Intel Vaunt: The New Augmented Reality Smart Glass
Intel has just revealed Vaunt, the new augmented reality (AR) smart glasses that came with the promise of more unobtrusive viewing. Many people still think that smart goggles or glasses like Magic Leap or Microsoft HoloLens are practically unwearable in public without drawing weird attention. For these people, Intel Vaunt can just be the ideal solution to opt for.
Intel Vaunt vs other smart glasses
Smart glasses evolved and came a long way since the Google Glass was launched. The best thing about the new Intel glass is that it doesn’t sport any outward facing cameras with motion and touch controls like most other smart glasses. Instead, Intel decided to give its glass camera the ease of voice control along with artificial intelligence, control through head motion and lasers. All these hi-tech controls allow complete hands-free control of the Intel Vaunt.
Price and release date
Still the price and the release date of this Intel made augmented reality glass has not been revealed by the company. To give you a rough idea, Google Glass had a price tag of $1,500 and naturally you can expect a price higher than this for the new Intel Vaunt.
How Vaunt works?
Vaunt is equipped with cutting-edge laser technology to shoot low-power laser right into your retina. This new technology allows the device doing several things that are otherwise unthinkable with most AR glasses. For instance, while wearing other smart glasses if within a meeting if you are watching notifications or browsing the web or watching a video, others around you can see that. While wearing Vaunt, the whole visual interface remains only visible to you with no scope for others to get a sense of what you are doing.
This is possible just because Intel Vaunt makes the notifications visible to you just by sending a low-intensity laser right into the retina of your eyes. While doing this, it does not interfere with your peripheral vision and this is why you enjoy the same clarity of sight for seeing things around. The Intel Vaunt compatible with both iOS and Android can deliver notifications on all types of devices.
The design of the Intel Vaunt was carefully curbed out to allow the wearers taking a quick glance at the bottom right of the glass to check for latest news and notification updates. This doesn’t interfere with the usual vision of the eye to give attention to things in the surrounding environment.
The laser used in the Intel Vaunt is of VCSEL, the kind of laser used in the iPhone X for scanning the face of the user for Face ID and Animoji. According to Intel, this laser is too weak in intensity to impart any damaging effect on the retina. The laser ray reflecting out of the right lens is capable to beam out a 400 x 150 pixel image right onto the retina for a sharp and clear visual experience.
Just because it allows the image to appear directly over the eyesight both users with problems concerning near sight or far sight can experience equal clarity while reading texts. But the same users based on their optical sight issues can incorporate prescription lenses right in their Vaunts for seeing the world around with same clarity.
The plastic frame of the Intel Vaunt keeps the laser on the right side while the Bluetooth, processor, and other tech elements are placed on the left. This is how the weight of the Intel Vaunt remains balanced keeping the glass steady. The frames of the Intel Vaunt weighing around 50 grams is a bit heavier that Google Glass which weighs just 42 grams.
Intel Vaunt key features
All the features of the Intel Vaunt are still not out publicly, and a lot of speculations concerning this are in the air. As far as the hypothetical use cases described by the company and many reviewers we can figure out what this new smart glass can do. For instance, the wearer looking at a restaurant while passing by it can get a pop up with reviews and menu charts of the restaurant. Similarly, a gardener wearing this glass can ask the smart assistant to pull up information about a particular plant. The AI capability of the glass will understand your gestures and head movements to respond accordingly.
Something to note
As per the company, before Intel Vaunt is ready to hit the market it will be more equipped with some additions specs and features, most notably an inbuilt mic for voice commands. The app ecosystem involving a new range of developer inputs will also flourish with the onset of this truly futuristic and cutting-edge smart glass.
Dhruvil is a Writer & Marketeer for Nimblechapps, joined in December 2014, based out of Sydney, Australia. He has worked briefly as a Branding and Digital Marketing Manager before moving to Australia. At Nimblechapps, he worked on Social Media Marketing, Branding, Email Marketing and Blogging. Dhruvil studies Business at University of Western Sydney, and also handles Operations for the company in Australia.