The world’s leading technology manufacturers gathered at CES tech expo in Las Vegas with the newest technologic products such as 5G Network, AI, 8K TV since Jan. 9th, showing off their latest achievements. The Chinese company, NetEase attracted wide attention with affordable AR glasses, which costs less than 30 USD.
The CES tech expo, which debuted Tetris in 1998 and unveiled Xbox in 2000, has become a forum to release the latest trend of future technology, regarded as a guide for the development of technology.
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have caught much attention in recent years, which still take an important place at CES this year. Over 70 AR/VR companies brought their latest products to the show. However, for most of the consumers, they focus more on the popularity of these gadgets especially on how they can become part of their life. In response to their expectations, NetEase AR glasses debuted and caught the public attention.
At CES 2018, NetEase released AR smartglasses set with three applications, including AR painting application HoloTouch, NetEase’s original mobile AR game YuME and AR Doll Machine.
According to the project director of NetEase’s AR project, the field of view (FOV) of these AR glasses is 76 degrees, which is the widest on the current market. With the combination of lens, AR is able to display the image of a smartphone screen in front of the viewers. Also, it achieves inside out tracking capability, through which the viewers can see virtualobjects on the desk or on the floor as if they actually appear, which is regarded as an overlap of the real world and virtual world. Meanwhile, the AR glasses are equipped with a handheld display to achieve more interactions. And NetEase is planning to further apply this technology to games, education, training and other areas. Sooner or later, multiplayer mode will be available.
It is worth mentioning that NetEase also released the Holotouch application on display. Through the AR glasses, users can not only paint through AR technology but also display their creative process to others. Another application, NetEase’s original AR mobile game YuME, which recently won the 2017 Apple Design Award, has greatly improved its game experience with AR glasses.
According to the forecast of Digi-capital’s, the global AR market will reach 120 billion USD by 2020, of which the AR hardware market occupies more than 1/3. It is estimated that a large number of AR hardware will be brought to market in the next 1-3 years. In view of the current market, the price is still a shackle for the popularity of AR.
“We realized that the currently expensive cost of hardware is hampering the popularity of AR application market,” said the project director of NetEase AR project. “Hololens and other AR glasses on the current market can only be regarded as industry applications. As for Magic Leap, which is claimed to be consumer-oriented hardware, it is sold for an unattainable price of 2000 USD, obviously not affordable for most consumers.” NetEase aims to develop the market with a pair of AR glasses that not only offer better product experience but also are affordable.
It is said that the AR glasses will be on the market in the near future in China. And there will be another version on display, which is based on the original version but different in appearance, lighter and more streamlining.
