Though Meta Join 2024 lacked a marquee high-end product for the vacation season, it nonetheless included a brand new finances VR headset and a tease of the “magic glasses” Meta’s XR gurus have been speaking about for the higher a part of a decade. As well as, the corporate retains plowing ahead with new AI instruments for its Ray-Ban glasses and social platforms. Right here’s the whole lot the corporate introduced at Meta Join 2024.
Orion AR glasses
At this time’s greatest blended actuality gear — like Apple’s Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3 — are headsets with passthrough video capabilities. However the tech business ultimately needs to squeeze that tech into one thing resembling a pair of prescription glasses. We’ll allow you to decide whether or not the Orion AR glasses pictured above cross that check, however they’re actually nearer than different full-fledged AR units we’ve seen.
First, the unhealthy information. These puppies gained’t be accessible this 12 months and don’t have an official launch date. A leaked roadmap from final 12 months steered they’d arrive in 2027. Nonetheless, Meta mentioned on Wednesday that Orion would launch “within the close to future,” so take what you’ll from that. For its half, Meta says the full-fledged product prototype is “actually consultant of one thing that would ship to shoppers” fairly than a analysis system that’s a long time away from transport.
The glasses embody tiny projectors to show holograms onto the lenses. Meta describes them as having a big discipline of view and immersive capabilities. Sensors can observe voice, eye gaze, hand monitoring and electromyography (EMG) wristband enter.
The glasses mix that sensory enter with AI capabilities. Meta gave the instance of trying in a fridge and asking the onboard AI to spit out a recipe based mostly in your substances. It can additionally help video calls, the power to ship messages on Meta’s platforms and spatial variations of Spotify, YouTube and Pinterest apps.
This 12 months’s new VR headset focuses on the entry-level rather than early adopters wanting the most recent cutting-edge tech. The Meta Quest 3S is a $300 child sibling to final 12 months’s Quest 3, shaving cash off the higher-end mannequin’s entry charge in trade for cheaper lenses, a decision dip and skimpier storage.
The headset contains Fresnel lenses, that are acquainted to Quest 2 house owners, as a substitute of the higher-end pancake ones in Quest 3. It has a 1,832 x 1,920 decision (20 pixels per diploma), a drop from the two,064 x 2,208 (25 PPD) within the Quest 3. Meta says the finances mannequin’s discipline of view can also be barely decrease.
The Quest 3S begins with a mere 128GB of storage, which may replenish rapidly after putting in a number of of the platform’s greatest video games. However should you’re prepared to shell out $400, you possibly can bump that as much as a extra respectable 256GB. (Alongside the announcement, Meta additionally dropped the 512GB Quest 3 value to $500 from $650.)
The headset might outlast the Quest 3 in a single respect: battery life. Meta estimates the Quest 3S will final 2.5 hours, whereas the Quest 3 is rated for two.2 hours.
These ordering the headset will get a particular Bat-bonus. Quest 3S (and Quest 3) orders between now and April 2025 will obtain a free copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow, the VR motion recreation coming subsequent month.
The Quest 3S is now accessible for pre-order. It begins transport on October 15.
Out with the outdated
To have fun the arrival of the Meta Quest 3S, Meta is kicking two older fashions to the curb. The Quest 2 and Quest Professional will be discontinued by the end of the year. The corporate says gross sales will proceed till stock runs out or the tip of the 12 months, whichever comes first.
The corporate now views the Quest 3S, with its significantly better blended actuality capabilities, as the brand new finances mannequin, so the $200 Quest 2 not has a spot. The Quest Pro, which by no means gained a lot traction with shoppers, has inferior cameras and passthrough video than the 2 Quest 3-tier fashions. The Professional launched two years in the past as a Metaverse-centric system — again when the business was pounding that phrase as exhausting because it’s pushing “AI” now. The headset launched at a whopping $1,500 and was later decreased to $1,000.
Though the {hardware} stays the identical, Meta is including new AI options to its tech-filled sun shades. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will get an updated AI assistant.
The assistant will now allow you to set reminders based mostly on objects you see. For instance, you could possibly say, “Hey Meta, remind me to purchase that e-book subsequent Monday” to set an alert for one thing you see within the library. The glasses may scan QR codes and dial cellphone numbers from textual content it acknowledges.
Meta’s assistant also needs to reply to extra pure instructions. You’ll want to fret much less about remembering formal prompts to set off it (“Hey Meta, look and inform me”). It can allow you to use extra informal phrasing like “What am I taking a look at?” The AI may deal with complicated follow-up questions for extra fluid chats with the robotic pal dwelling in your sun shades.
In accordance with Meta, the glasses’ reside translation can also be getting higher. Whereas final 12 months’s model struggled with longer textual content, the corporate says the software program will now translate bigger chunks extra successfully. Reside translations will arrive in English, French, Italian and Spanish by the tip of 2024.
The corporate mentioned Met AI now supports voice chats. Though this functionality existed earlier than, it was restricted to the Ray-Ban glasses.
Meta additionally partnered with celebrities to assist draw clients into its chatbots. That’s proper, people: Now you can hear Meta’s chatbot responses within the dulcet tones of the one and solely John Cena! Different movie star voices embody Dame Judi Dench, Awkwafina, Keegan Michael Key and Kristen Bell.
Meta’s AI can now edit images with textual content prompts, performing duties like including or eradicating objects or altering particulars like backgrounds or garments. AI photograph enhancing shall be accessible on Meta’s social apps, together with Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
In the meantime, Meta’s Llama 3.2 AI mannequin introduces imaginative and prescient capabilities. It could possibly analyze and describe pictures, competing with comparable options in ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.
Compensate for all of the information from Meta Connect 2024!
