Meta on Wednesday began taking preorders for its Meta 2 augmented reality headset, and announced it would begin shipping the US$949 product in the third quarter of this year.
Meta has been working on an experience that blends "the art of user interface design with the science of the brain," CEO Meron Gribetz said during a session at last month's TED2016.
Starting this fall, developers will finally get an opportunity to "make their augmented reality dreams come true," promised Ryan M. Pamplin, VP of sales and partnerships at Meta.
"After a few moments with the glasses on, you forget about the glasses, and the digital and physical worlds become wonderfully intertwined," he told TechNewsWorld.
Meta 2 is about smashing through the confines of both the rectangles that sit on desks and the ones that slot in and out of pockets, Pamplin saidFor the last three decades, it's been necessary to endure design compromises in order to force complex interfaces into 2D displays -- and we've had to learn to use them, Pamplin pointed out.
"Meta is focused on turning the whole world into your desktop background, and making a truly natural machine with no learning curve that perfectly extends and complements the human experience," he said.
Natural Machines
The Meta 2 headset is "the most important product since the original Mac," proclaimed futurist Robert Scoble.
It is better than Hololens in some respects, he told TechNewsWorld. Meta 2 "sees fingers more accurately and has wider viewing angle."
Meta wants to build natural machines that feel like an extension of the brain. That design philosophy is evident both in its hardware and software.
The head-mounted display has a pixel count of 2560 x 1440. Its 90-degree field of view provides an unrestricted view of the wearer's environment.
On the software side, Meta 2 and its Unity engine infrastructure deliver a made-for-hands experience.
Wearers can rely solely on their hands to engage with holographic object, though Meta 2 also supports keyboards and mice. The Meta 2's 720p camera and an array of sensors enable the HMD to track hands and recognize gestures.
It has four near-ear speakers, and controls for volume and brightness. A braid of cables can tether Meta 2 to HDMI, data storage and power connections.
The headset supports Microsoft Office, Spotify and Adobe Creative Suite.
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