High-tech glasses. They've been the stuff of nerd dreams. (instrument chiming) That is, until this year. Meta's Ray-Bans, I wore them almost every day. Apple's Vision Pro, I wore it for, well, at least a day.

And Meta's Orion prototype, I tried it for long enough to see the future. One thing became very clear this year: No one is going to the metaverse. Instead, tech companies are making progress on glasses that bring digital objects into our real world.

Meta's already showing off the dream: augmented reality glasses that don't look like a hockey helmet, a prototype called Orion. This is the moment. - [Instructor] Hello, and welcome to your AR glass. - It's pretty wild.

But how do we get from these to that vision of the future, and is that even a future we want? I'll be honest, I can't see a thing in here. (glasses clattering) Okay, first, to understand where we are today,

let's consult my face computing matrix. Trademark pending. We're at two extremes. Over here, we've got stylish but very basic smart glasses, like the $299 Meta Ray-Bans. They have a camera, speakers and mics for taking photos,

videos, and getting answers from Meta AI. There's no built-in screen. Everything connects to your phone via Bluetooth. Slide along the bulky line, up the power line, and you've got expensive mixed reality headsets, like the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro.

(bright gentle music) They've got displays for doing real computer things: gaming, messaging, watching movies, working, and more. What Apple, Meta, and pretty much every other tech company is aiming for is something right here in the middle.

The perfect blend of portability and power. That's where Meta's Orion comes in. I'm ready. Looking through Orion is like looking through a regular pair of glasses until the holographic displays light up. And now I see this nice interface.

I've got my apps that I can pick from. Apple's version uses cameras and screens, so when it's off, it's dark in here. Can't see anything. Similar to an Apple Vision Pro, your eyes are the cursor.

Just look at something to navigate to it. Then pinch your index finger and thumb together to select it. The neural wristband detects the motion in your hands and fingers. The processor, RAM, and other computing parts are in this compute puck that wirelessly connects

to the glasses. During my demo, I was able to scroll through some websites. Look at all these good articles I can read. Sports, politics, charts, more charts. Arrange various windows in the air. So now I've got Instagram, Messenger, and the web browser.

And even walk away from them. I moved from over there to over here, but when I come back over here, I see my windows and all my interface I left over there, which is pretty cool. Also, games. Woo-hoo!

Got 'em, got 'em, got 'em, got 'em, got 'em. The whole thing was pretty awesome. Sure, the image quality is a bit grainy. It felt sluggish compared to the Vision Pro, and some stuff just didn't work.

Give me a smoothie recipe. Give me a smoothie recipe. Give me a smoothie recipe. - I think there may be a server error. Yeah, I think there's something going on in the server. - But to have that experience in a pair of glasses

that I could wear for hours, that's what we've been waiting for. Give me a breakfast recipe. When the recipe feature did work, I really saw the potential of having digital info along with AI overlaid in our world. Okay, so it's recognizing all the ingredients here.

This is a lot of healthy stuff. Give me a recipe for a hamburger. If you recall, I was very into a similar functionality with the Apple Vision Pro. And now I have a second timer for six minutes that I'm putting over the mushrooms.

Except, yeah, no one is standing over a hot stove with a 1.5-pound helmet on their face. Look, AR's killer app is cooking. That's that. I'm going to die on this hill. But Orion itself needs more time to bake.

To find out what needs to happen, I sat down with Meta's Head of Wearables. How much do these cost? - Those cost thousands of dollars each to make. I mean, the main reason that we're not launching them right now is we want to dial in the manufacturing

and bring down the cost so that they're easier to scale and more affordable. We want them to be comparable to, you know, high-end phones and laptops when they come on sale. - Plus, the software needs work, and battery life is just a couple of hours.

But how are you getting from this to this? - There's a number of advances. Obviously, the biggest difference between these is the display. There's no display in these, so we have a pretty substantial investment in different display technologies that we're parallel pathing,

and we'll bring multiple technologies and sizes and form factors to market in our roadmap. - What is more likely to come soon is something in between Ray-Bans and Orion. Something with a little screen on the lens. Have you thought about there being a step

in that middle, that there would be just a simple heads-up display in one of these? - Two of the most requested features in those glasses are a viewfinder so you can know

what you're looking at. - What you're about to capture or what you just captured. Or creators, if they're doing a live stream, they want to know if responses are coming back on Instagram. So I definitely think there's a place for a small display. - So yes, we're getting closer and closer to the middle.

At this point, it's not a question of if we'll get there, it's a question of who will get there first: Meta, Apple, some other company? But do we even want to get there? - [Camera Person] Gotcha.

Part of why I love Ray-Bans and wear them so often is so I can get a break from the distractions of my phone screen. This is really one of the best devices, in a way, for unplugging, and yet you want to make something like this

where we could always have a screen in front of us. - It's definitely a balance. I mean, I think just for capturing photos and videos of my kids, not having to hold a camera in front of them, it's always a better photo or video,

because they act more natural. Nobody wants content jammed in front of their face. We will need to certainly strike a balance, and it's got to be something that you want to have on your face, and it's comfortable, and keeps you in the world in front of you

as opposed to taking you out of it. - Until then, there's always this. $4,000 of technology on your face. I swear I can see the future in here. (bright energetic music)

Apple vs. Meta: Designing the Perfect AR Glasses | WSJ

The Wall Street Journal takes you inside carefully selected stories and events in a visually captivating way so you can dig deeper into the news and insights that matter to you. 

The Wall Street Journal

Overview of high-tech glasses and the shift from the metaverse concept to augmented reality (AR).

Discussion of Meta's Ray-Bans, Apple's Vision Pro, and Meta's Orion prototype.

Tech companies are focusing on glasses that integrate digital objects into the real world.

Meta's Orion prototype showcases the potential of AR glasses without the bulky appearance of headsets.

Comparison of different AR and mixed reality devices and their capabilities.

Meta Ray-Bans offer basic smart glass features like camera, speakers, and mics, but lack a built-in screen.

Apple Vision Pro provides a more immersive mixed reality experience with displays for various computer functions.

The industry aims to find a balance between portability and power, exemplified by Meta's Orion.

Orion's holographic displays offer a seamless transition between regular glasses and AR interface.

Meta's Orion prototype: Features, functionalities, and limitations.

Orion utilizes eye-tracking for navigation and a neural wristband for hand and finger motion detection.

A separate compute puck houses the processing components and connects wirelessly to the glasses.

Demonstrates functionalities like web browsing, app usage, and spatial arrangement of windows.

Discussion of limitations such as grainy image quality, sluggish performance, and occasional malfunctions.

Highlights the potential of AR in cooking applications, showcasing recipe integration and AI assistance.

Apple vs. Meta: Designing the Perfect AR Glasses | WSJ

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