Meta’s AR Glasses Prototype Unveiled At The Annual Connect Conference

< Alt-Text: Meta’s AR Glasses Prototype Unveiled >

In the annual Connect conference held in California on September 25, 2024, Meta’s AR glasses prototype was unveiled. It is called Orion, with many advanced features for an immersive virtual world. 

Meta’s CEO Mark Zukerberg said, “This is the physical world with holograms overlaid on it. For now, I think the right way to look at Orion is as a time machine.” The tech fans were excited to get a glimpse of the black glasses presented in a metal case, which is expected to be shipped in 2027.

But Orion’s specifications are more than just its design, as it is made of magnesium alloy and powered by custom silicon designed by Meta. It has a cool hand-tracking feature, voice, and wrist-based neural interface. If this sounds more like another company’s AR spectacles, then there’s more news, as in the future, the glasses will become smaller, sleeker, and more budget-friendly. 

The capabilities of the Meta glasses were showcased in a video with text messages and images displayed through the glasses, with the CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, testing them. Later, to present the company’s investment in real-time language translation, Mark Zukerberg held a live conversation with MMA fighter Brandon Moreno using the AR glasses as translating English to Spanish and vice versa. 

Moreover, the new improved ChatGPT-like chatbot was also announced for creating automated personalized images and directly connecting to people’s Facebook and Instagram feeds. An audio upgrade to the digital assistant Meta AI was also added. This will respond proactively to voice commands and offer users the option to make the assistant sound like celebrities. 

It also introduced its Meta Quest 3S, its most affordable mixed reality headset priced at $299.99 USD. These and many more exciting products were revealed at the conference, which will be updated shortly.