Favourite MR Hardware: HoloKit by Amber Garage

“Amber Garage, a Silicon Valley based creative art & tech studio, on June 1st at Augmented World Expo launched HoloKit, the low cost open source mixed reality experience, which includes the HeadKit cardboard headset and TrackKit software. With your smartphone and Mixed Reality apps, HoloKit provides you access to the world of Mixed Reality right in your hands, affordably.” (From, https://holokit.io/)

HoloKit is the MR equivalent for Google Cardboard; an extremely low cost way for users to experience augmented reality. What I like about HoloKit is that developers do not have to spend thousands of dollars to begin to try develop augmented reality applications. With the HoloKit, development of augmented reality applications could potentially be faster and more widespread solely based on the fact that it’s immensely more affordable than other devices that provide an augmented reality experience such as the Microsoft Hololens or the Magic Leap One.

Favourite VR Hardware: Oculus Go

The Oculus Go is the first truly cordless VR headset which allows for a truly immersive experience. Other headsets in the market such as HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or Windows Mixed Reality headsets all require tethering to a PC and having all the computations and rendering done by the PC. The problem with corded setups is that the entire immersive experience trips up when you’re reminded that you’re still fundamentally in the real world by the fact that your experience is bound by the length of the connecting wires.

What I like about the Oculus Go is that it is the fact that its extremely easy to setup; this lowers the barrier to entry to the realm of virtual reality. To the uninitiated, virtual reality seems something right out of science fiction but the Oculus Go brings this experience to the everyday consumer. Further, the experience isn’t bound by cables which allows for a more immersive experience. However, the Oculus Go does not have any hardware to detect surfaces and as such despite its portability, it is still not entirely suitable for use in games that require movement.

Disclaimer: As we only have access to certain VR devices in our lab, I will only be reviewing those that are available alongside with other gadgets in the market. The goal is to decide which device is a good fit for our project.

Virtual Reality  (i.e. Fully artificial environment)

1. Device: Oculus Rift [Preferred]

Oculus Rift is easily on anyone’s bucket list being known to kickstart the VR scene in recent years.

Design: Oculus Rift is designed to come with two pentile OLED displays (1080 x 1200 Resolution per eyes, 90 Hz refresh rate, and a 110-degree field of view). The device features rotational and positional tracking plus an integrated headphone that produces a 3D audio effect. Rift units were initially bundled with an Xbox one controller as a result of a partnership with Microsoft. However, the device fell short of immersion as it fails to emulate hand presence in real life. To address this, the Xbox one controller was soon replaced by Oculus touch control in subsequent units. The new remote enables movements to be tracked in 3D space by its constellation system represented in the virtual environment. Embedded with touch sensors, users can now issue specific commands using common finger gestures adopted by touch devices.

Why I recommend it: Both Oculus Rift and rival HTC Vive require high-end GPU. In terms of graphics, there is barely any competition in that regard. According to them, a high-end GPU refers to a PC with an Intel Core i5-4590k and either a Nvidia GTX 970 or AMD 49 390 GPU. Hence, performance is much dependent on the computer specifications – often a battle of graphics cards and processor.

The biggest factor that sets Oculus apart from its competitors is the controllers. When it comes to ergonomics, Oculus touch takes this category by a landslide. Touch was clearly designed with the human hand in mind that makes users forget that they are holding something real in their hand. User’s fingers naturally fall into place over the buttons and joysticks that they correspond to, making the learning curve incredibly shallow even for newcomers. There is also a clever button in the grip to make picking up objects intuitive; users simply need to clench their fist. The Oculus’ controllers are a triumph in design and usability. Given the amount of time users would spend using the controllers, the design of the controllers becomes more crucial than ever. Hence, I would pick Oculus Rift over any other VR devices due to the extra ounce of user experience players would get from using its controller.

