Vision Pro Pre-Orders Begin Jan 19

Good morning folks!

Yesterday, Tim Cook officially announced the launch dates and pre-order details of the Apple Vision Pro on Twitter. But what developers are talking about is the guideline that Apple released, which asks devs to stop using the terms “XR, VR, MR and AR” and instead use the term “spatial computing” for their apps. This sent companies scrambling to change their app names, like the “Moon VR Player” saying that they’re changing their name to “Moon Spatial Computing Player.”

Nevertheless, I’m still excited for the launch, and I can’t wait to see how it changes the VR landscape—ehm, I mean, the spatial computing landscape. Sorry, Tim!

Headlines for people in a hurry:

• 📅 Vision Pro To Launch On Feb 2: Pre-Order Starts On Jan 19

• 🥽 Sony Reveals Standalone 4K/Eye Headset For Content Creation

• 🕶️ XReal Air 2 Ultra Announcement: True AR Is Here

• ⚠️ Meta’s VR Labs Faces Health & Safety Citation From Gov

Read time: 3 minutes

TOP STORIES

APPLE

Vision Pro Launches On Feb 2. Pre-Orders Begin Next Week!

Are you ready to go into deep debt to experience the future? I certainly am! Apple has officially announced that their Vision Pro headset is set to launch on February 2nd, with pre-orders starting January 19th at 5 a.m. PT.

Priced at $3,500, the Vision Pro will initially be available in the US, both in Apple stores and online. The headset will come with 256GB of storage and include a standard head strap, an over-head strap, a Light Seal (eye-shroud), two Light Seal Cushions (face pads), a Vision Pro Cover, a polishing cloth, an external battery, a USB-C charging cable, and a power adapter. Additionally, ZEISS optical inserts will be available for $100 for 'readers' and $150 for prescription-specific vision correction.

The App Store will launch with over 1 million apps, including a range of immersive content, but most apps will be existing 2D App Store offerings relayed on a floating window. This includes key productivity and collaboration apps like Fantastical, Freeform, JigSpace, Microsoft 365, and Slack. For video content, over 150 3D titles will be available in the Apple TV app, and Apple Immersive Video will offer 3D content with spatial audio. The interactive experience "Encounter Dinosaurs" will also be featured.

For gaming, Vision Pro will support over 250 titles from Apple Arcade on large virtual 2D screens, along with spatial games like Game Room, What the Golf?, and Super Fruit Ninja.

SONY

Sony Announces XR2+ Gen 2 Enterprise Headset For VR Content Creation

Remember our last newsletter where we said that the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 will also be used in five headsets, one of which is an undisclosed company? Well, it turns out that it was Sony, and it won’t be for gaming. I didn’t see that coming!

Sony has announced its new standalone enterprise-focused headset, set for release in 2024. It will be used for "spatial content creation," targeting professional rather than consumer use.

What really intrigued me about this product is its unique controllers, which include a pointing controller and a ring controller, designed for intuitive manipulation of objects in virtual space. "By holding the pointing controller in the dominant hand and attaching the ring controller to the fingers of the other hand, creators can model 3D objects using both controllers and a keyboard, while wearing the head-mounted display," Sony writes. The headset's flip-up design allows users to easily transition between virtual and physical environments.

The XR2+ Gen 2, a higher-end variant of the XR2 Gen 2 used in the Meta Quest 3, features a 15% higher GPU clock and a 20% higher CPU clock. Sony's headset will leverage this capability to deliver "4K" per eye resolution via dual OLED microdisplays.

AUGMENTED REALITY

XReal’s Second Attempt At AR: The Air 2 Ultra

Xreal, formerly known as Nreal, has announced the Air 2 Ultra AR glasses, a significant upgrade from its previous media glasses. The Air 2 Ultra promises true augmented reality capabilities, allowing users to place virtual objects in their real environment. This is a leap from the previous model, the NReal Light, which only offered a floating overlay.

Unlike its predecessor, which could only detect flat planes such as floors and tables, the Air 2 Ultra can generate a 3D mesh of your room, similar to high-end AR devices like the Meta Quest 3 and Magic Leap 2. It also features hand tracking, permanent spatial anchors, and 2D image tracking. The glasses are equipped with "3D environment sensors" on the temples, although the specifics of this technology are not yet fully detailed.

The OLED microdisplays in the Air 2 Ultra are 1080p with a 120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness, and the lenses feature adjustable electrochromatic dimming. The field of view is slightly larger than previous models, at 45°×25°.

Currently intended mainly for developers, the Air 2 Ultra is available for pre-order in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Czechia, Japan, South Korea, and China, priced at $700. Shipping is expected to begin in March. The glasses require a tethered connection to a Samsung Galaxy S23 or Galaxy S22 phone via USB-C for full AR functionality. Xreal is also working on a compute puck for those without these specific phones, though details on this are still forthcoming.

NEWS FLASH

META

Meta’s VR Division Facing Potential Shutdown After Government Citation

• 🚧 Meta Reality Labs faces potential shutdown over health and safety concerns.

• 📶 Wi-Fi 7 has been announced, promising near-zero latency for wireless VR streaming.

• 🚪 Google's VP of Engineering departs, casting doubt on the company's AR ambitions.

• 🕶️ Panasonic’s Shiftall announces 'MeganeX superlight', a lighter and cheaper PC VR headset for 2024.

• 🏛️ Eye of the Temple turns profitable on Meta Quest, after a lacklustre PC VR launch.

• 🏰 Townsmen VR launches on Quest 3, bringing medieval city-building to VR.

• 🚗 Micro Machines: Mini Challenge Mayhem races onto Quest & PC VR.

• 🎮 Vertigo 2 will finally launch on January 15th, after multiple delays and shifting deadlines.

BOOKMARKS

Immersive Articles From The Web

• How AR Helped In Removing A Boy’s Brain Tumour.

• Will AR Marketing Reach $14.5 Billion by 2027?

• A YouTube Video Showcases Apple’s 3D Videos & Why You Should Watch It On Quest.

• How To Extend Quest 3 Battery Life Reliably.

• Most Anticipated VR Headsets For 2024.

• What Investors Should Look For In The Vision Pro Pre-Order & Launch.

UNREAL MONEY

FUNDING REPORT

Atlas Secures $6 Million for XR Content Creation Platform

Atlas, a company developing a genAI-powered XR content creation platform, has secured approximately $6 million in seed funding. This investment, led by 6th Man Ventures (6MV) and Collab+Currency, along with a research grant from the European Union’s High-Level Expert Group on AI, will support the development of Atlas' platform, designed for enterprise and commercial use. The platform aims to streamline the creation of immersive XR experiences, making it accessible for a broader range of developer talent.

The technology behind Atlas' platform, particularly genAI, is set to revolutionize the way XR content is created. It allows developers to generate 3D XR content from image or text inputs, significantly reducing the time and expertise required. This innovation is expected to benefit various sectors, from virtual events to eCommerce, by enabling quick and efficient design of applications and virtual worlds.

COOL PROJECTS

SONY

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Can’t wait to see what the media narrative will be

Have a great week folks.

Did you see Apple’s new launch ad for the Vision Pro? It’s the same style of ad creative that they used in the launch of the iPhone in 2007, where they paid homage to all the iconic movie and TV scenes that used the phone, signalling to the world that phones are going to change forever. Now that they’ve used the same style for Vision Pro, it only means one thing: the world will never be the same after this. You can watch both these iconic ads here.

Thank you for another wonderful review, @vrkaavar 😊

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