Karl Guttag reminds us to be cautious about Meta's Orion AR glasses
Display expert Karl Guttag says the Orion AR glasses prototype must have flaws we haven't heard about yet.
Meta's demo of the Orion AR glasses has created a lot of buzz and raised the question whether Meta has managed to be the first company to build AR glasses worthy of the name, a device that has a good AR display with a wide field of view without breaking the glasses form factor and significant shortcomings.
Display expert Karl Guttag, known for his critical stance, started a new series of articles on Orion yesterday. The first article deals with the unique silicon carbide waveguide display and is a summary and analysis of what the press and Meta itself have said about it. An interesting read for AR fans and display nerds.
Eye-glow, light transmission, resolution
Guttag himself has not yet been able to try out the AR glasses; only a select number of high-profile members of the press, influencers, and friends of Meta, such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, have been allowed to do so. Guttag writes:
"It is a little disappointing that they also only share the demos with selected “invited media” that, for the most part, lack deep expertise in display technology and are easily manipulated by a “good” demo. As a result, there is no information about the image quality of the virtual display or any reported issues looking through the waveguides (which there must be)."
For example, Guttag is surprised that no one mentions the eye-glow effect of the AR glasses, which is clearly visible in the videos. These are reflections that typically occur with this type of waveguide and make eye contact with the wearer of the glasses difficult, if not impossible - a big no-no for a commercial product that Meta plans to launch in the next three to five years.
Orion AR glasses with highly visible eye-glow effect. | Image: The Verge, screenshot by Karl Guttag
Another potential problem with this type of waveguide is light transmission, which seems to vary in the videos and raises the question whether the AR glasses use dimming. Based on his experience, Guttag believes that the AR glasses have at least 50% light blocking. He also points out the low resolution of 13 PPD (which Meta makes no secret of and intends to improve in the final product).
Until he can try the AR glasses himself, Guttag remains skeptical.
"Orion and Apple Vision Pro are what I call 'plane landings' where we get to see the state of what is possible with huge investments. Unfortunately, they more confirm how far away the technology is from mass production. They don’t have just one issue, but many issues, and fixing any one issue makes the other issues worse in some way."
You can read this and upcoming Orion articles on Guttag's website KGonTech.
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