Augmented Reality glasses are shown at Mobile World Congress 2023

Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, held in Barcelona, Spain, is one of the most critical technological events worldwide. And taking advantage of the world’s eyes on the fair, Xiaomi presented its new Augmented Reality glasses. On Monday (27), the manufacturer demonstrated the Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition, which brings the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 inside and offers gesture controls. The device is compatible with the Xiaomi 13, which has just been released in countries other than China.

Following other current headsets, such as Ray-ban Stories, the device is offered in a glasses format and weighs 126 grams. Also, there are two cameras on the front. All these apparatus guarantees some facilities to the users. The connection to the cell phone is quickly carried out by approximation, thanks to NFC. The glasses allow you to control the interface by hand gestures, like in the movie Minority Report.

Navigation was presented in a video published by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun on his Twitter profile. In promotional material, the presenter uses a pinch gesture to position and change the size of the windows displayed on the headset. “Users can also opt for conventional smartphone controllers, which can be paired and used as a gesture or touchpad controller,” they explained in a press release.

Watch the video:

Boasting a retina-level near-eye display for AR glasses, Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition delivers a truly immersive visual experience. Moreover, our self-developed Xiaomi AR Gesture Control empowers effortless control between virtual and real space. pic.twitter.com/EipqBWxkpW

— Lei Jun (@leijun) February 27, 2023

No wires

The connection is independent of wires, and the device comes with the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 processor. According to Xiaomi, this component helps to offer a wireless latency of around 3 ms between the smartphone and the glasses. Independently, the promised transmission rate is reasonable, too: 50 ms.

This means that, even without any wires, the glasses carry content without delay. The device still has microOLED screens on each side, capable of offering well-defined images thanks to 58 pixels per degree resolution.

“When angular resolution or PPD (pixels per degree) approaches 60, the human eye cannot distinguish granularity,” they stated.

The device also supports various apps through Mi Share. The tool lets users stream videos from TikTok or YouTube directly through the augmented reality headset. The experience is even more integrated through the aforementioned gestures, which can be used to interact with other objects.

“For example, Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass allows users to ‘grab’ the screen of a typical television screencast and continue watching on the glasses,” they announced. “Xiaomi has also extracted common operations from smart devices, allowing users to operate devices through AR scenes.”

This second option is also described in the video published by the company’s CEO. In this case, users can look at a lamp and use their hands to click a virtual button to turn it on or off. The technology also guarantees a spatial audio experience, linking virtual speakers to the real environment.

Support

The company confirmed that it will offer an attachable myopic clip; the objective is to serve users who depend on a pair of glasses to see far away.

The Xiaomi Wireless AR Glasses Discovery Edition also works with other ready-made devices compatible with Snapdragon Spaces, not just the Xiaomi 13.

“In terms of software support, the glasses are compatible with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Spaces development framework, OpenXR and Microsoft MRTK,” they said. “Xiaomi intends to work closely with developers to accelerate the arrival of augmented reality.”

Pricing and availability remain undisclosed.