I don't know who is getting more stupid. The people or apple. I can u derstand Snapchat doing such because it gears towards teenagers. But Apple?? Which 30 yr old person would wear such glasses and walk around? Ridiculous!
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Apple Experimenting With Several Augmented Reality Glasses Prototypes
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If the glasses AR-projected a 27" iMac screen in front of you with a keyboard and trackpad, I would think commenting on forums would be very easy to do...
You know that's the same excuse used to deride the possibility of a phone being as useful as a personal computer... "Oh, a phone can only do WAP, not the real web", they said. Once the iPhone made mobile popular, the web adapted itself to the mobile format. Apps leverage the internet but are built specifically for a pocketable, touch screen.
The next evolution of the internet is merging it into the real world through augumented reality. You'll see the web adjust itself to that format, including places like MacRumors or whatever succeeds it.
I think Apple will take their time because AR, although it makes a cool demo, may never catch on with the public. They don't want to rush ahead a-la Google Glass and then have to make an embarrassing u-turn.
That type of thinking is what tech companies never grasp or understand. Just because something is possible doesn't mean it should exist. We went down that road 10 years ago when tech companies were convinced internet connected kettles and fridges were the future.
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So you've replaced one Apple device with three Apple devices, what a wonderful, simple future awaits us.
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I'm hoping for clear layered glasses so that the augmented images could be projected sideways onto the regular environment, a wired connection to the iPhone would be necessary for the computing power. I think that would make a viable option with a real AR experience.
Extremely unlikely. It would be an accessibility fail on Apple's part. I don't know how "kewl" you think it is. What may be "kewl" to you will be a nightmare for people who have accessibility issues.
First off, you have to put on your watch, pop the ear buds in your ear, and put on glasses.
Secondly, how are blind people going to use the Watch and Glasses? Did you THINK of that? How are deaf people going to communicate? Remember, not all of them use sign language and rely on texting. And yes, I'm acutely aware of wearable gloves that translate sign language to users on a smartphone ( it's not Apple that's working on them but someone else ) but that technology is not perfected yet. Even those who are hard of hearing may or may not use sign language. It depends on their background and demographics. Some can't even use Air Pods because of their hearing aids. Did you THINK of that?
Apple is, supposedly, all about Accessibility. We see this on their Mac OS. We see this on their iOS devices. They're going to have to apply the same thing on the Watch and Glasses.
Thirdly, to use AR into the glasses requires a lot of computing power. That Watch is not going to piggy back it all so you need the phone or tablet, even a full desktop computer to do it.
Fourth, you are more likely going to have to recharge all THREE devices separately to keep things going.
So, my advice? THINK realistically based on design, engineering, accessibility, UI, etc, instead of crackpot 'kewlness' ideas. That's an Eddy Cue mindset.
This 'Fashion House' line of thinking for Apple does not work and will bite them in the a$$ long term.
Snap's glasses are a joke. I predict they will fail like Google Glasses did. I mean, they look like something you would expect on a cartoon character!!!
I currently use both Apple Watch and AirPods with my iPhone. I would be happy to add the AR glasses and replace my iPhone with 3 devices because it is hands free and heads up.[doublepost=1501915138 said:
Maybe you are right, I just don't see how that way would be more useful than the current way of browsing.
I said I didn't "think" I could use ar glasses for those things, not that it was an impossibility. I still don't see how glasses or a watch would be a desirable experience over what we have now.
I see the Watch and any future wearable as secondary input methods and the iPhone still being the main work horse. Having said that, I cannot see into the future, lol.
Snaps glasses are for taking short videos or pictures in the moment, no AR there.
Watch isn't much of an input device, it can be done but it is cumbersome. Can't see how AR glasses could be for input. For identifying things around you, guide you and keep you updated on your day, environment and task at hand the glasses could be really good. It's all down to how fast AI can process the video feed and overlay correct info.
Watch isn't much of an input device, it can be done but it is cumbersome. Can't see how AR glasses could be for input. For identifying things around you, guide you and keep you updated on your day, environment and task at hand the glasses could be really good. It's all down to how fast AI can process the video feed and overlay correct info.
Really? Because I think AR is going to help a LOT with accessibility issues. But let's look at your arguments...