Mixed Reality (i.e. virtual objects interacting with the real world)

1. Device: Samsung HMD Odyssey [Preferred]

Design: Odyssey features a 1,440 x 1,600 OLED display and a refresh rate between 90 – 60 HZ. This is an impressive feat compared to other MR headset like Acer Mixed reality HMD whose resolution runs 1,440 x 1,440 per lens. The device also provides a 110-degree FOV to improve immersion of the virtual experience. Similar to other Window MR headsets, it is installed with two front-facing cameras to enables 6Dof insides out tracking and can be adjusted using a knob to acclimatize to the distance between pupils.

Why I recommend it: Being a person who dislikes complex setup that involves tons of cables and ports, Odyssey is a perfect fit. Unlike VIVE, Odyssey does away with physical configuration, allowing the user to roam freely the moment that don the head mount. For showcasing purposes, this would mean less work for facilitators and less limiting for potential users. I also like the idea that the headset claims to deliver a 350-degree spatial sound to simulate 3D sound to allow the player to immerse themselves in the mix reality environment.

More recent news suggests that AltspaceVR would soon be joining Microsoft via an acquisition. The company offers a social VRT app that enables users to enter virtual chat rooms, watch videos together, or attend virtual events. Samsung has plans to optimize Odyssey for such activities in its upcoming versions which MR enthusiasts can look forward to.

Headsets for VR:

• Oculus Rift / Go
• Samsung Gear VR
• HTC Vive
• Google Daydream

Headsets for AR / MR:

• Microsoft HoloLens
• Magic Leap
• Meta (just shut down)
• Google glass (for enterprise)

My preferred VR device is Google Daydream as it is cheaper and more accessible, yet provide enough immersion for the user to be engaged in the virtual world. Daydream is available in two modes – smartphone VR (using a supported Android phone as display) and standalone VR, and it comes with a handheld controller that allows the user to interact with the virtual world. Daydream VR apps are conveniently installed from the Google Play Store and one can watch immersive 360 videos from Youtube. Although not room scale VR, it is still a great starter kit for those prototyping or trying to get a taste of VR before investing in more expensive headsets.

My preferred MR device is Microsoft HoloLens. HoloLens, along with Magic Leap One, are considered state-of-the-art MR devices today. It has many interesting and useful potential applications such as for design visualisation, immersive communications and industrial training. However, it comes with a hefty price tag of ~$3000, which is out of reach of most consumers. HoloLens users are, as of now, mainly developers prototyping applications or businesses innovating for productivity.

Virtual Reality – Oculus Rift

Oculus Rift

Firstly, I love how ergonomic the controllers are designed to be, and the sleek design.

Oculus Rift Controllers

Xbox 360 Controller

The button placement are almost like an xbox 360 controller, which is intuitive and self explanatory for most users to learn.

Oculus Go – Wireless

Oculus Rift – Requires Cable Management

Unlike the Oculus Go, the Oculus Rift cannot be used wirelessly. However, they weigh approximately the same at 470 grams. The Oculus Rift is also considerably lighter than the HTC Vive (555 grams). It also has an easy set up process of about 30 minutes.

The Oculus Rift also has a 1.5x higher refresh rate than the Oculus Go (90 Hz vs 60 Hz) which results in reduced strobing and judder.

Another great aspect of the Oculus Rift is that it can track 360 degree head movement and has position tracking, to create a seamless VR experience. Furthermore, it has an OLED display and even comes with adjustable lenses for better fit and focus.

HTC Vive

Lastly, the Oculus Rift is still quite reasonably priced at USD$349 as compared to the HTC Vive which has a price tag of USD$500.

Mixed Reality – Magic Leap One

Magic Leap One – Headset, Controller and Lightpack

The Magic Leap One headset features a horizontal FOV of 40 degrees, a vertical of 30 degrees, and a diagonal of 50 degrees, which gives Magic Leap One approximately a 45% larger FOV than HoloLens, which features around a horizontal FOV of 30 degrees and a vertical of 17.5 degrees.

Microsoft Hololens

I like how lightweight the Magic Leap One is (345 grams), as compared to the Microsoft HoloLens (579 grams). The headset is also easily customisable to fit the face of the user. The controller is a 6 DOF remote, providing the user with the freedom to control actions.

Magic Leap has also released a Unity SDK which makes it more learnable and accessible for developers. Given that, I feel that the Magic Leap One holds a lot of potential in the future.

