ThirdEye officially launched its X2 MR glasses today. The company claims to offer the world’s smallest mixed reality headset.
Here we’ll revisit ThirdEye and take a look at what the X2 has to offer.
What’s in the X2?
The model released today is the second major model released by the mixed reality company. ThirdEye markets its MR glasses to industry stressing their lightweight and wireless design.
“Our goal is to become the most recognizable smart glasses in the AR and MR industry, and so far we’ve created the widest field of view in the smallest form factor possible,” ThirdEye founder Nick Cherukuri said in the release. “The X2 Glasses are unlike anything else on the market right now – between the affordable price tag, powerful technology, and beautiful form – we’re giving workers all across the enterprise the opportunity to really elevate their level of work. Coupled with our advanced AR software platform, we’re simultaneously providing companies with nearly 40 percent savings in productivity improvements.”
Despite their small size, the glasses are entirely self-contained, including an in-frame battery.
According to a release shared with ARPost, the glasses also have a wide array of cameras and sensors, as well as a flashlight and noise-canceling speakers. Sensors include thermal and ambient light sensors, a microphone, a 3-axis accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a compass. Cameras include two greyscale cameras and a high-resolution RGB camera.
The software onboard may be more impressive. Proprietary simultaneous localization and mapping technology allow for real-time environment mapping. ThirdEye is also one of the first AR/MR companies to incorporate 5G internet into their hardware. 5G allows for higher-speed applications and lower-latency imaging. ThirdEye also manages its own app platform with hundreds of apps on the Android operating system.
The glasses ring up at just under $2,000. That makes them more expensive than most consumer models but more affordable than some industry alternatives.
How Does It Stack Up?
ThirdEye launched its first MR headset at CES in 2018. The last time that we checked in with ThirdEye was in May. The MR company had just been awarded a patent for its Organic Light Emitting Diode technology. ThirdEye hopes that the technology will allow them to remain competitive by providing better optics while remaining lightweight.
“In our next design, this patent will allow us to design an even smaller mixed reality display,” Cherukuri told ARPost at the time. “Right now we’re the smallest mixed reality display and we hope to make it even smaller.”
A couple of things have happened since then. Emerging XR technology companies are giving ThirdEye a run for their money on their “smallest” claim. Nreal frames are lighter than ThirdEye but require a wired connection to an external computer. Norm glasses are also lighter and wireless but feature a display with a much smaller field of view. Another significant difference is that Nreal and Norm are both meant for more casual users. As a result, both models are less versatile and less expensive than ThirdEye’s X2.
