"Wearables startup Meta has revealed its latest headset, the MetaPro, a consumer version of its Meta 1 developer device that amps up Google Glass by overlaying full digital graphics over the real world. Expected to ship in June 2014, for the not-inconsiderable price of $3,000, the MetaPro glasses look far less geeky than their dev-focused predecessors but still manage to fit two 720p HD lenses with 40-degree field of vision. That, Meta says, is 15x the screen area that Glass delivers.
slashgear.com |
The headset can either be used to spread a broad virtual workspace across the full field of vision, or by combining the visuals from both eyes into a stereoscopic 3D picture instead. Also inside is a pair of RGB cameras and a 3D time-of-flight depth sensor for tracking hands and other movement in front of the wearer, together with an accelerometer, gyroscope, and digital compass for nine-axis tracking.
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Where the Meta 1 dev-kit needed to be plugged into your own choice of laptop or computer, MetaPro will come with a portable - and powerful - brain of its own. A compact box will have an Intel Core i5 processor paired with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, along with WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0, and USB.
That - housed in what Meta calls the MetaPro Pocket Computer - will remotely power all of the apps that run on the wearable; the company claims more than 500 are currently in development. Weight is 180g, though the 32Wh battery - tipped to be good for 4-8 hours - is in the computer part, not the headset.
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Though that might sound passé, Meta is upbeat about the potential when your entire surroundings can be repurposed as a virtual office. A Meta headset could end up being "more valuable than a laptop" Gribetz argued, when it gives the impression of a bigger screen than any notebook could deliver.
Where the developer kit was sub-$700, though, the first consumer Meta model is aimed a fair amount higher. Gribetz's hope is that an "iPhone quality pair of sunglasses" with the best of AR tech will persuade early-adopters to jump onboard, at which point the company can work on bringing the price down.
Meta isn't the only company working on wearables, and 2014 promises to see a number of other headsets trying to carve a niche in the fledgling segment. With Iron Man-style controls and a little aviator style, however, the MetaPro does at least have us curious."
post by Chris Davies
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