Sharp and Japan's largest telecommunications company NTT Docomo today announced a new pair of AR glasses called MiZRA, which will be available in Japan this fall.
It's hard to mistake the Mizra for a regular pair of glasses, with its thick supports and frames, 6DOF tracking sensors, and central camera — not to mention South Korean AR lens creator LetinAR's unique AR optics called 'mirror bars' that promise a 45-degree field of view.
Created by NTT QONOQ Devices, a joint venture between Sharp and NTT’s XR development arm NTT QONOQ, the Mizra won’t be cheap either. Priced at an eye-watering ¥248,000 (~$1,730 USD), this crazy-but-functional device will likely be aimed squarely at the enterprise audience.
In its press release (in Japanese), the company highlights the ability to take photos and make calls, as well as the ability to view multiple screens positioned anywhere around the user. Mizra promises a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, but it’s unclear whether that’s referring to the brightness perceived by the end user or the brightness of the 1,920×1,080 microOLEDs.
The Mizra promises good weight distribution thanks to the components being placed closer to the back of the glasses’ supports. Both the internal battery and processing (Qualcomm Snapdragon AR2 Gen1) are onboard, but it boasts wireless connectivity to Snapdragon Spaces-compatible smartphones.
For now, the company has only certified Sharp's Japan-exclusive flagship AQUOS R9 SH-51E, but the company says more compatible phones will be announced in the future.
We're waiting for more clarity on launch regions, but the Mizra is likely to be a Japan-only device. In the meantime, check out the specifications below:
MiZRA Features
- Weight:125 gr
- Dimension: Approx. 187mm (W) x 45mm (H) x 184mm (D) (in use), Approx. 187mm (W) x 45mm (H) x 96mm (D) (stored)
- Chipset: Snapdragon® AR2 Gen1
- View: Resolution: FHD (1,920 x 1,080), 45° FOV (diagonal), 1,000 nits brightness, MicroOLED binocular full color
- Optical: LetinAR's unique thin mirror bar type optical module
- Battery: Continuous use time: 1～1.5 hours, charged in less than 2 hours using the included USB Type-C cable
- Camera: 1x front RGB camera (image quality: FHD), 2x side monochrome camera
- Sound: 4x microphone, 2x speaker
- Other sensors: Touch sensor (for operation), Proximity sensor (for determining the wearing status), Illumination sensor (for automatic brightness adjustment), Accelerometer/gyroscope/camera spatial recognition sensor (for 6DoF monitoring)
- Connection: Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E