VR:

Oculus Go

MR:

Oculus Quest

Given the diverse range of VR headsets in the market today, I believe that the newest addition to the Oculus family, the Oculus Quest, is the device that best fulfills my needs as a novice in Virtual Reality. As a student who tends to travel a lot between cities and countries, the fact that the Oculus Quest is a standalone headset is very appealing to me. Though lacking in power compared to its older sibling, the Oculus Rift, or other big names such as the HTC Vive, the sacrifice made for the portability this headset provides would allow me to experience the magic of virtual reality whatever I go.

Moreover, it is clear from its design that the Oculus Quest was developed with the immersion of the user being a priority. Made from soft material and attached with rubber straps, the headset can be worn comfortably without causing any problems. However, the key design decision I would like to highlight is the rejection of wires making this tetherless headset. Nothing breaks the illusion of virtual reality quite like the resistance of the wiring that pulls you back if you’ve walked too far. Hence, removing this eliminates a cue to the user that makes them aware of reality, improving immersion.

Finally, due to a lack of exposure to VR, I could easily be impressed with how the Oculus Quest performs. As mentioned before, there are more powerful VR headsets, however, given its price, the visual quality of the graphics are amazingly realistic. In addition to this, by offering six degrees of freedom, unlike its predecessor, the Oculus Go, users have a lot more control when using the device.

Microsoft HoloLens

Unlike like VR, AR and the newly introduced MR do not have as many headsets to choose from. However, out of those that are currently available, the Microsoft HoloLens and the Magic Leap One seem to have the most potential. In my opinion, however, the HoloLens just wins out.

Allowing us to interact with our own world in a way that we could not before, the power and creativity of the Microsoft HoloLens is truly fascinating. All programs appear as realistic holograms as if they were actually inside the room with you. To control these holograms, the user can utilize hand gestures or their voice. Granting direct access to this manipulation, rather than the use of a remote controller which the Magic Leap One requires, causes the user to feel more in control of the system, enhancing the experience. Also adding to the immersion is the use of spatial audio. Using this allows users to hear sounds as if they were coming from somewhere inside the room, giving the visual holograms another dimension. Together, all of these features combine to successfully construct a whole new world around our reality.

As demonstrated in my review of the Oculus Quest, I believe that the use of a tetherless headset is important for an immersive experience. Unlike the Magic Leap One, the Microsoft Hololens is a totally wire-free standalone headset, ultimately gaining my favor. Ideally, the most immersive experiences will use the least amount of real-world hardware, and I think that the Hololens is definitely headed in this direction.

Latest VR/AR/MR hardware I think are great:

VR

• Oculus Quest, Rift
• HTC Vive
• Samsung HMD Odyssey

AR

• North Focals

MR

• nReal Light
• Microsoft HoloLens

Favourite VR device: Oculus Quest

The long awaited Santa Cruz project has culminated in the Oculus Quest, Oculus’ latest offering combining Rift-quality graphics and degree-of-freedom with Go-level mobility. These six degrees of freedom mean that users can move around in virtual reality by walking around in the real world. The lack of a connecting cable from the headset to computer also allows for greater freedom of movement compared to the Rift and reduces immersion-breaking moments like getting tangled up in your own cables! Another major advantage is not requiring a huge investment in a high-end PC to use it (like the Rift and HTC Vive do), lowering the barrier of entry to VR.

4 cameras on the front of the headset not only keep track of the controllers and environment, but also open up the possibility of mixed reality, as the company showed during Oculus Connect 5. These cameras are also key to the Guardian system, which keeps users safe by warning them if they are on the verge of bumping into a wall.

One disadvantage of having all the hardware in the device is that upgrading would be nigh impossible, compared to being able to “upgrade” the Rift by upgrading the PC it’s connected to.

Despite this disadvantage, the Oculus Quest strikes a good balance between raw power and mobility, and is therefore my favourite VR device at the moment.

Image Credit: https://uncrate.com/oculus-quest-vr-headset/

Favourite MR device: nReal Light

I picked the nReal Light over the Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap One as my favourite becuase it is the most lightweight and affordable of the three.

