Before we get into the meat and bones of Magic Leap lets go back to the beginning of where this all began, believe it or not, Magic Leap came to life first as a comic.
Magic Leapers is a comic written by co-creator of Marvels 2008 revamp of the Guardians of the Galaxy comic writer Andy Lanning and Rony Abovitz in 2012. Lanning is now the executive creative director and Abovitz is the President, CEO and Founder of Magic Leap. The full story on how Magic Leapers in a Willie Wonka-esque factory transferred into a realistic prototype with Magic Leap’s lead designer Gary Natsume is available on Cnet.com and it’s more fascinating than a fairy tale ending but what is Magic Leap?
MAGIC LEAP ONE
Think Microsoft HoloLens, even simpler consider Augmented Reality (AR) apps used commonly for shopping and gaming. Magic Leap is a headset that looks like a pair of goggles that is equipped with three components – glasses called Lightwear, wearable and a computer called the Lightpack that projects virtual images into the real world. You then have a small controller similar to a remote that lets you interact with anything in front of you which could be anything from critters to full-blown movies. Sensors fitted to the headset keep track of your position allowing you to move while content remains in place.
As reported by The Verge
The Lightwear uses a combination of tracking cameras and a lens called a “photonics chip” to project images over the real world, while the Lightpack features an Nvidia Tegra X2 mobile chipset, 8GB of memory, 128GB of storage, and a battery that’s supposed to provide up to 3 hours of continuous use and charges over USB-C. There’s a headphone jack, but by default, the Magic Leap One uses small speakers built into the sides of the headset.
Magic Leap is the future of AR taking you off your phone to land right in the middle of your virtual meeting or watch Sports Games from your coffee table.
MAGIC LEAP TECH SPECS
Taking these three main components Magic Leap is comprised of the following:
Lightpack:
- CPU: NVIDIA® Parker SOC; 2 Denver 2.0 64-bit cores + 4 ARM Cortex A57 64-bit cores (2 A57’s and 1 Denver accessible to applications)
- GPU: NVIDIA Pascal™, 256 CUDA cores; Graphic APIs: OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan, OpenGL ES 3.3+
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage Capacity: 128 GB (actual available storage capacity 95GB)
- Power Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Up to 3 hours continuous use. Battery life can vary based on use cases. Power level will be sustained when connected to an AC outlet. 45-watt USB-C Power Delivery (PD) charger
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2, WiFi 802.11ac/b/g/n, USB-C
Lightwear
- Audio Input: Voice (speech to text) + real world audio (ambient)
- Audio Output: Onboard speakers and 3.5mm jack with audio spatialization processing
Control
- Haptics: LRA Haptic Device
- Tracking: 6DoF (position and orientation)
- Trackpad: Touch sensitive
- LEDs: 12-LED (RGB) ring with diffuser
Power
- Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Up to 7.5 hours continuous use. 15-watt USB-C charger
Other inputs
- 8-bit resolution Trigger Button; Digital Bumper Button; Digital Home Button
MAGIC LEAP ONE CREATOR EDITION
So what can you use Magic Leap for? Upload caught my attention here with the very last sentence.
Magic Leap One Creator Edition comes with five experiences out of the box. There’s a robot shooting game called Invaders and an experiential music piece named Tonandi that was created in collaboration with Sigur Ros. For builders, there’s a Tilt Brush-like app called Project Create. Finally, Helio is an app for pulling 3D images out of compatible websites, while in-development social applications allow you to follow friends and will soon provide hangouts, too. We also know that Star Wars-based content is on the way.
MAGIC LEAP LEAPS INTO WHAT SIX CITIES AT WHAT PRICE?
The Creator Edition for Magic leap is $2,295 Available in the following six cities for free delivery:
- Chicago
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- New York
- San Francisco
- Seattle
You can also pay an additional $495 for a Professional Development Package that includes a system for replacing the device within 24 hours if it breaks.
A KIWI BIRDS EYE VIEW ON MAGIC LEAP
I love it, I want it because Star Wars.
Seriously though, the backstory behind this invention, the ingenuity and I’m sure a ton of anxiety for its creators and investors as it went through all its phases is the stuff pioneering dreams are made of that I applaud and also adore throughout every spectrum of life not just gaming. As a device I appreciate it’s aesthetics style, how compact it is as a headset compared to VR however I really cannot say too much without testing it myself which I can only dream about for now but I’ve been watching this invention since early last year and I’ll keep watching hoping it becomes a reality in my own home because on paper it looks amazing. I just need to clarify if it can replace my iphoneX because I can’t see myself walking through stores with it to capture furniture like I am using AR for now or playing AR games outside my home so the cost for a device to just sit at home is something I would have to consider but anyone who knows me well knows I would do it in a heartbeat if I could because I also believe AR is the way of the future, that is already here.
All sources for this article have been linked.
