Whether or not you’re fine with the world of smarts coming to glasses, there’s a chance that someone near you is going to be wearing a pair, and possibly talking to an AI while they do so. They have good uses and useful uses, but smart glasses are oddly not the only tech-enhanced pair of spectacles that actually exist.
If you can believe it, there are also tech-focused glasses that lack the cameras and aren’t intended to be worn as you walk around. Rather, they may actually be for sitting.
Sitting on a bus or train, or maybe even a flight. Sitting in bed. Sitting somewhere where you simply want to be entertained.
In years past, this type of gadget has more been called a “head-mounted display”, and is basically a VR headset minus the whole “virtual reality”. Instead, they’re screens mounted near your eyes, and the sort of technology that can trick your brain into seeing huge screens as if you’re the only one watching in a cinema made solely for you.
Head-mounted displays — or “HMDs” as distinct to the phone maker HMD — have been big, heavy on the head, and unsurprisingly expensive, as you’d expect something big and heavy largely to be.
That could be changing.
Australia is getting introduced to the modern take on the HMD tech as a new company rocks up keen to let folks looking for mobile screens have that in a pair of specs and shades.
The Viture Pro 2 may well come with the name “pro” and a number two, surprising since we’ve not seen the first-gen or sans-pro model, but it will get all the updates the company has worked on since popping up in 2021 and working on glasses tech.
Australia’s first release from the company promises to bring the advancements seen since the company started releasing its gear, with the major changes being better screens and thinner eyewear. The Pro 2 is 16 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than the Pro before it, weighing 63 grams and including brighter micro-OLED screens set at each eye, effectively bringing a small screen to your head that you can take out and use anywhere.
Appearing simply as a pair of sunglasses, the Viture Pro 2 won’t protect against the sun, but will make your eyes think they’re seeing a 3.7 metre screen (146 inches) running at a 120Hz refresh rate, making it ideal for films and games, while still being able to see a little of the world outside. And if you don’t want to see the world, they come with a lens shade to block it out and keep you immersed, all the while you keep them plugged into a phone, tablet, laptop, or portable gaming system, drawing its power from there.
It’s worth noting the Viture Pro 2 is not augmented or virtual reality, and isn’t tracking your head’s position. The screen is fixed to your head, so it’s like having a big screen that stays with you, rather than being a virtual room with a big screen.
However, Viture is also making a Mobile Dock Mini that adds a 10,000mAh battery to keep the glasses powered while keeping a portable device charged, such as a phone, a Steam Deck, or Nintendo Switch. Priced at $179, the Mobile Dock Mini is an optional extra, sitting alongside the $499 Viture Pro 2, with both available now across Australia.
