OPPO Air Glass 3: AI-Powered Reality Glasses

In the world of augmented reality, we’ve seen it all. From Project Iris, which was discontinued by Google, to the promising Xiaomi Wireless AR Discovery Edition glasses that no one could buy. The OPPO Air Glass 3 glasses surprised us all with the concept of “assisted reality”, which was first introduced as an accessory to traditional glasses, but later became real glasses.

What is OPPO Air Glass 3?

At first glance, the Air Glass 3 is a normal-sized pair of glasses with clear optics. However, each lens can display color images. According to OPPO, the world’s lightest augmented reality binoculars, Air Glass 3 weighs just 50 g (1.76 oz) and is designed for comfort and durability. OPPO reduced the thickness of the bezel and offered a premium experience with a thin and optically clear display.

The imaging resin waveguide is only 0.88 mm thick and can transmit a video signal from a miniature microLED projector with a brightness of up to 1000 nits per eye. When it comes to sound, the OPPO Air Glass 3 comes with in-frame speakers.

This allows you to make phone calls and communicate with applications that require sound or voice response. To enhance privacy protection and improve sound quality, OPPO uses reverse sound field technology.

According to the brand, this means that people nearby will not be able to hear what is coming out of the speakers. Despite this privacy protection, OPPO claims that listeners’ audio quality is rich and deep across a variety of sounds and environments.

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Voice Assistant and Features of OPPO Air Glass 3

The glasses are operated via a touch panel on the frame, but most relevant is the new AI voice assistant that works with OPPO’s AndesGPT language model.

The Assistant, which is currently only available in China, doesn’t download to the glasses, so you’ll need to pair them with the app on an OPPO phone running ColorOS 13 or later. As far as we know, AndesGPT enables information retrieval and excels at querying slightly more complex tasks, such as travel planning.

In terms of features, OPPO Air Glass 3 currently includes voice calling, music playback, and color image browsing. In future versions, Oppo plans to add teleprompter functionality, improve navigation, and add features like timers, translations, and health and fitness information.

As we know, OPPO plans to develop these and other prototypes before launching the product on the market. In this context, let us remember that the Air Glass 2 prototype was presented two years ago and has seen constant progress so far.

Oppo recently launched its AI Hub, exploring ways to integrate AI with AR and XR in the future. There is no confirmed release date or expected market launch, but there is evidence of the concept progress OPPO is making with these presentations.

Features of OPPO Air Glass 3

The new OPPO Air Glass 3, unveiled on Monday at MWC 2024, aims to take the brand concept to the next level not only in terms of design, but also functionality. We are looking at a prototype that features a more modern and intelligent design than previous experimental models, without sacrificing anything. In addition, it weighs only 50 grams. They are like normal glasses, but with more technology.

The manufacturer claims that OPPO Air Glass 3 contains a proprietary resin that can provide a refractive index of 1.70, a screen brightness of 50%, and a maximum eye brightness of 1000 nits. All of this should provide the user with an experience similar to that of traditional paper cups, but with augmented reality features that could significantly differentiate them.

The glasses have touch controls that allow you to use a variety of functions. It also includes a micro color projector to view photographs and navigation instructions, among other things. It also has four microphones and sound field technology, two important factors when using music playback functions, voice calls or integrated AI assistants.

We’re talking about a major part of the device’s latest and greatest experience. OPPO says summoning an assistant is as easy as pressing the temples of the glasses. It’s a multimodal technology that can be trained to recognize sound and process text, images, and video. It’s used to “describe complex user scenarios.”

How do OPPO Air Glass 3 work?

Oppo jumped fully on the artificial intelligence bandwagon at the Mobile World Congress 2024. The Chinese manufacturer presented the OPPO Air Glass 3 prototype, the third prototype of its augmented reality glasses based on artificial intelligence. Glasses like Google Glass rely on an assistant to send information directly to our field of vision through text, images or videos.

The Air Glass 3 looks like normal plastic lenses. With its Ray-Ban smart glasses, Oppo followed the same path as Meta, creating a wearable device for everyday use. The prototype weighs 50 g and consists of a resin waveguide with a refractive index of 1.70, screen brightness uniformity greater than 50%, and a maximum source brightness of 1000 nits. There’s a touch sensor on the side of the frame that lets you control music, answer voice calls, and interact with on-screen information.

Users can access their photo library or use wizards to perform certain tasks. Oppo claims that the glasses include reverse sound field technology and other features that improve noise isolation to ensure privacy.

One thing to note is that the Air Glass 3 requires an Oppo phone to work. The voice assistant used is based on AndesGPT, a large language model (LLM) developed by a Chinese manufacturer. This allows you to search or chat with users similar to what you see in GPT Chat, but limited to corporate endpoints. Another disadvantage is that AndesGPT-based voice assistants are only available in China.

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Oppo Air Glass 3 is part of Oppo’s commitment to AI

It’s been more than a year since artificial intelligence (AI) became a hot topic. The explosion of generative AI, such as Chat GPT and Midjourney, Dall-E or Bard (now Gemini), has led to millions of dollars of investment in this technology.

One of the main obstacles is that the United States blocks China’s ability to import semiconductor chips or machines that could help develop artificial intelligence processors. In the case of OPPO, it created a new hub, the AI ​​Center, to focus resources on areas such as research, development and artificial intelligence.