Snap’s AR viewers aren’t as versatile as Meta’s Orion—but at least you can find them
At the demo, one game developer showed me a game his company built called Spectacles. It tracks how far you walk and overlays a multiplayer grid over your surroundings. As you travel, you collect coins that cover your route. RPG-style enemies will also appear from time to time, which you can fight with an AR sword that you use by moving your hand in real life. You have to hold the sword directly in front of you to keep it within the confines of that narrow field of view, but that means walking with a stiff, outstretched arm. The pitch is that you can play this game while walking, which seems to me to be a good way to accidentally hit someone walking on the side of the road or get hurt when chasing a coin in traffic.
Snap encourages wearers to avoid using AR that blocks their vision at times when they shouldn’t be distracted, and to pay attention to their surroundings. But there are no mechanisms in Spectacles now that send a warning when something is in the way, or prevent people from using glasses while driving or operating heavy machinery.
People have been seriously injured while playing Pokémon Go, but Snap says this is a different way to use it. Holding your phone directly in front of you to catch the odd Snorlax is problematic because it blocks your vision. Spectacles allow you to see the real world at all times, even with enhanced images in front of you. That said, I found that having a hologram in the middle of my vision can be a distraction. While trying out the walking game, my eyes focused more on the floating cartoon objects than the real world in front of me.
This may not be a problem when the specs are in the hands of only a few developers. But Snap is moving fast, and wants to appeal to a wider range of consumers, possibly in an effort to build its technology before its rivals run away with the AR prize.
After all, Meta’s AR efforts seem to go further than Snap—simple frames, strong AI on the backend, and a minimal visual appearance. But there are important differences between how companies try to advance their evolving technology. Meta’s Orion glasses are actually controlled by three devices—the glasses on your face, a touch-sensitive wristband, and a giant puck—about the size of a portable charger—that does most of the processing for all the software features. Unlike the Meta glasses, Snap’s Spectacles are all packed into one device. That means they’re bigger and heavier than the Meta glasses, but also users won’t have to carry extra pieces of equipment when they finally hit the real world.
“We think it’s interesting that one of the biggest players in virtual reality agrees with us that the future is wearable, wearable, immersive AR,” said Myers. “The glasses are very different from the Orion prototype. They’re unique because they’re the most immersive AR glasses available now, and Lens Studio’s engineers have already created some amazing stuff. The glasses are completely self-contained, with no additional puck or other equipment required, and are built on a foundation of proven, commercial technology that can be mass-produced.”
Snap’s mission is to make its Spectacles simple, easy to use, and easy to wear. It will take time to get them there, but they are on that path to those three points. All they have to do is lose some weight. Maybe add some color. And keep people from wandering in traffic.