Oh! The HORROR of having to do three things! What kind of distopian society are we degenerating into?
Seriously though, I do all of these things today. I pop on my glasses (and *gasp* I sometimes switch my regular glasses for sunglasses! The humanity!)
How do blind people use the iPhone today? A pair of AR glasses could actually really help blind people by using the camera and sensors to map the surrounding environment and give audio alerts (or perhaps vibrations, etc) to assist.
Deaf people? Holy cow! Imagine having a pair of glasses that project a screen which displays sounds around you visually! A person could have a running subtitle system on their AR display while other non-talking sounds could be visually and spatially represented!
The gloves that you're talking about are icing on the cake. You wouldn't need even necessarily need the gloves - the camera could recognize sign language patterns.
Yes, it's understandable that deaf people wouldn't use AirPods, and blind people wouldn't get the advantage of the AR display (though would get an advantage from other parts of an AR headset), but, just as in real life, they could rely on the other pieces of technology to compensate.
Did you THINK of that???
Not necessarily. 3D AR does require a lot of processing power and TODAY'S watch couldn't handle the 3D, but things like text/visual overlays are pretty simple and could easily handle it.
Again - this is a HUGE problem. Three devices? How can I handle that? The travesty!
...or, if it's such a big deal, you pick up a 3rd party dock that has a place for all three so you remember to charge all three.
My advice to you? Don't let your limited imagination get in the way of how others might make really good use of a system like this. Is there a "kewl" factor? Sure! There is to the iPhone as well. There's also a practical element to it and, if you think about it, a way that accessibility can be enhanced.
Will it be for everyone? No. Some people still carry a flip phone - and I'm glad they still have the option! I really don't see AR headsets replacing the SmartPhone. Everybody is looking to replace the smartphone with the next big thing and I don't see it happening within the next 10 years (not on a massive scale that is the smartphone market).
I think you're spot on - AR is an auxiliary device for the foreseeable future, like the watch. Some people might use it as a primary, but for the vast majority it will be an add-on.
Apple engineers must solve these problems:
- Glasses must be light weight
- Batteries must last a day
- People must be comfortable to wear them in public
Unless they have solved all three, Apple should not bother to bring the glasses to the market. AR glasses don't have to have fancy 3D overlays, just getting one-colored text is sufficient for many uses cases. There must however be computational resources to analyse what you are seeing, so you can do gestures in the air.
Some uses:
- subtitles when your are abroad
- notifications
- show temperature
- show time
- show heart rate
- take photos or record videos from the angle you see things
- share what you see with friends and see what they type
- change song with a hand gesture
- teleprompter
- estimate calories in food
- zoom in so you read fine print
- see the name of the people you talk with
- see PIN numbers
- see speed and how much you have run
- help with sports, like snooker shot or golf
- directions
- karaoke
- TV
- twitter feed
etc.
Once we have this, few would wanna have a smart phone.
- Glasses must be light weight
- Batteries must last a day
- People must be comfortable to wear them in public
Unless they have solved all three, Apple should not bother to bring the glasses to the market. AR glasses don't have to have fancy 3D overlays, just getting one-colored text is sufficient for many uses cases. There must however be computational resources to analyse what you are seeing, so you can do gestures in the air.
Some uses:
- subtitles when your are abroad
- notifications
- show temperature
- show time
- show heart rate
- take photos or record videos from the angle you see things
- share what you see with friends and see what they type
- change song with a hand gesture
- teleprompter
- estimate calories in food
- zoom in so you read fine print
- see the name of the people you talk with
- see PIN numbers
- see speed and how much you have run
- help with sports, like snooker shot or golf
- directions
- karaoke
- TV
- twitter feed
etc.
Once we have this, few would wanna have a smart phone.
More realistically, I think it would take about 20 years for smartphones as we know it to be marginalized as the next big thing becomes the standard. There's a lot of things that the industry, not just Apple alone, needs to perfect in order to phase out the 'brick' or 'flip' phone trend. On the one end, we have video calls used by Skype, which is most useful for me, especially deaf people, and then on the other end we have the AR and VR technology for immersive or ambient computing.
