Oppo has announced its new Air Glass for augmented reality applications, along with a new MariSilicon X neural processing unit for HDR A.I. 4K video.
Oppo is credited for several smartphone innovations, especially in the camera and fast-charging departments, and the list keeps growing each year. Earlier today, the company hosted the first day of the two-day Oppo Inno Day 2021 event, where it showcased its custom “MariSilicon X” neural processing unit (NPU) and teased two flagship phones launching next year, including the foldable Find N and the 2022 Find X. It also launched its monocle-style smart glass, the Oppo Air Glass, for augmented reality (AR) applications. The MariSilicon X NPU is set to debut on the Oppo Find X 2022, while the Air Glass will go on sale in China in the first quarter of next year. The prices are yet to be revealed, but Oppo has shared many details about the products to help set our expectations. Here is everything that was announced at day one of the Oppo Inno Day 2021 event. The monocle-style Oppo Air Glass is the first commercial smart glass from the company. Emphasizing “commercial” is pertinent here because the company has been exhibiting its pairs of smart glasses for the last two years of its INNO Day events but both of these have only been available for developers to build AR applications. True to its name, the Air Glass features a burdenless design and weighs just 30 grams. It features a detachable arm that attaches magnetically to the frame, and this design should allow users to add prescription lenses. Oppo currently offers half-frame and a full-frame options, but you won’t be able to wear it over just any pair of glasses, although we might see the company bring out more designs in the future. Air Glass uses see-through sapphire crystal glass with an array of microLEDs in the display. It claims the tiny display can get as bright as 3 million nits and, therefore, should be useful for outdoor viewing. The Oppo Air Glass features an in-house micro projector that can be used to project an image to an external surface. It uses a five-piece lens unit housed inside a metal tube for better heat dissipation. The smart glass runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform, which is seen on several Wear OS smartwatches. The chipset also brings connectivity features such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS to the smart glass, while the detachable arm features a speaker and a microphone. The user interface can be controlled using the touch bar on the side and also supports gestures like nodding or shaking the head for view and clear notifications. Besides touch and head movements, users can also control the contents on the Air Glass using hand gestures or with their voice. The Oppo Air Glass is meant to be an extension to the smartphone, but it will be limited to Oppo phones running ColorOS 11 and above.