From early reviews, it appears to be no slouch, outputting 1080 video and sporting a 52 degree FOV and 6 DOF. Its appeal, however, lies in its ordinary looks. You could arguably pass it off as a pair of sunglasses. In fact, this was one of the reasons for its creation by a former Magic Leap engineer who disagreed with the company’s outlandish design.

Another major advantage is that it weighs less than a third and costs less than half of the Magic Leap One, its closest competitor, making it more accessible to the mass market. While it comes with the standard processing unit and controller, it also intentionally connects via USB-C. The plan is for the glasses to eventually be able to act as an output device for mobile AR content, giving it another advantage over the Magic Leap One and HoloLens, which are coupled with their proprietary processing units.

Image Credit: https://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/nreal-product-impressions-ces-2019/

Virtual Reality: Oculus Go

Oculus Go Headset & Controller

Oculus Go is a reasonably affordable VR standalone headset that comes with a simple controller, newly released in 2018. Unlike those high budget headsets that offer 6 degrees of freedom, Oculus Go only offers 3 degrees of freedom, but I feel that it is a great starter device to get new users to experience virtual reality. They simply need to download the Oculus application on their smartphone and sync it with the device.

Personally, I like how there is no need to connect to the PC, tethered headsets like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, or having the need to place the smartphone in front of the device like Gear VR and Google Cardboard, which makes the device heavy and unbalanced. While it may be limited for playing games, it still offers many other activities like watching Netflix, exploration, listening to music etc.

Oculus Rooms

The application I like the best is Oculus Rooms, where it is your own personalized home base in VR and you are able to invite friends over to play games, watch movies, share photos, listen to music together. I like how it allows meetups with friends in a virtual space, in which I feel that it will be awesome for friends that are separated across the globe to gather and have fun together, which is not possible in real life.

Hence, although it is limited in certain functionalities, it is definitely an affordable device to get started with and I would love to have one to connect with my friends and experience VR without tangling cables and heavy headsets.

Mixed Reality: Magic Leap One

Magic Leap One

2 years after the hype of Microsoft HoloLens and $2.3 billion funding from investors, Magic Leap One was released last year, in August 2018. While both devices provide a Mixed Reality experience using hand gestures, there are significant differences between them that made me chose Magic Leap One over Microsoft HoloLens.

Tethered Headset & Controller

The first most distinct difference is that the headset of Magic Leap is tethered, where a cable connects the headset (Lightwear) to a small computer (Lightpack), which does all the data and graphics processing, while Microsoft HoloLens is an all-in-one headset with no additional devices. Due to this design, I would prefer the Lightwear glasses of Magic Leap as the headset is lighter, making it easier to move the head around and more comfortable. While the tiny computer may be a turn off, it does not really restrict motion (as compared to tethered VR devices that requires connection with the PC) and the separation of the processor and the headset makes both devices lighter as the weight is now split up.

Another difference is that Magic Leap comes up a controller as well, giving the user more freedom as it provides another medium of interaction. The controller is able to deliver 6 degrees of freedom without any additional sensors and can be used for applications like painting or first-person shooter game. This is an addition on top of hand gestures, giving users and developers the option to choose their preferred means of interaction.

Magic Leap One has a horizontal FOV of 40 degrees, a vertical FOV of 30 degrees, and a diagonal FOV of 50 degrees.

Magic Leap One has a 4:3 aspect ratio, while Microsoft HoloLens has a 16:9 aspect ratio. This makes Magic Leap One approximately 45% larger in terms of Field Of View (FOV) as compared to Microsoft HoloLens.

Another aspect would be that Magic Leap has a wider field of view than Microsoft HoloLens, which improves the overall immersion experience and uses a waveguide display, which provides depth of field, making virtual objects more realistic due to its ability to blur and focus on objects.

Hence, overall I think I would prefer Magic Leap One as it seems to be that it can provide a better immersive experience.

VR: Oculus Go

A standalone VR headset, this nifty device is especially suitable for newcomers into the growing era of VR. It does not need a Windows-powered PC nor a phone, though the initial setup does require a connection and login with their app that is downloadable from Google Play or the iOS App Store. Easy enough. Once that is done, the user just need to strap on and use it!

