APPLE’S NEW HEADSETS TO SOLVE A VIRTUAL REALITY ISSUE

While we’re still figuring out if the metaverse is going to be a thing, details about Apple’s mixed-reality headset have leaked and it looks like it’ll have at least one eye-catching feature.

Per Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the headset will attempt to create a 3D version of the iPhone’s operating system. The estimated $3,000 device will supposedly involve immersive video content, serve as an external display for a connected Mac and feature advanced FaceTime-based videoconferencing and meeting rooms that utilize realistic avatars.

A combination of external cameras and sensors will analyze and read a user’s hands and eyes, which should allow the wearer to control and select an on-screen item just by looking at it. Then they’ll use their thumb and index finger to activate the selected task, in lieu of a hand controller.

The downsides? While immersive, theater-like movie watching is a key feature of the set, users may have to wear AirPods to get full spatial audio. And the apparently large battery will need to rest separately in a user’s pocket, a necessity due to the powerful (and heated) processors used in the headset. And even then, it’s only good for about two hours per charge.

The hand- and eye-tracking tech seems to be winning the most praise. As Hamish Hector at TechRadar notes, “I’ve found that hand tracking on Meta’s Quest devices struggles most in menus.

Source: InsideHook