Snap's new Spectacles 2021 does actual AR just like the HoloLens

Snap has introduced a new generation of Spectacles, and unlike the last generation, these are not simply a camera built into the glasses..

The Spectacles 2021 is their first pair of glasses to offer real augmented reality. The lightweight display glasses overlay their Snapchat Lenses directly onto the world via Dual 3D waveguide displays and a 26.3 degree field of view.

The glasses are powered by Snap’s new Spatial Engine that leverages six degrees of freedom and hand, marker and surface tracking, and are built on Qualcomm’s XR1 platform.

Spectacles weigh just 134 grams and offer approximately 30 minutes of use per charge. A further 30 minutes is available via the charging case.

Lenses react quickly and appear accurately in your field of view with 15 millisecond motion to photon latency, and the display dynamically adjusts up to 2000 Nits of brightness to explore AR indoors or outside. Spectacles feature 2 RGB cameras, 4 built-in microphones, 2 stereo speakers and a touchpad to provide a multi-sensorial experience.

The temple’s touchpad helps creators interact with the Spectacles display and launches the Lens Carousel. The right button activates Scan, a tool that helps understand what’s in the field of view and suggests relevant Lenses based on the world around you. Voice Scan also empowers creators to say a command to launch Lenses, completely hands-free. The left button captures 10-second Snaps of Lenses overlaid on the world, so creators can send Snaps right from Spectacles.

Spectacles are fully integrated with Lens Studio, Snap’s powerful desktop application designed for creators and developers, to build and publish Lenses across their Snap AR platform. Through Lens Studio, creators can wirelessly push Lenses to Spectacles for rapid testing and iteration, in real time.

Unfortunately, Spectacles are not for sale—Snap is only offering them to augmented reality creators to build new AR experiences in Lens Studio.

See Snap’s teaser video below: