You know the issues with VR with headsets are that the fact that they look like VR headsets – a glorified version of ski goggles. Not saying that Panasonic has solved the issue, but their VR glasses displayed at CES this year is quite an improvement. They look like standard glasses with a splash of aviator spunk!
These glasses are not a headset and have to be worn as a pair of glasses, unlike other VR gears that pose as a pair of glasses but are a headset. This can also be deemed as a technical improvement this year. The micro OLED panels are co-developed by Kopin and Panasonic and are incredibly high resolution with no ‘screen-door’ effect that most VR hardware come plagued with. These VR glasses are also first of its kind to support HDR, which is quite impressive as during a CG demo of the interiors of a Japanese Temple, and it came across as pretty realistic.
Panasonic went a leap forward and included Technics drivers headset as an earbud that will provide dynamic and vibrant audio. Panasonic claims that they also used optical designs from the Lumix camera division and similar processing technologies found in TVs and Blu-ray players.
Panasonic is unlikely to sell these VR glasses as a consumer product as it is pointing to put them in commercial applications that are likely to spring up alongside the rollout of 5G networks. Japanese companies are planning to invest in such innovations for the fact that Tokyo is hosting the Olympic Games this year. Even though the Panasonic VR prototype had some staggering issues, the main product came out to be error-free and appealing to the mainstream audience that attended CES this year.
