AR glasses are coming out at such a rate, that we can hardly keep up. The latest addition to the now respectable line of products, comes from a well-known friend. DigiLens Crystal AR glasses are aimed at both the commercial and enterprise users, offering low-weight, completely transparent waveguide-based optics at fairly low price.
The name should be familiar. DigiLens has been developing AR optics for some time, always on the forefront of something new. The ‘new’ that the company has been adamantly at work on is a different kind of AR glass display, one that would be lighter, cheaper, and more versatile. Well, DigiLens Crystal AR glasses are here, a perfect opportunity to witness the future ringside. They feature new waveguide holographic displays that on paper deliver the goods in most transparent fashion. Is it enough, though, to slap the revolutionary stick onto Crystal?
Yes and no. The yesses first. DigiLens proprietary displays technology does cash its own check. For starters, the displays are completely transparent, so never a hindrance to social interaction. Due to unique optics material, DigiLens Crystal AR glasses weigh just under half a pound, which is miles better compared with its helmet-y counterparts. Another thing that’s better is the battery life, boasting of 5-15 hours of undeterred usage connected to mobile device or a power bank respectively.
The screen indeed hits home, and DigiLens CEO Chris Pickett knows it. ‘We have set the bar for featherlight indoor/outdoor smartglasses for workers and mobile gamers’. There is a rock-solid reason for this enthusiasm, and that is price. The DigiLens Crystal AR glasses with all the advanced display features will come at comparatively modest consumer price of $499. How’s that for revolutionary?
Conversely, DigiLens Crystal is nothing we haven’t seen before. Granted, it takes the existing canopy of AR glasses a run for their money, but never breaks away from the pattern. Consider the words of Tim Merel, Digi-Capital MD: ‘Smartglasses have to deliver on all day battery life, mobile connectivity, and app ecosystem. Until a major breakthrough in battery technology or device efficiency, a lightweight pair of smartglasses tethered to the smartphone we already own is a great solution’. DigiLens Crystal AR Glasses tick all the boxes making them a staple in the Augmented Reality enterprise and consumer market, but perhaps a little shy of revolutionary.
Nevertheless, market will be shaken by the new DigiLens glasses, for besides the advanced screen technology, Crystal holds its own in other departments as well. Camera is the standard 8MP, while FOV sticks to the due 30-degrees. Also, with a bit of forward-thinking flair, DigiLens has secured some rather beefy partnerships meaning that the technology can only go one direction from here.
Who are Digilens Crystal AR glasses for? Everybody apparently. From production workers to gamers; manufacturing or maintenance to regular consumer usage, Crystal are among the very best all-rounders around. If only there wasn’t the feeling that they are a first-generation Digilens product, the more and better and yet to come. But that can only be a good thing, can it not?
