#HTE

A Wearable Heads-Up Display, in Monocle/Eyeglass Hybrid Form

Oppo, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, has designed a wearable heads-up display called Air Glass. Unlike Google Glass, the system comes in two parts. The first part is an eyeglass frame that doesn’t have any lenses; it’s basically a scaffold that sits on your face.

The second part is a sort of long bullet that has a single lens attached to the end of it. The interior part of the “bullet” attaches to the frame magnetically.

A micro-projector within the bullet projects text onto the lens.

The sole physical interface is a long silver stripe on the outside of the bullet. This stripe is capacitive, and can be both tapped and swiped.

Additionally, the device can be operated via smartphone, smartwatch, voice and gestures:

“OPPO Air Glass can be operated using the Smart Glass App on OPPO Watch 2 and any OPPO smartphone installed with ColorOS 11 or above versions. It also supports four intuitive methods of interaction - touch, voice, hand motions, and head movements.

"When Air Glass is paired with an OPPO Watch 2, users can also use hand movements to confirm, cancel, and switch application cards. Moreover, for a whole new way of interaction, head movements can be recognized by Air Glass, for example gently nodding or shaking the head can open and close notifications respectively.”

Incredibly, the entire system weighs just 30 grams (1.06 ounces).

The company suggests it could be used for cycling navigation. I could see that coming in handy—depending on how strong that magnet is, and assuming you had a helmet that jived with the system.

Beyond that, I think the real-time translation and teleprompter features would be useful.

The frames will be sold in two sizes, and there will be a full-frame option for those who wear corrective lenses. Oppo says they’re bringing Air Glass to market in Q1 of 2022. Current plans are for mainland China only.