Summer is coming, and we enter a period of the year when people start going on vacation, and the amount of XR news diminishes… before it sharply rises again during the many tech events of September and October.
I’ve spent the week working and recovering from the trip, and also enjoying the videos from XRCC, inside which I could see in a lot of places my acute scream that got viral there (thanks to Ori Inbar). You can hear it in the trailer of the fantastic winning experience by Lucas Martinic and his team, or in the soldiering experience for which I made the voiceover, and even in the official final video of the event. I really had a good time in Berlin at the XRCC hackathon, and I hope to be able to attend it again in the future!
Top news of the week
HMS tries to fill the void left by HoloLens and Magic Leap
A few days ago, I received a press release from Frontline.io to inform me about the launch of a new augmented reality headset for enterprise: the HMS SiNGRAY G2 AR. What is interesting about this device is that it is a standalone AR headset dedicated to the enterprise, so it tries to fill the void left by HoloLens and Magic Leap.
A common discussion in the enterprise XR field is what AR headset companies can use now that the two major providers have left the field. HMS seems to have come to the rescue. According to the information that I’ve received, the headset features two 1920×1080 Micro-OLED displays and a frame rate of 90 Hertz. It supports both 3DOF and 6DOF tracking modes. It also has a front glass with controlled darkness levels to enable working in different lighting environments and a 4,800 mAh swappable battery designed for extended use out in the field. Its main chipset is the Qualcomm QCS8550 with integrated Intel Movidius AI processing.
HMS also struck some partnerships with other companies to have their software available on the device: frontline.io, a company specialized in training solutions, will be a software provider for it.
Pre-orders of the HMS SiNGRAY G2 will be available to select enterprise customers in late 2025, and mass production is set for early 2026.
I have mixed feelings about this launch. On one side, I’m happy that finally there is a company that tries to provide (again) an AR headset for enterprise usage. On the other side, the details about this product are very scarce, there is no hands-on review, and it is quite puzzling that I had to receive the information from a software partner instead of the manufacturing company itself. Not to mention the fact that I’ve rarely heard about HMS before. The thing is: enterprise companies need stability: if they commit to a headset, it should be guaranteed to work for the next five years at least. I think HMS should prove it is a reliable company that can offer a complete ecosystem that can provide value to its customers before it can really make a disruption in the enterprise AR field. I hope this is going to happen.
Other relevant news
There are new leaks on the upcoming Meta smartglasses
Dataminers are continuing to leak images and data bout the upcoming Meta smartglasses.
According to the usual Luna, the device may be called Meta Celeste, because in one of the leaked images, it is possible to read this name on the frames of the glasses. Anyway, this is not guaranteed to be true: the images may just contain a codename to be leak-safe. The smart wristband, instead, is codenamed Ceres (which is also a beer brand in Italy, but that’s a topic for another day).
We also have a few new images shared by BioccaVR, who is a leaker I personally didn’t know before. Biocca has shared, for instance, the weather widget of the glasses, which you can see in the image above. Or another image with the measurements of the various sides of the glasses, from which it is possible to see that the frames are pretty thick. This is probably one of the reasons why Luxottica didn’t want to be part of this launch: with the thick frames and the alleged 70g of weight, these are not glasses that people can happily wear for many hours.
Biocca has also shared a screenshot from an Android Phone: it seems that you can share your Google Maps route to a phone app called Meta View that then can show the directions directly on the smartglasses.
This is all very interesting, but we still need to know the most important features of the glasses. We’ll discover them at Meta Connect… or probably a week before, when everything about the glasses will be leaked, as usual.
More info (Meta smartglasses may be called Celeste)
More info (All the info leaked by BioccaVR)
More info (Some dimensions of the glasses)
More info (The weather widget)
More info (The navigation app)
News worth a mention
Meta may be working on an experience to watch movies together
Meta officially stated in January that it was working on a home theater environment for Quest. Now, a leaked prototype shows a sort of private cinema space, where people can enter and watch movies together.
What makes me angry about all of this is that there are already some applications on the Horizon store that allow you to do this, like the famous BigscreenVR. I really wonder why Meta keeps replicating the experiences of the most popular products on its store. This present moment is already quite shitty for all of us developers, and it is even made worse by the fact that the Meta store has discoverability issues and that Horizon Worlds is given priority over everything. So why does Meta make it even worse by competing itself with its developers? At this point, let’s just close the store and make Meta develop everything in-house…
Google smartglasses may be codenamed “Martha”
A leaked image shows that the Google smartglasses prototypes used in the famous demos at Google I/O may be codenamed “Martha”. The glasses can be managed by an Android companion app, which currently is very barebones because it is used only by developers and internal employees.
XREAL teardown
I’ve found a very interesting video by the “Display Training Center” that makes a teardown of the XREAL Air glasses and also explains pretty well how the birdbath optical design works. Thanks to it, I’ve finally understood in detail how the XREAL glasses project the virtual images in front of the eyes of the user.
An interesting thesis about MR vs PC usage
A researcher called Rick Van Ham contacted me to share with me his thesis about the mental load of using mixed reality. Let me share with you the summary of his work, with some links to go deeper if you are interested:
While Mixed Reality (MR) is a powerful tool, it can be quite mentally overwhelming for those that have never used it.
