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HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

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Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#71

Post by jnsie »

smoldesu wrote: post #24
stranded22 wrote: post #7

I am way more interested in a digital world being overlaid on the real world - augmenting rather than escaping. I’m not sure if I’d like to walk around the streets wearing them though - would be incredibly annoying to other people and a risk of being stolen.

Honestly, I've seen less compelling AR applications than I've seen VR ones. Between Windows Mixed Reality, Pokemon Go and the AR Lowe's app, there's not really a whole lot of compelling AR use-cases. VR at least has an entertainment niche, which gave us the likes of Beat Saber, Half Life: Alyx and an IMAX experience in the comfort of your sofa. Neither one seems poised to succeed IMO, but the push for AR adoption see…

I'll keep saying this until it happens...the biggest AR use case, for me, is replacing the television. The fact that we all have giant boxes as the centerpiece of our main rooms is something unnatural that we take for granted. I'm not sure how far AR devices that allows for social viewing of television content are away, but I feel in my bones that it will happen and when it does children of that generation will be confused as to what a television was and why it was needed.

Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#73

Post by notnotjake »

I find this product fascinating. The design looks ugly, but I can see how they got there. Mixing the real world and iPhone display in the way they are is super interesting. As is the decision to leave the edge of iPhone for touch input. Also interesting to see them leveraging Apple technologies so heavily. I can't really see this gaining any real market, but I like some of these design choices.

Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#74

Post by Uehreka »

m463 wrote: post #34
stranded22 wrote: post #7

I am way more interested in a digital world being overlaid on the real world - augmenting rather than escaping. I’m not sure if I’d like to walk around the streets wearing them though - would be incredibly annoying to other people and a risk of being stolen.

I think augmented reality is hard . Practically speaking VR only needs to create an image, while AR needs to create and register an image in space and time.

As someone whose built stuff for both, I agree. With VR I can test things out on my computer and be reasonably sure that, say, the things I see in the Unity Editor will be the things I’ll see later in my headset.

Current AR workflows have tons of moving parts, are harder to test, and have all kinds of unreliable points of failure that are difficult to overcome (like finding a flat plane to use as an anchor and then hoping your content doesn’t show up backwards or upside down). It’ll improve over time for sure, that’s clear, but the current tools are not as easy to use as they probably should be.

Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#75

Post by prox »

bitL wrote: post #59
thinkling wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> HoloKit, originally a Google Cardboard-like AR device for the iPhone, has been relaunched Is it more than a premium version of Google Cardboard? I can't tell. The "Technical Specs" mention "optical lenses" but otherwise mention no hardware details--well, other than the bring-your-own items (iPhone, Airpods, Apple Watch)...

It looks exactly like those under $20 VR kits for phones. My guess is that the added value is in the app if it can overlay VR on top of the realtime video from iPhone cameras.

Must be since it doesn’t support Ipads (now that must be a big headset!)

Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#76

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

xwdv wrote: post #54

I predict the first successful AR product for mass market consumers will be simple glasses that block real world ads with basic rectangles or pixelation.

Your own personalized moments in time play back at Times Square. Or subtlety getting me to learn Spanish by injecting it on things… actually hang on while I parent that last one.

Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#77

Post by notnotjake »

codesnik wrote: post #43

it seems they really wanted for iphone to think that it in the correct position, like if it was in the user hand. Otherwise placing phone horizontally, flipping image and using some kind of periscope for the camera would make a more compact and much less "dorky" looking device. Is it supposed to run existing iphone AR apps too?

Existing AR apps lack stereoscopic support and lack interaction model needed for this. But wouldn't be hard to add support for this. Basically just a presentation and UI level change.

Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#78

Post by cmelbye »

jaChEWAg wrote: post #28
stranded22 wrote: post #7

I am way more interested in a digital world being overlaid on the real world - augmenting rather than escaping. I’m not sure if I’d like to walk around the streets wearing them though - would be incredibly annoying to other people and a risk of being stolen.

that's supposedly what Humane is developing atm and should announce sometime later this year.

I thought Humane was a wearable projector essentially that projects some UI onto your palm.

Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#79

Post by dagmx »

thinkling wrote: post #42
pdnell wrote: post #2

HoloKit, originally a Google Cardboard-like AR device for the iPhone, has been relaunched as a more premium $150 iPhone accessory. Unfortunately no SDK available anymore (for now at least). Looks interesting. Has anyone here tried it?

> HoloKit, originally a Google Cardboard-like AR device for the iPhone, has been relaunched Is it more than a premium version of Google Cardboard? I can't tell. The "Technical Specs" mention "optical lenses" but otherwise mention no hardware details--well, other than the bring-your-own items (iPhone, Airpods, Apple Watch)...

Yea it’s quite different than the cardboard.

The cardboard is a VR device where you could only see your phones display.

This uses a peppers ghost setup to let you see the real world , and the phones screen is used to overlay holograms in the space in front of you.

If you’ve ever been to DisneyLand or any place that has hologram ghosts etc, this is essentially the same principle.

Re: HoloKit relaunched, $129 AR Headset accessory for iPhone

#80

Post by smoldesu »

jnsie wrote: post #71
smoldesu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I've seen less compelling AR applications than I've seen VR ones. Between Windows Mixed Reality, Pokemon Go and the AR Lowe's app, there's not really a whole lot of compelling AR use-cases. VR at least has an entertainment niche, which gave us the likes of Beat Saber, Half Life: Alyx and an IMAX experience in the comfort of your sofa. Neither one seems poised to succeed IMO, but the push for AR adoption see…

I'll keep saying this until it happens...the biggest AR use case, for me, is replacing the television. The fact that we all have giant boxes as the centerpiece of our main rooms is something unnatural that we take for granted. I'm not sure how far AR devices that allows for social viewing of television content are away, but I feel in my bones that it will happen and when it does children of that generation will be co…

That's a fair point, but I struggle to see how we haven't already reached that point with smartphones. Most people today already have a portable screen they can comfortably stow on-person, it feels like a hard sell to get them to ditch their TV and smartphone for a situationally useful headset. Doubly so if every participant needs a discrete headset.

While I enjoyed watching movies in VR, it's just more comfortable to lay down on the couch and watch a movie without a headset on.

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