto dimming lenses that be able to uh sort of almost like transition lenses, adjust and show you virtual objects more clearly outside. Like my little adorable virtual pet, my paradox that I kept petting. It was pretty cute. And the other thing it does is collaboration. There are multiple people that can wear the glasses and interact together on something that you see or even scan the environment. I tried some interactive painting stuff. And the idea is to maybe use this in outdoor spaces, maybe a concert, maybe art installation, maybe something educational to test where it’s possible. They also can use the cameras on board to let developers start figuring out experiences that can see what you’re seeing. But snaps doing this on a kind of experimental, it looks like getting that camera access may mean that some of the apps are offline. Although some of those elements of camera access are going to work with chat G BT as well. I think it’s interesting because a lot of the mixed reality headsets right now, lock down camera access for developers and it means that that kind of magical. Can you recognize my world? Part of a hasn’t been happening yet, but Snap is trying to go there. Others will too. There’s a little led light that tells you about privacy when you’re using the cameras. But I’m curious how that feels in the real world and clearly Snap is trying to figure this out. What are the possibilities for this? As hopefully the glasses get more portable or connect with phones more easily. It’s an early look at some of the tech that’s coming and other companies are trying to make bare leaps in this too, but nobody has made a self contained pair of a glasses yet except for Snap that I can think of. And this shows exactly what’s capable and exactly where the growing pains are.