What Display Daily thinks: Let’s chop up all the reasons why there are more questions than answers to the promise or value of headsets even as OLED lenses seem to have become a sort of turning point in acceptance.
First set of questions: who is accepting these devices? Influencers? What is there agenda? In many cases it seems to be to stay in the good graces of companies that supply them with demo systems and keep them churning out content. is that fair?
Second, do we have any data to support this thing called “headless computing” or “spatial computing?” We know it all sounds catchy but apart from enthusiasts and influencers, who else is actually jonesing for a pod-like existence at a desk?
Thirdly, what is the threshold for applications and game developers? When will they stop to develop for these devices because the traction is not there? Is that a fair assessment or do we believe that the early adopters are right and pioneering a new path in computing that the rest of us will eventually get, when they are rich and famous and lauded for their powers of foresight?
The Immersed Visor is yet another example of hype and “vision” overcompensating for a lack of technology and application. And you can distill the problem into one issue, the displays. Everybody has something different to say about the displays. The influencers can reel off the stats and specs, but track their opinions over time and yyou will find a very broad range of experiences, none of which inspire total confidence in the experience.
The good news here is that BOE can take comfort in having held its own with its display technology which augurs well for the companyy if the headless computing market ever meets expectations.
Immersed Visor’s Extreme Unveiling
Immersed officially unveiled the final design of the Visor headset, which had previously only been shown in concept renders, at an event, called Immersed IRL 2024, that took place on this week at the Zach Theatre in Austin, Texas. The company spent some money to get influencers and journalists to the event to give them hands-on demos and kick-off the pre-orders, but as you will read later in this article, it did not go as planned.
The Visor is equipped with 4K micro-OLED displays for each eye, powered by Qualcomm’s XR2+ Gen 2 chip, and supports color passthrough, eye tracking, and hand tracking. Weighing just 186 grams without the earpieces, it boasts a sleek 41mm thickness. While the glasses-like design, complete with stems, is part of its marketing appeal, the company recommends using the included head strap for extended wear.
Partnerships with Pegatron for manufacturing and BOE for display technology were also announced. The Visor will be available for $1,050 outright, with financing options starting at $400 upfront and monthly payments.
David Heaney of UploadVR has an article taking you through the unveiling and demo event. Even after being especiailly flown out for the event, Heaney says, the Visor’s design was a more practical headset than the previously shown Oakley-like concept, which Immersed admitted was designed only to attract attention. Despite this unveiling, significant problems plagued the demo. Attendees waited hours for a demonstration, only to be told that the headsets were not functional due to a firmware issue. The demo ended up being a basic display-only mode, lacking all key features like head, hand, and eye tracking, which disappointed Heaney and others who had expected to experience the device’s full capabilities.
Heaney did note that the headset’s hardware appeared real and impressive, especially the lightweight design and high-quality 4K OLED microdisplays, which rivaled the Apple Vision Pro in his opinion. However, due to software and firmware issues, the features Immersed had promoted could not be demonstrated. The company admitted that they were overly ambitious, leading to instability. Immersed’s founder Renji Bijoy claimed that the device’s pre-orders would be delayed and general orders wouldn’t ship until at least April.
Heaney concluded by advising readers not to preorder Visor, as there was no proof that the software features would be ready for launch or that some even existed.
