Snap Inc.social media platform Snapchat developer, recently announced the fifth generation of its Spectacles AR headset at SPS 2024.
The first thing you will notice about Glasses 5 is its enormous size. By companyThe new glasses are nearly three times the size of the Spectacles 4 and weigh 226 grams (nearly half a pound). But the headset had to be enlarged because Snap made a lot of hardware changes that required more space.
Also: The best virtual reality headsets right now (and how the Apple Vision Pro compares)
While there won’t be an external battery pack and everything will be inside the frame, Snap claims the device runs on a pair of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. They support four front-facing cameras “powering the Snap Spatial Engine [for] seamless hand tracking.”
The Spectacles 5’s base houses tiny LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) projectors that send images directly to waveguides inside the lenses. Snap says each lens “provides a 46-degree diagonal field of view with a resolution of 37 pixels per degree.” The company compares this to looking at a 100-inch screen from about 10 feet away.
CNET offers an interesting perspective on the headset, noting that the 46-degree field of view is fine for headsets like this but for displays on traditional VR headsets, it’s like looking through a window “the size of a large phone screen.”
Also: These $400 XR Glasses Give Me a 200-Inch Screen for Gaming and Movies
Alongside the Spectacles 5, Snap also announced new partnerships with a number of third-party companies, most notably OpenAI. Snap says it aims to bring “cloud-hosted multimodal AI models” to its AR headset. So we could see the device support some form of ChatGPT when they are finally released to the public.
Other partners say video games will play a big role in Spectacles 5. ILM Immersive, for example, will bring a Star Wars title to the platform.
Also: How VR and digital twins are streamlining remote work in tech professions
It’s unclear when Snap will bring the Spectacles to the public. Despite being in their fifth generation, the technology isn’t ready yet. The battery only lasts about 45 minutes.
But if you’re a developer in the US and want to try them out, you can join Eyeglass Development Program for $99 a month. You get a pair along with tech support from Snap itself.
