Summer, Snap, and Smartglasses
04/07/22
Whew, long time no post! I really let this blog slide the past couple months, but I will remedy that today.
I want to take a moment to write about my plans for the summer; in particular, my upcoming internship at Snap. After meeting with my manager this last week, I finally learned the details of my team and role. I will be working at SnapLab, Snap’s R&D hardware division which is primarily responsible for developing Spectacles – Snap’s AR smartglasses! While I wish I could share more details, the majority of SnapLab’s work is under strict NDA, so y’all will just have to wait until our work becomes public. However, I can say that I will be working on SnapLab’s augmented reality team, particularly on the computer vision side of things.
I should mention I am absolutely thrilled with this team and role assignment. Ever since I started research under Dr. Thad Starner (the technical lead of Google Glass), I found the field of wearable technology fascinating. Wearable tech is still a juvenile field which has just recently reached mainstream conversation, primarily due to Facebook’s rebranding and Metaverse plans. I believe smartglasses are the next step forward for humanity’s continual efforts to seamlessly integrate everyday life with technology.
Examining the corporate industry as a whole, optical wearable tech has several major players. The VR side of the field is the most developed, with Facebook/Meta leading the pack with their purchase of Oculus. Valve’s Index is also innovative, but currently falls short to the latest Oculus/Meta Quest 2s. Higher quality headsets exist, but the price-to-performance ratio is not as favorable as Oculus. For XR, my money goes to Magic Leap, a Florida-based company which has a rather stellar line of mixed reality headsets for enterprise functions. Their latest headset boasts ~70° diagonal FoV of mixed reality – impressive for such a small company. Microsoft’s HoloLens is another large player in the field of XR, but most of their innovation is currently geared towards the military applications of their tech. Apple is rumored to be developing their own XR headset, but nothing official from the company has been released as of yet regarding specs. Google also recently began working on an XR headset, but theirs is likely pretty far off.
As for the AR side of things – the part of the industry which I believe holds the most potential – forerunners are not so clear. Google Glass, while not technically a pair of AR glasses, remains one of the most innovative products in the field. However, development on the wearable has ceased in recent years, leaving the door wide open for competitors. Meta has been promoting Project Nazaré, an ambitious project to design a pair of AR smartglasses with ~200° FoV. They are relying on Project Aria to collect sensory data which Nazaré can then use to overlay AR objects into the user’s view. However, Nazaré is likely still years away from a public release. Apple is also developing a pair of consumer AR smartglasses, but these are even further behind in development from their XR headset I mentioned prior.
Aside from these two, at least in the big tech scene, Snap is the only company which is actively working on AR smartglasses – and unlike Meta and Apple, Snap has a working developer version of their product. The Generation 4 Spectacles, released last year, were Snap’s first functioning pair of AR-enabled smartglasses (or should I say, smartsunglasses). To promote the glasses, Snap sent pairs to content creators around LA to develop Snap “lenses”, or basic applications, which run on the glasses. While not publicly available, this first iteration of the current generation Spectacles was very promising despite certain drawbacks, such as the devices’ short battery life and relatively small initial FoV of 26.3°. However, Spectacles’ exceptionally lightweight frame, comparatively sleek design, and extremely well-lit display (bright enough for usage outdoors in direct sunlight) showed the long-term potential of the device. Snap has been further developing them continuously for over a year now, and I am thrilled to see what state they are in when I join SnapLabs this summer in Santa Monica. I believe Snap’s head start on Spectacles gives them an edge on Apple and Meta, both of whom are rumored to be suffering from development setbacks with their glasses. I’m excited to innovate on the latest dev versions of Spectacles this summer and look forward to the industry’s future!