Hacker News Reader

Comment by blagie | Hacker News Reader

I feel like we're about 3 generations from "shut up and take my money." A no-brainer version would:

- Allow AR, or at least not block my full field-of-view, so I can use them in contexts.

- Have competitive resolution with my normal monitor. 1080p, as these are, seems like an MVP, but 4k is where I'd start to really use these.

- Sci-fi: Support some kind of wireless protocol. A cable running down my shirt feels awkward. It's fine if I need a cable for 30fps movies, but for emails/coding/etc., I'm happy with much less refresh.

- Less plastic. More metal (or carbon fiber or whatever).

- Price point of $200 makes these a no-brainer shut-up-and-take my money. $400, I'd probably buy. $600, I'd probably /almost/ buy, but wait for used on eBay. $1000 is a no-buy.

View on HN

> - Have competitive resolution with my normal monitor. 1080p, as these are, seems like an MVP, but 4k is where I'd start to really use these.

When talking goggles, I would take a wider FOV over super high resolution. 4k smooshed into an image 30mm across would be a waste. That said, I can't find any mention of what FOV these glasses are.

> - Sci-fi: Support some kind of wireless protocol. A cable running down my shirt feels awkward.

I think I would trade a high quality cable over a heavier battery, necessary to support wireless at video bandwidths.

> Less plastic. More metal (or carbon fiber or whatever).

I'm intrigued by why you feel plastic is a drawback. Especially as metal has IMO very few advatnages in this case (heavier, lower radio transparency, bends under shock etc.)

developers are not industrial designers; i would even argue the skillset is at the 'opposite side' of the spectrum

Sword Art Online is supposed to be released this year

The nreal air hit most of your requirements. AR overlay. 4k (although I don’t know if that’s overall or pair eye. $599. Wireless with android phones. I only found out about them through the article, I’m going down my local phone shop tomorrow to see if they have any stock and see if I can test them out.

https://www.nreal.ai/specs/

Depends on quality of simulated display, and how many.

It might be the display bandwidth that gets in the way, but if I could get N simulated arbitrary resolution displays that can be moved in AR fashion, I'd pay a lot more than $1000 for portable 8k virtual displays.

Mark my words. Before this decade is up Apple will launch AR glasses that will be the next big thing.

The general public is never going to voluntarily start wearing glasses, no matter the features people do not want to look like a nerd.

I say bull on this. The public has been consuming more and more nerd culture compared to 10 years ago.

Everything's a cycle.

Or a trajectroy in case of tech adoption.

Careful with that statement. General public seems very happy adopting wearables. Much more than anyone would have guessed in the early 2000s.

The "looking weird" is an argument that I find really interesting, as it is both completely true, but also extremely volatile.

For instance wearing headphones in public 40 years ago had a strong social opposition, and you would totally look weird with headphone on. This was replayed with bluetooth ear pieces. Those ships have long long sailed.

Same argument was also made for the smart watches. Every time there was a kernel of truth, but as this is only a question of perception, there just needs to be a switch in people's mind and we reach the other side.

AirPods used to be weird. That’s how quickly it changes.

I’m an Apple fanboy and would queue up for a toaster if they released one and I had second thoughts about the AirPods cos of the look but bought them anyway and the utility was such that I wore them anyway and and then they took off.

Apple can move the zeitgeist. Very few brands have that power.

One could have said the same thing about mobile phones a couple of decades ago when the first primitive PDAs came out but plenty of people are glued to theirs now, even in public.

Protecting your eyeballs from UV is probably pretty important.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com