Meta's investment in Reality Labs pays off with the unveiling of Orion smart glasses
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has made a bold move by Multibagger billions into its wearables division, Reality Labs. This week, they unveiled a prototype of their Orion smart glasses, which aim to replace the iPhone with its augmented reality capabilities. While the idea may sound crazy, it's gaining traction in the tech world.
The Orion smart glasses combine augmented reality, eye and hand tracking, generative AI, and a gesture-detecting wristband. With micro LED projectors and silicon carbide lenses, Meta has overcome a longstanding AR display challenge. The glasses allow users to see application windows projected on the lenses, creating a seamless integration with the world around them.
However, the Orion smart glasses are still in the prototype stage, are chunkier than regular glasses, and cost a hefty $10,000 each. They won't be available for sale for years, as the technology needs to become cheaper, better, and smaller to be viable for consumers. Despite this, Meta is not the only tech giant working on smart glasses, with competitors like Snap, Google, Apple, and even Jony Ive's new startup entering the race.
The race to create a functional and sleek pair of smart glasses that can replace smartphones is heating up among Big Tech companies. Meta's Orion prototype shows promise, but there is still work to be done before it becomes a consumer product. The shift towards eyewear computing marks a departure from VR headsets and signals a new era in tech innovation.
Meta's early investment in eyewear computing seems to be paying off, with positive initial reviews of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, a simpler version of the Orion prototype. The company is focused on perfecting the basics and integrating AI features into their smart glasses to provide value to users. While there are still challenges to overcome, Meta is confident in the future of smart glasses as the next evolution in wearable technology.
Meta has announced a groundbreaking update for their Ray-Ban smart glasses, introducing live AI video processing capabilities. This means that users will be able to stream live video and make verbal requests, which will be processed by Llama's multimodal AI models to provide real-time verbal answers. In addition to this, the smart glasses are receiving basic features like reminders and more app integrations, promising a smoother user experience. According to Miller, these enhancements will also benefit Orion, Meta's generative AI system.
Miller mentioned that while certain features may be more suitable for one form factor over the other, there is collaboration between different products. As the team focuses on making AR glasses more affordable, they are exploring ways to incorporate some of Orion's advanced features. However, the challenge lies in balancing performance with cost, especially considering the expensive technologies involved.
One significant difference between smartphones and smart glasses is the absence of a physical keyboard on the latter. Miller, who previously worked on keyboards at Microsoft, sees this as a liberating aspect of smart glasses. She believes that using gestures, voice commands, and eye tracking for navigation will create a more intuitive user experience compared to traditional smartphones.
Reflecting on past criticisms of devices like the iPhone for lacking a physical keyboard, Miller emphasizes the importance of adapting to new technologies. She acknowledges that making Orion feel natural is a work in progress, as highlighted in a recent review by The Verge, which pointed out some usability issues that need to be addressed through improvements in AI, AR technology, typing, and other areas.
In conclusion, Miller stresses the difference in approach between Ray-Ban Meta and Orion, with the former focusing on a few key features executed well, while the latter aims to revolutionize the future of computing by excelling in multiple areas simultaneously.