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Another required quality that might be surprisingly tricky to get right is durability. Sunglasses are notoriously brittle, and I can't for the life of me keep

by nfw2 4y ago

Another required quality that might be surprisingly tricky to get right is durability. Sunglasses are notoriously brittle, and I can't for the life of me keep sunglasses in good shape for more than a few months. I don't know if there is any great solution besides fundamentally altering the form.

davemp 4y ago
The majority of durability issues of glasses are the hinges. So as long as you can make that part of the frame repairable, I feel like it could be manageable. Not that there aren’t a bunch of other issues for every day wear. (I wear contacts for vision correction because I find glasses very annoying).
- lolinder 4y ago
  > So as long as you can make that part of the frame repairable, I feel like it could be manageable. It also has to be impossible for failure of the hinges to lead to damage of the electronic components. I've lost multiple laptops to hinges twisting in ways that they shouldn't have and fracturing the motherboard or keyboard, and that's in a form factor that gets much less abuse than glasses.
- twelve40 4y ago
  > The majority of durability issues of glasses are the hinges citation needed. For me, it's the scratches and the surface issues. Even though I have no problem taking care of my regular glasses for years, most of my sunglasses become unusable and hard to see through from deteriorating surface and scratches after 6-10 months. No matter if I get $30 or $300 ones.
  - davemp 4y ago
    Isn't that just sunglasses manufacturers simply cheaping out on lens materials and coatings? I don't see what would be stopping VR/AR manufacturers from making quality lenses.
jay_kyburz 4y ago
If you wanted to you could make a pair of sturdy sunglasses, I think they are designed to break right now. With regard to AR glasses, I would put the expensive part in my pocket like a phone, and the glasses would be just like the wireless earbuds, easily disposable / replaceable.
- VectorLock 4y ago
  They're not designed to break, they're simply picking the trade-off point that tends towards the "lightweight enough to wear all day" end of the continuum.
  - jay_kyburz 4y ago
    I don't believe it. I have this pair of safety glasses I bought from the hardware store for $5 and they are super light weight and rock solid. I could wear them all day and not even notice. Sometimes I even forget I am wearing them and wear them around inside for a while when I'm finished my work. If they had some tint and UV protection and I would consider using them as shades. update: I talked myself in looking at the hardware store website and my next sunglasses will be be some 3M safety glasses with a dark tint and uv. And less than $20.
    - VectorLock 4y ago
      Those aren't prescription glasses are they?
- foobazgt 4y ago
  I'm really surprised I haven't heard this more often, because it seems like a given. AR glasses should be trying to offload as much work as they can to the supercomputers we carry around in our pockets. They have a much larger form factor that can support more compute, more battery, a better antenna, etc. edit To be clear, I don't think we're anywhere near having cheap AR glasses that can just delegate all the work - rather I think there's so much compute that's necessary, we need the combination of what we can fit onboard the glasses and in our phones to make a compelling product.

by nfw2 4y ago

davemp 4y ago

The majority of durability issues of glasses are the hinges. So as long as you can make that part of the frame repairable, I feel like it could be manageable. Not that there aren’t a bunch of other issues for every day wear. (I wear contacts for vision correction because I find glasses very annoying).

lolinder 4y ago
> So as long as you can make that part of the frame repairable, I feel like it could be manageable. It also has to be impossible for failure of the hinges to lead to damage of the electronic components. I've lost multiple laptops to hinges twisting in ways that they shouldn't have and fracturing the motherboard or keyboard, and that's in a form factor that gets much less abuse than glasses.
twelve40 4y ago
> The majority of durability issues of glasses are the hinges citation needed. For me, it's the scratches and the surface issues. Even though I have no problem taking care of my regular glasses for years, most of my sunglasses become unusable and hard to see through from deteriorating surface and scratches after 6-10 months. No matter if I get $30 or $300 ones.
- davemp 4y ago
  Isn't that just sunglasses manufacturers simply cheaping out on lens materials and coatings? I don't see what would be stopping VR/AR manufacturers from making quality lenses.

jay_kyburz 4y ago

If you wanted to you could make a pair of sturdy sunglasses, I think they are designed to break right now. With regard to AR glasses, I would put the expensive part in my pocket like a phone, and the glasses would be just like the wireless earbuds, easily disposable / replaceable.

VectorLock 4y ago
They're not designed to break, they're simply picking the trade-off point that tends towards the "lightweight enough to wear all day" end of the continuum.
- jay_kyburz 4y ago
  I don't believe it. I have this pair of safety glasses I bought from the hardware store for $5 and they are super light weight and rock solid. I could wear them all day and not even notice. Sometimes I even forget I am wearing them and wear them around inside for a while when I'm finished my work. If they had some tint and UV protection and I would consider using them as shades. update: I talked myself in looking at the hardware store website and my next sunglasses will be be some 3M safety glasses with a dark tint and uv. And less than $20.
  - VectorLock 4y ago
    Those aren't prescription glasses are they?
foobazgt 4y ago
I'm really surprised I haven't heard this more often, because it seems like a given. AR glasses should be trying to offload as much work as they can to the supercomputers we carry around in our pockets. They have a much larger form factor that can support more compute, more battery, a better antenna, etc. edit To be clear, I don't think we're anywhere near having cheap AR glasses that can just delegate all the work - rather I think there's so much compute that's necessary, we need the combination of what we can fit onboard the glasses and in our phones to make a compelling product.