I like how this headset is priced affordably with prices starting from USD199. It offers a premium experience and allows for an easy and fun entry into VR. The downside is that this device only has a 3 DOF, which sets it back behind other VR devices providing 6 DOF, like its family, the Oculus Rift. The ecosystem though is decently robust, having access to 1000 over apps and games.

Although the Oculus Go does lack various features such as lasting battery performance and position tracking, for its price it’s a solid gear for anyone looking into trying VR for a start, or wants to have VR on the go.

MR: Microsoft Hololens

Developed and manufactured by Microsoft, this pair of mixed reality glasses performs as its name suggest, providing an impressive holographic experience for the users with fascinating resolution. In the past where holograms are restricted to movies and CGI, it is now a reality for the average consumer. Coupled with an excellent sound spatial system that allows the user to immerse in the wonders of digital excellence, this device is certainly able to change how we interact with the world in the future. It has practical use for many scenarios like aviation training, with Boeing using it for the training of its maintenance engineers.

Summary
List of latest HWs for VR/AR/MR I think is great:
Oculus Rift DK2, DaydreamHS, Google Cardboard, Vuzix Blade, Nreal, Sony Playstation VR

My preferred VR: Sony Playstation VR
My preferred MR: Nreal

There may be many great VR/AR/MR headset out there but below are some headsets that I have truly experienced and understood their greatness.

Oculus Rift DK2

Personally, I’ve used this for development purpose before. It is really easy to set up using unity. The API is also well documented.

DaydreamHS

Is this a cotton sofa? Is this a pillow? No, it is a VR headset. The impressive comfortable outlook makes the user feel comfortable even before wearing it, and this is also what makes people willing to try it out. I would prefer pressing cotton instead of plastic against my face.

Google Cardboard

Cheap, friendly, easy to set up. This invention makes the poor dream come true (although the quality isn’t the same). It also solves the most critical problems of VR: accessibility and affordability.

Vuzix Blade

This is a handy light augmented reality glasses that comes with a companion application, allowing communication with our smartphone and using other applications like email, messages and media player control.

Nreal (My MR preferred headset)

This simply looking glasses has a 1080p resolution, 60fps and 52degree field of vision. Besides being ultra lightweight, it looks just like ordinary glasses that you can wear it for a long period of time. The glasses itself weight 85 grams! (lighter than my glasses). It also has a package that comes with 3 degree of freedom touchpad and magnetic nose support that makes it easier to fit our face.

As it is like normal glasses, we can still see the outside world. This makes the usage slightly safer as we can avoid colliding onto nearby surroundings. However, Nreal requires a separate android pocket device to operate, but we can wear that on our neck or clip on the pocket for convenience purposes.

Lastly, the developer mentioned that they aim to develop handy plugging system in the near future that allows connection to any smartphone or PC via USB-C, and this is what makes me really excited about what I can do with it.
Sony PlayStation VR (My VR preferred headset)

First of all, this is the few headsets that will not mess up your hair due to lesser contact with your hair.

Versatile and easy to wear, this headset also allows easy head fitting – there is a button at the back of the headset that expands the headband, and another button on the front to adjust the screen position. This makes the headset fit comfortably as compared to the older headsets that use the rubber band.

While some people are afraid of looking ugly when wearing it, Sony PlayStation VR has a cool design on the outside – There are funky glowing lights when the device is on. This makes the user look cooler on the outside. Most importantly, those who wear spectacles like me can easily fit our glasses inside the headset due to it being spacious inside and adjustable as mentioned beforehand.

In terms of specifications, Sony PlayStation VR has a 5.7 inch full high definition OLED, a resolution of 960 x 1080, and a 100 degree field of view. Although these spec doesn’t match up well to the Oculus Rift, which features a 1080 x 1200 display, I personally don’t feel any significant difference in terms of quality experience.

Overall, it is generally cheap while not compromising on performance and quality and has a lower barrier of entry because it does not require a high-end pc to operate. A PS4 still works fine.