No PC monitor? Samsung smart sunglasses double as smartphone and desktop display
Samsung says its Monitorless streaming glasses address the lack of VR and AR content.
Samsung has offered a peek at four new VR/AR projects from its C-Lab incubator, including a pair of smart sunglasses, and a VR app to help the near-blind see content more clearly.
Samsung's new 'Monitorless' device looks like regular shades, but displays content streamed from a smartphone or PC. The glasses can also double as an AR and VR headset due "the electrochromic glass" panels behind the normal lenses.
The right arm of the device contains a CPU, Wi-Fi chip, and projector, while the left arm contains a battery and speaker. Content is streamed over Wi-Fi Direct or peer-to-peer Wi-Fi.
Samsung says users can switch between AR and VR modes, though the headset has really been created because there's a lack of VR and AR content.
"Monitorless addresses the fact that there isn't enough AR and VR content currently available and also enables users to play high-capacity PC games on a mobile device," says Samsung.
Monitorless is one of four new C-Lab AR and VR projects it's teasing ahead of Mobile World Congress, where it will show the products in detail. C-Lab's range of ideas so far include a waist-watching smart belt, life-logging necklaces, and a microneedle skin patch that injects nutrients and measures melanin.
Samsung will also show off a new mobile app for the Gear VR, called Relúmĭno, which it says can help the near-blind and visually-impaired read books and watch TV more easily. It says it's cheaper than using existing visual aids and can remap blind spots as well as correct distorted images.
Relúmĭno is a visual aid application for Gear VR.
The VuildUs app lets home decorators take a VR rendition of their room to the furniture store to size up furniture at the store and buy it if they like how it looks.
Finally, Samsung has built traVRer, a 360-degree video app that lets users visit various landmarks around the world with "mood, noise and events captured".
"Users can switch seamlessly between different videos to go in different directions or see the place at a specific time of day, all without the need to navigate menus for alternative video options," says Samsung.
Samsung has also lifted the lid on its traVRer is a 360-degree video platform.