Hands-on with Meta's Orion: needs a wireless processor puck, weighs only 100g, is packed with sensors, and has good eye tracking and a wide FoV for AR glasses

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls them “The most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.” — I wore Mark Zuckerberg's contact lenses.

CNET 2024-09-26 Scott Stein

Discussion

@lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on threads
I tried the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses' newest AI features, and they're about to become a much better - and cooler-looking - companion https://www.techradar.com/... MetaConnect
@jonlax Jon Lax on threads
I got to demo Orion this week. I was not prepared for how much progress the team has made in the past year and a half. The neural input, the display and the overall experience are incredible. Significant leap forward in spatial computing.
@justinryan.io Justin Ryan on threads
Meta just announced Orion, the AR glasses they've been working on for almost a decade. They started with just a 10% chance of success, aiming to create lightweight, wireless AR glasses with a wide FOV display. Not only did they pull it off, but they're using them internally to …
@pkafka Peter Kafka on threads
Me and my giant head tried Orion, Mark Zuckerberg's $10k glasses you can't buy. But if they can get it down to $1k-$2k - which they say they can in a few years... it will be a big deal. https://podcasts.apple.com/...
@jetscott Scott Stein on x
Also I wore Mark Zuckerberg's contact lenses to demo them (thanks Meta) because I didn't bring my own contacts...weird but true
@jason @jason on x
AR has always been the winning vision. No one wants goggles on their faces, everyone wants supplemental information overlayed into the real world And adding LLMs makes these things extremely compelling Eventually they will replace the need for bringing your smartphone with
@boztank Boz on x
@hbarra So glad you got to check them out! Fun fact is the display is capable of 26ppd and we did build a few of those too...=)
@benthompson Ben Thompson on x
They're real and they're spectacular. [image]
@hbarra Hugo Barra on x
I tried the just-announced Meta Orion AR glasses a few weeks back. It was a beautiful glimpse into the future akin to the first time you experience Waymo or Tesla self-driving. My quick takeaways from the demo: 1/ Wearing see-through AR glasses is 10x better... [list continues…
@anshelsag Anshel Sag on x
Not the most flattering angles, but here I am demoing @Meta Orion. The field of view is a game changer and the combination of spatial audio, eye-tracking and neural inputs makes for an engaging and immersive experience. There's still room for improvement, but we getting there [im…
@sundeep Sunny Madra on x
Iphone moment for meta...
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
Meta hyping up AR smart glasses that it's not shipping reminds me of HoloLens. Both show that this tech is many years away from being in glasses you'll actually want to wear every day https://www.theverge.com/... [image]
@packym Packy McCormick on x
Future so bright I gotta wear Meta Orions.
@nikitabier Nikita Bier on x
Zuck is really bathing in Evan Spiegel's tears these days [image]
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
Zuck previews their first holographic AI glasses, Orion, that will have a wrist base neural interface control option (you can also use voice and hand tracking). No details on when it will ship. My guess is 3-5 years.
@stockmktnewz Evan on x
Mark Zuckerberg and $META got Jensen Huang to try out their upcoming AR Glasses 👀 [video]
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
This is Orion, Meta's first AR glasses prototype. I got to demo them in-depth with Mark Zuckerberg and talked to other Meta execs about the long road to what they think comes after the smartphone: https://www.theverge.com/...
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
This looks pretty fantastic. Hard to believe but it feels like Meta will get here first to a viable consumer product.
@rihardjarc Rihard Jarc on x
Damn. $META Orion AR smartglasses are CRAZY. No cable, light weight, normal looking glasses, wristbase neural interface, custom $META silicon. This is what investing in innovation brings. Welcome to the AR age!
@cosmoscharf Cosmo Scharf on x
70 degrees FOV. Yo what?! #MetaConnect2024 [image]
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
My guess is the stock fades after the event given Orion is years away and overall there was not much new from the event, just incremental updates on what they've previously announced.
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
Shares of $META jumped 1% on the Orion news.
r/RayBanStories r on reddit
Introducing Orion, Our First AR Glasses | Meta Quest Blog
r/gadgets r on reddit
I Wore Meta's Orion AR Glasses: A Wireless Taste of a Neural Interface Future
r/oculus r on reddit
Introducing Orion, Our First AR Glasses | Meta Quest Blog
@vicmsong Victoria Song on threads
So given all the cool news today, a reminder about the biggest challenge smart glasses face: Not everyone likes or wants to wear glasses. Meta's done an excellent job partnering with EssilorLuxxotica to make its glasses look stylish but will anyone who doesn't *need* glasses wan…
