In 2019, Huawei revealed a sunglasses-style VR viewer called VR Glass. The slim form factor was powered by a tethered smartphone or PC and preceded other ultra-slim VR designs we saw at CES 2020, but it only had 3DOF tracking. For the follow-up, the company is claiming to make a big leap.
The new Huawei VR Glass jumps to 6DOF tracking. Think of it as similar to the jump from Oculus Go to Quest; 3DOF (or three degrees of freedom) allows you to spin and tilt your head in VR, but only with 6DOF can you physically move it through virtual space.
Huawei VR Glass Gets A Refresh
Apparently this is the new 6DoF version of HUAWEI VR glass. pic.twitter.com/JblDbVAqE7
— Kevin Pan (@rereflux) October 19, 2020
Huawei announced the glasses at the World VR Industry Conference Cloud Summit in Nanchang, China this past week. We’re a little light on information, but pictures of the device show a design very similar — if not identical — to the previous model with a new set of cameras attached to the top.
Accompanying the new headset is a pair of 6DOF controllers that look very much like Oculus Touch controllers. There is one key difference, though, and that’s in the tracking ring. A pair of divets allow you to stack the controllers on top of each other and then place the VR Glass over them for neat storage. Bet Facebook wish they’d thought of that, eh? Check it out in a video below.
Video of said headsets controllers locking in. pic.twitter.com/wJdX4tSeIG
— Nikk Mitchell ? (@nikkmitchell) October 20, 2020
It’s not clear if the new Glass has any other upgraded specs, though the original featured 1600×1600 resolution per eye.
Gizmo China reports that Huawei will ship the kit to developers by the end of the year before a consumer release around April 2021. No pricing yet but the original Glass cost around $425 in China. But don’t bet on ever getting to try them for yourself; the original VR Glass didn’t release in the west and it doesn’t look like this version will either.
