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Literally everybody believes that if AR glasses are possible, they will replace smart phones. However, the display technology to actually make them useful is ab

Literally everybody believes that if AR glasses are possible, they will replace smart phones. However, the display technology to actually make them useful is absent as is the input system. Is there anything on the horizon that actually fixes these two things?

Lwrless 5y ago
Guess that they will have to use voice input in the next few years. But what if some brain-machine interface like Neuralink actually gets to general availability?
- gnicholas 5y ago
  One downside of voice interfaces is they are bad for privacy. How do you enter your password, credit card details, or social security number? Voice is also much more distracting than tapping thumbs, as anyone who works in an open floor plan office can attest.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
ethn 5y ago
Snapchat already has it, spectacles.com. Better approaches are on the way, kura.tech and the Magic Leap 2.0--and of course the technology in the article. The real challenge with XR is the vergence-accomodation conflict, it's solved in AR but not VR [0]. AR input software is a commodity, open-source versions exist. They use gesture detection. [0] https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/15/3147 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/15/3147
- frankenst1 5y ago
  What is the vergence-accomodation conflict in AR? Isn't AR just a 2D plane with a camera image superimposed with virtual objects? (e.g. a tablet with an AR app?) Or do you mean it is solved because it doesn't occur in the first place?
  - ethn 5y ago
    It occurs when you have glasses with 3D objects produced by either stereoscopic, multi-planar or other means overlaid onto the real world.
    - frankenst1 5y ago
      Glasses that show objects in 3D overlaid onto the real world sounds like XR to me. But if you consider this to be AR, how is it different to XR and how can it be solved for AR but not for XR?
      - ethn 5y ago
        XR includes AR and VR
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
p1necone 5y ago
I can't really see AR Glasses replacing Smartphones even if the tech is there. Sure it's nice to have a display you can always see while keeping your hands free, but even when it perfectly recognizes what you say voice input is still slower and clunkier than using your hands. Gaze tracking is similarly clunky compared to multitouch. Not to mention the privacy aspect (would you want everyone around you to know exactly what you're typing/searching for/interacting with?) You could have some kind of physical input device you keep in your pocket - but at that point you're carrying around more stuff than if you just had a smart phone. (Edit: sensors on your fingers so you can type on an imaginary keyboard?) Basically it just doesn't seem to make any sense to me, but hey maybe I'm missing something. Useful tech for certain use cases sure, but I don't think those use cases really overlap enough with what we use smartphones for to replace them.
- germinalphrase 5y ago
  I don’t require input devices to with the world around me (generally). Why should AR be that different?
  - tsimionescu 5y ago
    Does the world around you include lots of text projected onto your retinas, with no physical support?
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
  Maybe you could wear some sleek data glove, having gesture recognition by twitching your fingers 'just so' like described in 'Ancillary Justice' by Ann Leckie. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/sciencefiction/comments/2ige0f/im_ann_leckie_the_author_of_ancillary_justice_ama/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sciencefiction/comments/2ige0f/im_a... Or type on some sort of virtual [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard (Octima) combined with something like [3] https://www.openstenoproject.org/plover/ https://www.openstenoproject.org/plover/ combined with something like [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text) or by 'grunting/subvocalizing' into some tiny pearl fitted to your neck/larynx (from the outside OFC).
jpindar 5y ago
Well, there's the display technology described in the article....

Lwrless 5y ago

Guess that they will have to use voice input in the next few years. But what if some brain-machine interface like Neuralink actually gets to general availability?

gnicholas 5y ago
One downside of voice interfaces is they are bad for privacy. How do you enter your password, credit card details, or social security number? Voice is also much more distracting than tapping thumbs, as anyone who works in an open floor plan office can attest.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

ethn 5y ago

Snapchat already has it, spectacles.com. Better approaches are on the way, kura.tech and the Magic Leap 2.0--and of course the technology in the article. The real challenge with XR is the vergence-accomodation conflict, it's solved in AR but not VR [0]. AR input software is a commodity, open-source versions exist. They use gesture detection. [0] https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/15/3147 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/15/3147

frankenst1 5y ago
What is the vergence-accomodation conflict in AR? Isn't AR just a 2D plane with a camera image superimposed with virtual objects? (e.g. a tablet with an AR app?) Or do you mean it is solved because it doesn't occur in the first place?
- ethn 5y ago
  It occurs when you have glasses with 3D objects produced by either stereoscopic, multi-planar or other means overlaid onto the real world.
  - frankenst1 5y ago
    Glasses that show objects in 3D overlaid onto the real world sounds like XR to me. But if you consider this to be AR, how is it different to XR and how can it be solved for AR but not for XR?
    - ethn 5y ago
      XR includes AR and VR

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

p1necone 5y ago

I can't really see AR Glasses replacing Smartphones even if the tech is there. Sure it's nice to have a display you can always see while keeping your hands free, but even when it perfectly recognizes what you say voice input is still slower and clunkier than using your hands. Gaze tracking is similarly clunky compared to multitouch. Not to mention the privacy aspect (would you want everyone around you to know exactly what you're typing/searching for/interacting with?) You could have some kind of physical input device you keep in your pocket - but at that point you're carrying around more stuff than if you just had a smart phone. (Edit: sensors on your fingers so you can type on an imaginary keyboard?) Basically it just doesn't seem to make any sense to me, but hey maybe I'm missing something. Useful tech for certain use cases sure, but I don't think those use cases really overlap enough with what we use smartphones for to replace them.

germinalphrase 5y ago
I don’t require input devices to with the world around me (generally). Why should AR be that different?
- tsimionescu 5y ago
  Does the world around you include lots of text projected onto your retinas, with no physical support?
LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
Maybe you could wear some sleek data glove, having gesture recognition by twitching your fingers 'just so' like described in 'Ancillary Justice' by Ann Leckie. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/sciencefiction/comments/2ige0f/im_ann_leckie_the_author_of_ancillary_justice_ama/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sciencefiction/comments/2ige0f/im_a... Or type on some sort of virtual [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard (Octima) combined with something like [3] https://www.openstenoproject.org/plover/ https://www.openstenoproject.org/plover/ combined with something like [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text) or by 'grunting/subvocalizing' into some tiny pearl fitted to your neck/larynx (from the outside OFC).

jpindar 5y ago

Well, there's the display technology described in the article....