AI using glasses, watch and earphones would have to be super perfect and not to make mistakes. Siri, right now, is NOT enough to pull it off. She still misunderstands certain things I ask of 'her' on the phone. That's why I think 15-20 years, most realistically 30, is when AI becomes a lot more aware of our speech patterns without making a mistake. That needs to happen first before the marginalization of smartphones occur.
Old problems become the new. For instance, when cell phones got popular, people starting using them while driving which become an epidemic, leading to stricter laws and crackdowns on this behavior. Even etiquette, especially with customers making a call in front of a cash register at a Starbucks while ordering ( I've seen this many times when I used to work for the coffee chain ). The thing is that when the glasses, earphones and watch all become one synonymous system, the old habits of making a call in the car while driving can still be distracting while wearing glasses and the only way is to create software to block that from happening.
Waze does that now when you drive and attempt to touch the phone, it tells you that it can't do anything for you until you stop driving. Also, Google got into trouble when early adopters started wearing the Glasses into private establishments such as stripper bars, nightclubs, restaurants, work places ( that can be a very sensitive issue for the employers ) etc. and end up getting kicked out due to privacy concerns. That means, the industry as a whole, not just Apple, will have to create counter-measures to make sure the establishment can opt in to 'block' AR glasses from being used in that area. The only exception would be public areas like a gallery, stadiums, malls, maybe restaurants if they allow it, medical establishments, and so on. The last thing the industry wants is to open a 'pandora's box' of more problems that the government would have to step in and make laws for to curb certain illegal behavior.
Desktop computing may become more immersive as time goes by but they would have to create haptic feedback for the gloves or controllers, if they want to do some VR work on modelling, CAD, visual effects, or moving virtual objects around, or a haptic keyboard virtually. It would feel weird to be typing in the air when there's no sensation. As an artist myself, I would love to use VR to do some virtual illustration work with paint in 3D space or virtual sculpting ( they exist and I know they're already doing that in some creative circles ) and I think that new medium will become another standard eventually down the road. It wouldn't surprise me if my art school starts adopting that tech and I know they're using iPad Pros and Cintiqs in their studios.
I think using the AR Glasses is more for a personal experience while the smartphone, tablet or ambient computer will be for more than two people or such to view, especially when it comes to making group video calls, conferencing, etc.
For blind people, there exists new technology that allows them to 'see' with glasses but for Apple to do that, they have to go through more hoops to include it in. But, they rely mostly on audio cues whereas deaf people rely on the visual. For a Watch to power the earphones and glasses, the battery life needs to go more than 24 hours because this will likely use Bluetooth on all three devices if that were to happen. And if you want to go online, imagine the wireless carrier expenses using 5G or higher.
Another problem is texting. How are you going to text long form using the glasses? Even if you used Siri, it's still inaccurate to pull it off. It's far faster to do it by thumb than voice. Even if Deaf people were to try and text, they will have a hard time using their voice as some have certain tonal inflections that the computer may not understand. Even if sign language using gloves is perfected, they wouldn't want to be waving their hands out in public as people would look and say " what is this person doing? ". Same thing if you were to use hand motions to use the operating system on AR glasses while walking around. Can you imagine how foolish the person would look doing that? I can see that being done in private while sitting down, or in a cafe, school, office, etc. But out in public? I don't think so.
If Apple is going to try to 'sell' how 'cool' it is to wave hands around while using AR glasses because it's a 'lifestyle' thing, that would be extremely disturbing.
The other concern is people with astigmatism. Those glasses would have to have special settings for people to be able to 'move' the data at a certain distance to work with their vision. Not everyone has the same 20/20 vision, regardless of age.
This is just one of the things people have to keep in consideration before jumping into the 'kewlness' mindset. Function before form. The latter follows through after.
I don't think they are looking for something to replace the iPhone but, like the watch, to complement it. Which is why i think there will be screens in the lenses. Otherwise what's the point of having them in the first place. If you are going to have to to look at your iPhone screen you might as well just use the camera on your phone.
Course for it to be feasible the glasses need to be the same weight or only a tad more than regular glasses, be compatible with RX glasses and preferably have some kind of augmented charging or one heck of a super battery. If they could put small solar strips in the wings that might work. Cause having to charge them every couple of hours won't fly in this day and age