@navneetalang Navneet Alang on threads
AR glasses feel inevitable to me. I think it's one of those things that is just going to happen, and then you figure out what to do with it. All reality is already augmented, even if just implicitly. This manifests a basic relation between a perceiving subject and the world ar…
@neil.cybart Neil Cybart on threads
Imagine if Tim Cook got on stage, unveiled a prototype headset that won't be sold to consumers because Apple couldn't figure out how to manufacture it at scale, and then claimed Apple is leading with such innovation. People would call for Cook's resignation (and rightly so).
@documentingmeta @documentingmeta on threads
I mean yeah sure definitely better than almost every other company but not Apple They're definitely poised to become the Android of the AR/wearable tech phase where Google is yet to start. But Apple has an incredible lead here and will leverage their ecosystem to deliver an incr…
@nick_statt Nick Statt on threads
I gotta say I did not have much faith after the Meta rebrand and the very public metaverse play that didn't land well. And yet everything the company has done since acquiring Oculus does seem to now be paying off, and they're currently far ahead on the intersection of AI, AR, an…
@filipe.esposito @filipe.esposito on threads
Imagine if Tim Cook got up on stage and promoted a new phone with features that don't exist (and won't exist for months to come).
@kbode Karl Bode on threads
the good news is the battery life is probably like 30 minutes, so it's impossible to look terrible for long stretches
@laurengoode Lauren Goode on threads
I am here to remind you that waveguide-based augmented reality has been attempted many many times and it is very hard and it doesn't mean Meta *won't* be the company to nail it, it just means it's not a novel idea https://www.wired.com/...
@eshumarneedi @eshumarneedi on threads
Spicy take: Meta is too incompetent to build a product as complex as Orion and sell it for a “reasonable” (Over $3,500) price.
@sung.kim.mw Sung Kim on threads
The best thing about Meta's Orion announcement is that it will encourage other players to continue investing in the AR/VR space. Competition is good!
@tomwarrenuk Tom Warren on threads
on the flip side, I love these new translucent Ray-ban smart glasses from Meta. They do enough useful things already and they look great https://www.theverge.com/... RE: https://www.threads.net/... [images]
@tomwarrenuk Tom Warren on threads
Meta hyping up AR smart glasses that it's not shipping reminds me of HoloLens. Both show that this tech is many years away from being in glasses you'll actually want to wear every day https://www.theverge.com/... [image]
@jackcarterbenjamin Jack Benjamin on threads
I don't know if I've fully bought into the idea that smart glasses will replace phones for most people, but these prototypes are about as close as you can get to what the ideal version of the device should look like. They're pretty stylish and the tech looks impressive. And the…
@robsherman Rob Sherman on threads
We're thrilled to be able to introduce Orion to the world today at Connect. We've been talking about the future we're working toward for years — and it's always been too theoretical for most people. So it's incredible to be able to show that the technology we've envisioned — an…
@parkerortolani Parker Ortolani on threads
the Meta AR glasses do indeed look like *the thing* https://www.youtube.com/...
@stroughtonsmith … Steve Troughton-Smith on mastodon
It feels obvious today that visionOS will be stripped-down/downscaled to something closer to the Apple Watch SoC, and put in glasses like these someday. Likely losing all of its immersive modes, but keeping the OS and windowing. That's the kind of device that can obviate the iP…
@viticci@mastodon.macstories.net @viticci@mastodon.macstories.net on mastodon
The end goal was always glasses - never VR headsets. — I'm incredibly excited about a near future where AR glasses look like regular glasses we can wear. — Meta's Orion prototype looks promising. But when I look at this picture, all I can think is: — iPhone + glasses + App…
@stroughtonsmith … Steve Troughton-Smith on mastodon
“visionOS on glasses is a decade away! It's technically impossible today” — Meanwhile: — https://www.youtube.com/...
@dylanmcd8 Dylan on x
@BenjaminDEKR It's a prototype. I guarantee you Apple has stuff like this somewhere in Apple Park. But they're not gonna show off a prototype they have no intention of publicly launching lol
@arian_ghashghai Arian Ghashghai on x
The first big step towards real consumer AR (side note, I'm amazed they've achieved this in 2024 — looked impossible when I left Meta last year)
@benjamindekr @benjamindekr on x
Meta Orion AR glasses. Explain to me why Apple didn't do this? Steve Jobs would have. [image]
@raywongy Ray Wong on x
I would pay original Quest Pro pricing for the Meta Orion smart glasses. They're very fucking cool. You really need to try them to understand how advanced they are Makes Snap's Spectacles 5 looks goofy af. It's becoming clearer that offloading compute to a “puck” is the [image]
@reduzio Juan Linietsky on x
