Sharp and Japan’s largest telecom NTT Docomo today announced a new pair of AR glasses called MiZRA, which is hitting the Japanese market sometime his Fall.
It would be pretty tough to mistake Mizra for a normal pair of glasses, what with its chunky struts and rims, 6DOF tracking sensors, and center-mounted camera—not to mentions its unique AR optics, which incorporate so-called ‘mirror bars’ courtesy of South Korean AR lens creator LetinAR, promising a 45-degree diagonal field of view.
Created by NTT QONOQ Devices, a joint venture between Sharp and NTT’s XR development branch NTT QONOQ, Mizra isn’t going to be cheap either. Priced at an eye-watering ¥248,000 (~$1,730 USD), the funky but functional device more than likely will be squarely targeted at enterprise.
In the press release (Japanese), the company highlights its ability to take photos and make calls, and also display multiple screens positioned anywhere around the user. Mizra promises a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, although it’s unclear if that’s referring to perceived brightness to the end user or the brightness of the 1,920 × 1,080 microOLEDs.
To boot, Mizra promises good weight distribution thanks to placing components closer to the back of the glasses’ struts. Both internal battery and processing (Qualcomm Snapdragon AR2 Gen1) is on board, however it boasts wireless connectivity to Snapdragon Spaces-compatible smartphones.
For now, the company has only certified the AQUOS R9 SH-51E, a Japan-only flagship from Sharp, however the company says more compatible phones will be announced in the future.
We’re still waiting for more clarity on launch regions, however it’s likely Mizra may be a Japan-only device. In the meantime, check out the specs below:
MiZRA Specs
- Weight:125g
- Size: Approx. 187mm (W) x 45mm (H) x 184mm (D) (when in use), Approx. 187mm (W) x 45mm (H) x 96mm (D) (stored)
- Chipset: Snapdragon® AR2 Gen1
- Display: Resolution: FHD (1,920 x 1,080), 45° FOV (diagonal), 1,000 nits brightness, MicroOLED binocular full color
- Optics: LetinAR’s unique thin mirror bar type optical module
- Battery: continuous use time: 1～1.5 hours, charged in under 2 hours using the included USB Type-C cable
- Camera: 1x front RGB camera (image quality: FHD), 2x side monochrome cameras
- Audio: 4x microphones, 2x speakers
- Other sensors: Touch sensor (for operation), Proximity sensor (for determining wearing status), Illuminance sensor (for automatic brightness adjustment), Acceleration/gyro/camera spatial recognition sensor (for 6DoF tracking)
- Connection: Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E
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