The Metaverse fantasized by Mark Zuckerberg last October is experienced through a physical device. Currently we can see a replacement with the Quest 2 virtual reality headset and the dedicated application Horizon Worlds.
The metaverse after meta: The real world and the virtual world intertwine thanks to augmented reality and other technologies.
But in the long term, the aim is to give substance to the vision of the Facebook founder based on augmented reality: to seamlessly embed virtual elements in the real world, as inconspicuously and efficiently as possible: with glasses, then. Meta is on the move, and according to information from The Verge, there are several projects in development.
The first generation of glasses – codenamed Nazare – should therefore be presented in 2024 (the rumor announces something equivalent at Apple in the following year). The second generation, lighter with “advanced design”, is expected in 2026. And a third generation would be in the pipeline for 2028.
A busy roadmap therefore and complex to execute. The first version of the Nazare glasses must in fact realize a good part of the ambition of Zuckerberg, who is very involved in this project. The device, whose current design looks like Clark Kent’s big black glasses (⚠️ spoiler alert: he’s actually Superman ⚠️) and weighs around a hundred grams, is intended to enable communication with the “holograms” of other users. .
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The development team wanted this first generation to have a 70-degree field of view, wider than what’s currently on the market (the Hololens 2 offers a 54-degree field of view). However, it is likely that the profile will need to be reduced at this level. The glasses will still have the mission to offer a “total AR experience” while having a “sociable” appearance – despite that, the product would be primarily intended for indoor use.
Technically, Nazare is designed to work independently of an accompanying smartphone. However, it must be connected (wirelessly) to a device that is responsible for the majority of the calculations. MicroLED projectors would do the display of information, there is also an eye-tracking sensor, a front camera, speakers in the mounts. A specially developed chip is hidden under the hood. The autonomy would be 4 hours.
Development of the product’s operating system, which is based on the open-source version of Fuchsia OS (Google), was reportedly halted late last year, partly because the software couldn’t be ready for 2024. Reportedly, Meta actually branched out into an operating system that relies on Android, at least for the first version of the goggles (that’s how the Quest 2 works too).
Meta would have suspended the development of its operating system for augmented reality
Nazare’s retail price isn’t disclosed, but given the built-in gear, expect a higher price point than the $299 Quest headset. But maybe Meta somehow wants to subsidize the price of the device just to pull the rug out from under Apple?
And wait, that’s not all! Meta would also be working on a second project, closer to Google Glass, therefore less ambitious than Nazare and potentially cheaper too. The Hypernova glasses, which need to be paired with a smartphone, would display notifications and routes on their lenses.
The company has also thought about the possibilities of interacting with the virtual elements of the Nazare and Hypernova glasses. You could go through a bracelet responsible for “guessing” the intentions of the wearer. Using electromyography (examination of nerves and muscles) techniques, the bracelet measures electrical impulses at the wrist, allowing the creation of a virtual arm of sorts.
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Internally, we’d like to compare this technology to the mouse revolution of its time… Starting from the acquisition of start-up CTRL-Labs in 2019, it would be incorporated into the third generation Connected Watch, also under development at Meta. The first version is scheduled to appear later this year.
The design of the Facebook watch “Milan” seen last October. Picture : @Steve Moser
All of these products are a way for Mark Zuckerberg to become independent of the platforms from Apple and Google, with which he can currently only compose. According to a former Meta employee, Zuckerberg wants Nazare to be on par with the iPhone in terms of technological advancements.
It remains to prove the technological performance and commercial relevance of these products. The group hopes to be able to sell connected glasses in the tens of millions by the end of the decade. The first attempts are modest for the time being: the Stories glasses developed with Ray-Ban would have sold 120,000 copies between September and December last year. Meta’s goal was to reach 300,000 pairs.
Facebook and Ray-Ban Stories, connected glasses but without augmented reality