Gadget love
Today’s world literally runs at the touch of your fingers. As tech gadgets are becoming more compact and affordable, people tend to pack more of them into their daily bag. This keeps them productive on the go. Be it a simple PowerPoint, a business spreadsheet or a long computer code, you can do it while you wait at the airport terminal. Not only this, today’s arsenal of tech devices also fill the void of your day by connecting you to social space and a horde of digital entertainment. Progressing on this trend, let us peep into your future backpack that will pack less gadgets and more fun.
Today’s indispensable list
Here is a list of gadgets we love to stuff into our bag as we leave home in the morning.
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Smartphone
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Laptop
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Smartwatch
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Tab
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Portable battery charger
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Gaming console
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Headphones
While there are many more devices people love to carry, these are just the common ones.
Splice in the AR/VR
The invasion of AR/VR devices is something everyone is welcoming already. Though it primarily looks like an optional device to carry, it is only a matter of time that it becomes an absolute productivity booster and a necessity. But where is the space for carrying this? Don’t worry. AR and VR are going to remove many things from your bag before hopping onto you.
Let’s look for the heaviest device you have. Yes, your laptop perhaps is the heaviest averaging around 4 pounds and the main reason you are carrying it is for the larger screen that helps working on powerpoint, spreadsheets and other applications of productivity easier. When your VR device that only weighs around 1.8 pounds can give you a virtual screen as huge as 100 inches, you probably can leave your laptop at home. And not just one, you can have multiple screens inside VR to boost your work. Like I wrote in my previous blog, when the VR headsets are powered by 5G and edge cloud computing, you would get more processing power than your laptop.
The next device that looks bulky should be your portable gaming console. If you are a person who dives into gaming to nullify everyday stress, then you probably have a gaming device dangling in your bag. Now that you can get the ultimate immersivity with VR gaming, you can probably gift the old gaming console to your little nephew.
Coming to the Tab, if you were mainly using this to watch movies while travelling on the train, you can let it lie at home. With VR you can watch your favorite shows on a majestic IMAX screen while you are still travelling on the train. With VR streaming services like Bigscreen you should be able to pull in your virtual friends too.
While your smartphone and smartwatch are here to stay, VR would replace the other bulky partners making your package much lighter. VR devices themselves are undergoing an evolution slowly leading us to more powerful, versatile and compact models. As VR hardware manufacturers compete for this lucrative industry we see the form factor of headsets getting refined drastically. Hand held VR controllers are vanishing and hand tracking is becoming mainstream. But what features would make a user’s life easier if VR were to replace Laptops, tablets and Gaming consoles?
Features a common man desires in a AR/VR device
Form factor:
It is very essential for VR devices to become less bulkier and easy to carry around. Form factor is one of the most important factors which made the smartphone as indispensable as they are in today’s life. I always look forward to a future where a foldable VR headset becomes real and occupies less space in my bag.
Cables:
As it already is the trend, VR headsets should become standalone and should have no cables attached. I remember my Rift S device had a coil of cable that occupied the same space as the headset itself.
Power of 5G:
5G support on VR headsets is going to bring an exponential increase in its usage as VR streaming would become real and practical. This would allow all the computation heavy lifting to happen remotely while the device only handles the tracking related processing.
Better input methods:
Though numerous companies are working on novel solutions for textual input and pointing solutions in VR, there is yet to be a solution that wins the race. With hand tracking getting finer and finer, we should be able to switch to virtual keyboards without much of a learning curve. As we get rid of the VR controllers in favor of the hand tracking, pointing, swiping, tapping, double tapping, pinching and typing should all improve to allow users to do more than what their laptops allowed them to do.
Longer battery life:
If people are expected to ditch the big and bulky devices for a VR headset, it is fair to expect the VR device to have better battery life than them. While today’s devices can support up to 2 hours of continuous usage, it would be ideal to have a battery that runs all day long.
Stylish carry cases:
This is probably the most overlooked aspect of the VR hardware. If users are going to depend on these devices they should be able to carry them around without compromising on their fashion quotient. While Oculus Quest 2 does come with a decent carry case, users still lack choices and other manufacturers still don’t sell cases for their devices.
Resolution:
The pixel per degree of most of the devices in the market have not reached the retina display standard. The first generation devices had a prominent screen door effect because of the lower pixel densities in their displays. While there has been remarkable improvement recently, more remains to be achieved.
Though the above list is not an exhaustive one, it points to the major factors that can fuel wide scale adoption of VR and AR. Rayvector is continuously working on refining the experiences and innovating to solve the problems in VR and AR that are a bottleneck for its adoption.
Conclusion
The adoption and use of VR devices is an inevitable future because of the advantages it presents. Also, a large number of sectors will be positively impacted by them, only leading to a lifestyle where AR/VR devices are as important as smartphones are to you today.
