Oppo had a lot to showcase during it’s Oppo Inno Day event in China. While the company was expected to make a bunch of announcements regarding its plan for 5G, we certainly didn’t expect the company to unveil AR glasses of all things. Not only that, but Oppo was also confident enough to showcase the technology to the press at its demo zone. We got a chance to try it out and here’s what we think.
The headset itself is wireless and you wear it by tightening it around your head. There are cushions on either side, and the fit is snug, yet comfortable. Thankfully, the headset works perfectly fine with spectacles. Both the AR Glasses and my spectacles sat comfortably, unlike a VR system like Vive, where I could feel my spectacles being pushed back against my face. The fact that there were no wires dangling behind helped with the comfort levels.
The AR Glasses make use of Diffractive Waveguide Technology to display. The tech works in a manner similar to Microsoft’s HoloLens. The glasses themselves are transparent, so you see everything around you, with the image imposed upon what you see. The images seemed a little washed out, but it worked and I think that’s the important bit.
During its event, Oppo said that the wearable would use its own UI, which Oppo calls MCUI. You interact with the objects on screen by pinching, swiping and waving. During my time with the device, I had to be a little slow when waving my hands in front of the device as it was unable to track that movement. It should also be noted that there is no eyeball tracking here. So I had to turn my head and point the reticle in order to select anything. Also, the area where the wearable detects your hand is quite narrow. So, your gestures would have to be almost in front of you in order to work.
Oppo claims that the glasses can be used in classrooms for a more interactive learning experience. However, after about five minutes of use, I was left with a small headache, which disappeared after about two to three minutes.
It’s pretty clear that the version we saw during the Oppo Inno Day isn’t the final version of the wearable and there are still some tweaks that Oppo would want to make in order to make the AR Glasses ready for the limelight. The technology is still pretty impressive nonetheless and we’ll just have to wait and see how and when Oppo decides to make it available to the general public. Hopefully, it will be a lot more affordable than the Microsoft Hololens 2, which is still way out of reach for the average buyer.