If $6K is too expensive for an augmented reality take on where computing is going, Google and Samsung are building something together.
In the future, it’s entirely possible that using a computer won’t mean sitting at a desk, your laptop in front of you, a monitor, keyboard and mouse and the same old thing we do today.
It could be very different. It could be you, a headset or pair of glasses, and your hands typing in the air. Point at the screen, pull things in, push them away, and feel like you’re in a sci-fi film, your very own Minority Report interface at your fingertips.
That’s what Apple’s Vision Pro painted a picture of, provided you have the money to back it up.
Costing $5999 in Australia, Vision Pro isn’t for everyone, or pretty much anyone without the capital to back up the spend needed for that futuristic computer. There’s even a new model waiting with Apple’s M5 chip inside this week.
But a different take on the mixed reality tech Apple is working with could bring the idea to more heads, hands, and eyeballs.
This week, Google and Samsung announced something the duo had been working on with chipmaker Qualcomm, showing off the “Galaxy XR”, a headset made for mixed reality — that is augmented reality and virtual reality together — designed to work with a new generation of Android, unsurprisingly named “Android XR”.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Google’s take on the idea, a mixed reality variation on Android, but it is the first time we’re seeing something properly real and legit.
Imagine Android on a phone, but made for a headset, with cameras able to let you transpose apps you see in a headset, but inside the actual world. The view from the headset would be where digital and reality blend, and you’ll be able to use most Android apps you already have access to inside a digital interpretation of your room, your world, your space.
It means images and videos can wrap around you, turning into a spatial experience in Google Photos, while searching could become a full body journey, using your fingers to “circle to search” the way Google’s AI granted last year, but with a larger and more sweeping hand motion.
Games could be more interactive and first-person, and the same could be applied to watching sports, providing a more direct way of experiencing the game: at the event, virtually.
It’s a similar concept to what Apple’s Vision Pro headset can do, and the idea on the hardware is also similar.
The processor from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, is paired with 16GB RAM and 256GB storage, plus that new version of Android, and then there are cameras and sensors and screens.
Twelve cameras made up of two 6.5 megapixel pass through cameras, six world-facing cameras to track the space, plus four eye-tracking cameras make up the way the headset looks at the world and your face, while a depth sensor, flicker sensor, and five inertial measurement unit sensors aim to understand movement, depth, and positioning.
The headset includes iris recognition as a form of biometric security — no fingerprint here, it’s straight on the eyes — while the screen provides a 3552×3840 Micro-OLED display with roughly 27 million pixels, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a relatively wide field of view. You’ll strap this to your head with an external battery nearby capable of use for up to two hours of general use or up to 2.5 hours of use of a movie.
It’s a slightly more complex setup than merely opening the laptop up, but it’s one you’ll be able to experience multiple screens in, working like something out of sci-fi with simply wearing a pair of 545 gram glasses, plus the 302 gram battery at your side.
“With Galaxy XR, Samsung is introducing a brand-new ecosystem of mobile devices,” said Won-Joon Choi, Chief Operating Officer of the Mobile Experience at Samsung.
“Built on Android XR, Galaxy XR expands the vision for mobile AI into a new frontier of immersive and meaningful possibilities, allowing XR to move from concept to everyday reality, for both the industry and users,” he said.
While Samsung’s announcement is intriguing, right now the news is mostly for the US and Korea, with no pricing or release date for our neck of the woods. That means there’s no date or price for either Australia or New Zealand.
However, Korea and the US will get the gear first, the latter of which sees a price of $1799.99 USD with the hardware launching now. To put that into perspective, that’s under $3K before sales tax or GST gets involved, and is likely just over it, close to half the price of Apple’s Vision Pro.
While that’s still a lot of money for a headset, it’s a very different price altogether, and one that could give Android an interesting leg up as this area evolves.
There’s no word as to if or when Australians and New Zealanders will get to play with this concept, but we’ll keep you updated if and when that changes.