The research explores how MR can affect the mental effort for novice users and what challenges they encountered. Using a mixed-methods approach, 24 participants performed tasks for a serious ocean planning application in both PC and MR.
Results have highlighted the importance of MR design, with proper design be able to reduce unnecessary mental effort in MR compared to the PC version.
Combined with a high usability of interaction methods, such as hand-tracking or controllers, can allow younger novice users to perform more efficiently.
However, we see that users did perform less efficiently in MR than on PC, despite task familiarity.
Using semi-interviews, we have identified that young novice users were struggling with UI complexity, split-attention between relevant information and technical issues such as misaligned virtual objects and unresponsive interactions.
Recommendation to reduce these challenges include enhancing the visual hierarchy, simplifying information flow and refining interaction design.
This research offers practical takeaways for building novice-friendly MR systems across domains.
More info (Full thesis) More info (LinkedIn contact)
Some news about content
- VRMMO Eldramoor: Haven in the Mist has officially crossed the $100,000 mark on its Kickstarter campaign. This is great news, but I think it needs at least 10x that money to deliver on its promises
- Fruit Golf is an asymmetrical VR golf multiplayer game where mobile players can sabotage you. It’s out now in early access on Quest
- HexWind is a fantasy VR action roguelite that uses Superhot’s time manipulation mechanics. Its combat feature is very good, and it is out in early access on Steam and Quest for €11
- Laser Matrix is a mixed reality puzzle-action game heading to Quest this Summer. It makes you dodge laser obstacles with your body. Yes, it looks inspired a lot by Laser Dance
- Dance Guru lets you learn how to dance in mixed reality
- Upload has published its usual XR News Roundup, containing various minor XR news
More info (Eldramoor)
More info (Fruit Golf)
More info (HexWind)
More info (Laser Matrix)
More info (Dance Guru)
More info (XR News Roundup)
Some reviews about content
- Cave Crave delivers very well on the anxiety of navigating narrow underground caves. It also features different gameplay modes
- Neolithic Dawn drops the player into the unforgiving Neolithic era, asking him/her to survive. It’s made quite well, and delivers on the sensation that you have to fight-or-die. But it’s still in Early Access, so it has some annoying bugs
- Don Hopper tried rollercoaster simulators Epic Rollercoasters and No Limits 2 using a bHaptics suit and a Yaw 3 motion chair, and found the experience incredibly cool.
More info (Cave Crave)
More info (Neolithic Dawn)
More info (Rollercoasters)
Other news
An update on what happened to the 9 VR game studios acquired by Meta
X-Arcade announced the X-Force Haptics Kit, a DIY upgrade to give haptics to your VR pinball experience
KIWI Design launched the K4 Duo, a new audio and battery head strap for Quest 3
News from partners (and friends)
Participate in this AR/VR Survey!
Every year I partner with this AR/VR Survey, because participating in it, you may have the chance to win some prizes. Let me copy-paste the description for you:
Help Shape the Future of AR/VR — and Win Epic Prizes!
The 2025 State of AR/VR Survey is live! Whether you’re a developer or no-code creator, share your work, favorite tools, and platforms to influence the next wave of immersive tech.
Takes just a few minutes — plus, you’ll be entered to win prizes like a $300 AI tool credit, Logitech gear, a RODE mic, and more!
Discover FM DUO camera!
Meet the FM DUO, a VR camera that is capable of filming up to 12K @30fps, and 8K @60fps. With built-in RTMP live streaming and 5G connectivity, the FM·DUO will immerse your viewers in real time! The FM·DUO features 2 full-frame CMOS sensors, with 6000 x 6000 pixels each. This allows for high-resolution zooming capabilities. Not only can you narrow in on one subject, but you can also focus on singular details of the subject’s facial expressions, clothing textures, and a multitude of other small details, enabling a much more immersive experience of VR video.
Some XR fun
She’s a 3D model and an AI model
Funny link
Meta suggestions are becoming better and better
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
- Alexis Huille
- Raghu Bathina
- Chris Koomen
- Cognitive3D
- Wisear (Yacine Achiakh)
- Masterpiece X
- Dimo Pepelyashev
- Carol Dalrymple
- Keith Bradner
- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
- Steve Biggs
- Julio Cesar Bolivar
- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Juan Sotelo
- Andrew Sheldon
- Chris Madsen
- Horacio Torrendell
- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
- Tatiana Kartashova
- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
- Eloi Gerard
- Adam Boyd
- Jeremy Dalton
- Joel Ward
- Alex P
- Lynn Eades
- Donald P
- Casie Lane
- Catherine Henry
- Qcreator
- Ristband (Anne McKinnon & Roman Rappak)
- Stephen Robnett
- KaihatsuJai
- Christopher Boyd
- Anonymous Supporter
- Giuseppe Pippi
- Mark Frederiksen
- Ken Lin
- Sb
- Boule Petanque
- Pieter Siekerman
- Enrico Poli
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Hillary Charnas
- Wil Stevens
- Francesco Salizzoni
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Michael Gaebler
- Tiago Silva
- Matt Cool
- Mark G
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by HMS)
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