Meta shows prototype VR glasses with features from Apple's Vision Pro

After the success of the line Oculus, Meta is developing a new VR headset that is lightweight and useful at the same time, which takes the conceptual name of Mirror lake. During a presentation, the company updated the concept that uses Holocake lenses and allows the user's eyes to be seen by those “on the other side”. Check out the details.

Mirror Lake Prototype

During a lecture to students, Douglas Lanman, Director of Display Systems Research at Meta, updated the concept first presented in 2022. He confirmed that the company has made an important breakthrough in the last year and that now, the prototype can become a real product that hits the market.

Here's a rendering – and this is what I'm going to show you – of a device we developed a few years ago that is practical to build now. Using Holocake, using multi-view eye tracking, using EyeSight, with hardware components that exist, we believe that this headset that we call Mirror Lake, which is just a rendering here, is actually achievable.

Douglas Lanman, Director of Display Systems Research at Meta

A few years ago, Meta tries to present glasses that are light and useful at the same time, but everything remains within the concept. When he first showed the idea to the world, Mark Zuckerberg cited that the idea had not yet been put into an integrated device, but that we could see it at some point.

In the lecture, Douglas said “that we could build a VR headset like this in a significant amount of time.”

Expected advances

Despite still being an idea that remains mostly on paper, Meta's new VR glasses arrive to innovate the market through some concepts that, if they work out in practice, could put the company in a position to Mark Zuckerberg competing for the title of best VR glasses manufacturer. See below.

Varifocal lens

A varifocal lens solves the problem of focus depending on distance. In practice, the glasses lenses are relocated by a mechanism to allow better visualization of the virtual environment. The varifocal lens concept is widely used in security cameras, but the Meta He has worked there for at least five years.

The issue of vergence, which is the ability of the eyes to adjust their position to keep the image of an object focused on the retina, allowing you to clearly see both near and far objects, has been resolved. This coordination of eye movements is fundamental to binocular vision and three-dimensional perception of the world around us.

Meta's first VR headset with a varifocal lens was a prototype. In 2018, during the conference F8, the company presented the Half dome which used eye tracking so that the lenses were adjusted using a mechanism. The big problem is that, according to experts, using something like this on VR glasses lacks reliability.

The company continued using this concept in two other VR glasses: the Half Dome 2 it had more reliable mechanisms and a more compact design (which led to a smaller field of vision).

Already Half Dome 3 He stopped using the moving mechanism and instead used a stack of layers of liquid crystal lenses to apply the varifocal effect. It was more compact, resembled traditional ski goggles and was the closest Meta came to putting the Mirror Lake project on the market.

Holocake Lenses

VR glasses models, such as quest 2, Valve Index and PlayStation VR2, used a type of lens like regular refractive optics, which is thicker and forces the accessories to have a greater space between the screens and the lenses, making them larger. Models like the Meta Quest 3, Peak 4, Bigscreen Beyond and himself apple vision pro have lenses that bear the name of holocake.

The difference is that these more modern lenses are straight and use polarization to “bend” the optical path, which makes it shorter. A Meta used this concept for its Mirror Lake project, but “a thin, flat holographic lens” was chosen for a possible launch.

Mark Zuckerberg's company also chose to change the “holographic” concept. Instead of making a 3D light field display, a hologram projection takes place so that the best image is seen.

One of the “problems” with Holocake lenses is their limitation: they require specialized lasers as a light source. A Meta does not yet know what the best source for this would be, since LED backlighting is not suitable and other lasers are not yet ready to reach the final market. Zuckerberg spoke about this in a 2022 interview:

We will need to do a lot of engineering to get a viable consumer laser that meets our specifications: that is safe, low-cost and efficient, and that can fit into a slim VR headset. Honestly, to this day, the jury is still out on a suitable laser source.

Zuckerberg on the Holocake lenses in his next VR Glasses

Screen with EyeSight 

Finally, the Meta also prepares a functionality that will allow the user's eyes, through a projection, to be seen by whoever is in front of him. In practice, this prevents the VR glasses from having to be removed.

O Vision PRApple's also has a feature that reduces the opacity of the screens when a person arrives in the same space as you. It will be possible to see and talk to someone without their glasses and, when the person leaves, you can focus on what you were doing again. This will be useful for entertainment, work and other tasks that the device is put to work on. Look:

The Meta idea basically follows this same concept, although the prototype is larger than we imagine for a final product. But it has been confirmed that the Mirror Lake design can indeed deliver this in a small format.

Comparisons with Apple's Vision Pro

O visionOS is an operating system developed just for Apple's virtual reality glasses. In addition to bringing integration with Disney+ in a special and immersive way, the Cupertino company presented video calling features, better use of audio and more.

Currently, the goal quest 3 has an operating system based on Android 12 do Google, which is easily integrated with the smartphone system. There has been no confirmation from Apple that the VR glasses will only work with other devices manufactured by Apple itself, but we remember that there may be some limitations if you have a cell phone that runs Android instead of iOS.

The battery is also an important issue: the Apple chose not to put batteries in the VisionPro with the justification that this can make the device very heavy. Instead, there is a battery with cable that can be placed in your pocket. See below:

All the images we've seen of the Meta prototype have a wire and are far from looking light, so the question remains whether Zuckerberg's company will choose to follow this same path or use a lighter energy source than lithium batteries.

It's also almost certain that both models will look the same as the VR glasses we know today. The operating system, processor and special features will be the companies' greatest asset to make the investment happen.

A Apple has also already announced the official price of the Vision Pro: US$3.499 in the USA (R$17.295,21 in direct conversion), with launch scheduled for the beginning of 2024. Find out more about the Apple's mixed reality glasses in our special article.

Price and release date

Mark Zuckerberg has not set a launch target for Meta's new VR glasses and the company appears to be in no rush to get this product to market. The latest comment on this subject is that it will only be seen in the “second half of the decade”, so don’t expect a release date before the beginning of 2025.

How Meta You haven't even thought about when you should launch the Mirror lake, the price is even more open, but don't expect anything under $3.500 due to the innovations present. The launch strategy is expected to be the same as that of Apple : Meta should place its new VR glasses on the American market and only later will it reach other countries.

Would you buy glasses like Mirror lake? tell us Comment!

See also other features

Meta Quest 3 is launched, betting on mixed reality

Meta Quest 3 is launched, betting on mixed reality

With information: ZD Net l The Verge l VR upload l UA OSC

reviewed by Glaucon Vital in 11 / 12 / 23.