Interesting to see that Meta is taking the opposite approach to Apple and focusing on a low power wearable hardware for augmented reality. This makes a ton more sense in my opinion. Meantime, Google just patiently waits, as they know their apps will be the most used on either..
@eggswhite Greg White on x
@RihardJarc Agree. $META may be the first real threat to $AAPL iphone. More innovation with all the glasses & headsets from $META than iphone. Could be the form factor that takes share / excitement from iphone much like the iphone did to the laptop. $AAPL is more marketing than i…
@heaney555 David Heaney on x
@DylanMcD8 It's the future. But it's not the present. These cost $10,000 each to build. For the foreseeable, mixed reality headsets will be 20x cheaper and an overall better experience.
@dylanmcd8 Dylan on x
Orion is extremely exciting!! Finally, capable AR glasses that ACTUALLY LOOK like glasses. I truly believe this is the future. Also... the visionOSification of their OS continues lol [image]
@benjamindekr @benjamindekr on x
Actually if you showed this pic to someone a year ago and told you it was Apple (not Meta), they'd 100% believe you.
@sdw Sebastiaan de With on x
I think a $1.5 trillion mega-corp showcasing concept-car like ‘AR Glasses’ in a demo on rails without actually making a shipping product should be universally ridiculed and derided more than someone making an app selling wallpapers [image]
@_danielsinclair Daniel Sinclair on x
14 years from the kickoff at Magic Leap, waveguides were the right direction after all.
@bilawalsidhu Bilawal Sidhu on x
Meta is onto a winning formula pairing neural wrist bands with these next-gen AR glasses. It's funny, in an alternate universe this is what you'd think Apple would've shipped vs the Vision Pro. [video]
@benthompson Ben Thompson on x
“Uh what if the glasses thing isn't a zero” [Image: Meta stock up 2.25%]
@bengeskin Ben Geskin on x
Meta is continuing product optimizations and lowering costs driving toward a scalable consumer device that will revolutionize the way people interact with the world.
@dshankar Darshan Shankar on x
Quest 3S is great for VR & massively growing the audience, but the most exciting tech at Connect: Orion AR glasses. 70° FOV is insane! Meta's AR work is highly underrated & far ahead of other AR attempts. Meta RayBans have solid mainstream use cases without severe compromises
@edludlow Ed Ludlow on x
NEWS: from interview with Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth on Orion. More than 90% chance that Orion converts to a consumer product. Two next gen models are in the works. Looking for alternative to Silicon Carbide. It's great but an alternative would bring cost of AR glasses
@jiteshubrani Jitesh Ubrani on x
Meta's Orion glasses have enough tech to convince people who don't wear glasses regularly to wear glasses all day long — provided the battery lasts. This is going to be a long journey to develop scale, but Meta seems to be further ahead than many others #MetaConnect2024
@jiteshubrani Jitesh Ubrani on x
Having a discreet way to control the UI on any AR glasses is going to be key. North Focals were one of the firsts to do this with a ring, Meta's relying on a wristband. Both are going way better than pure hand tracking solutions. #MetaConnect2024
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
If I had to bet, Meta could make the Orion concept AI/AR smart glasses a commercial product in 2027. Getting the costs down will be among the key factors for that timing.
@meta @meta on x
Orion is full of entirely new technologies we've developed, including our most advanced AR display ever assembled and custom silicon that enables powerful AR experiences to run on a standalone pair of glasses using a fraction of the power and weight of a headset or cellphone.
@meta @meta on x
Orion's input and interaction system seamlessly combines voice, eye gaze, and hand tracking, allowing you to stay present in the world and with the people around you. While they're not available to the public, we're excited about what this means for the future of connection.
@meta @meta on x
And last but certainly not least, the AR glasses that will blow your mind—Orion. (Before you ask, no they're not available to the public *yet*)
@boztank Boz on x
We just unveiled Orion, our full AR glasses prototype that we've been working on for nearly a decade. When we started on this journey, our teams predicted that we had a 10% chance (at best) of success. This was our project to see if our dream AR glasses—wide FOV display, less t…
@ballmatthew Matthew Ball on x
I had the chance to use Meta's Orion glasses yesterday. They were lighter, more comfortable, more attractive, with a wider field of view and brighter/richer screen than I expected. Eye tracking that felt as sharp as the Vision Pro. The EMG band superb. Future coming into view. [i…
r/singularity r on reddit
META: ‘Introducing Orion, Our First True Augmented Reality Glasses’
r/augmentedreality r on reddit
Meta AI introduces project Orion, holographic glasses with 6dof capability and a FOV of 70°. Only development kit but a glimpse into what they're up to.

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Hands-on with Meta's Orion: needs a wireless processor puck, weighs only 100g, is packed with sensors, and has good eye tracking and a wide FoV for AR glasses

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