Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg is of the opinion that smart glasses with holographic display will take over conventional mobile phones, and smart glasses will become humanity’s next primary mode of communication and computing device.
With that said, Zuckerberg is “almost ready” to showcase his latest augmented-reality prototype. The CEO gave a little peak at Meta’s upcoming “full holographic” glasses in an interview with the YouTuber Kane Sutter, known to the community as Kallaway.
“Every person who I’ve shown it to so far, their reaction is giddy,” Zuckerberg said. “I’m really looking forward to showing that to more people.”
The interview with the YouTuber circled around a number of topics like AI and open source, However, when asked by host Kallaway about Meta’s most anticipated future product, Zuckerberg enthusiastically endorsed a pair of glasses — the type you wear on your face — equipped with cameras, microphones, speakers, and a complete field-of-view holographic display.
Gurus in both advertising and the tech sphere have had a blast poking fun at Meta and Zuckerberg for their shift away from being known as “Facebook,” the company behind the social media platform of the same name, to “Meta,” a company focused on developing the metaverse.
But as far as Zuckerberg is concerned he holds the notion that the use of smartphones is reaching its end and smart glasses will be the next big tech in town. However, he mentioned in the interview that a complete overhaul of smartphones would not take place as is the case with desktops that did not get supplanted by mobile phones.
With optimal hardware and software integration in the smart glasses, Zuckerberg believes, that people would no longer require their phones at all times and could leave them out of their pockets.
Before moving forward, Meta must advance its technology. Zuckerberg outlined three potential products for the future: first, a “displayless” glasses product incorporating voice AI (similar to Ray-Ban Meta); second, a more limited “heads-up display” without full holography; and finally, a “premium version” featuring a complete field of view holographic display.
Meta is looking forward to bridging the gab between Ray-Ban Meta, a product that has no display, and bulky headsets which are better for virtual reality(VR) than augmented/mixed reality (A/MR).
Zuckerberg expressed that glasses with the full FOV holographic feature would allow seamless real-time communication, information overlays, a heads-up display like the ones you might have seen in a video game or military equipment etc. These would be less beefy as well “They’re unmistakably glasses, they’re not a headset,” he insisted.
Zuckerberg also delved into the rationale behind using glasses to access information instead of constantly relying on smartphones. According to Zuckerberg and host Kallaway, the habit of repeatedly checking smartphones for pertinent information can disrupt one’s engagement with the present moment. Kallaway described it as a behaviour that “shatters your presence.”
Meta has doused Reality Labs with billions of dollars over the years, a company which is responsible for its efforts in conjuring advanced products, which include its VR and AR wearables and the Metaverse software that resides in them. Although Zuckerberg feels that these products will take years before they start showing some desired returns.
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