Optinvent CTO, Khaled Sarayeddine, wearing the ORA-X AR headphones with heads-up display
We saw the ORA-X as a concept device at CES 2015, and we were excited to see a working prototype and a demo by CTO Khaled Sarayeddine a few days ago.
Optinvent, the company behind the ORA-X AR Headphones have been working on smart glasses for a long time, and they really know what they are doing when it comes to wearable transparent display.
As Google quit on their Glass for consumers, Optinvent may have found a great user experience that could bring the smart glasses back on consumers head, via the headphones.
The most brilliant innovation of ORA-X is the ability to swirl back the tiny display when you do not need to use it, and the presence of the headphones clearly indicates that you are enjoying your music while watching a video, instead of spying on people.
So I am very happy to see that today the ORA-X launched on Indiegogo for $349 (super early bird price).
I have tried the Android powered ORA-X prototype watching a music video, and it worked pretty well. The company behind this product is launching its IndieGogo campaign to raise funds to develop a state of the art user interface that would allow users to perfectly command all the functions from touching the side of the headphones (see picture).
The display is equivalent to an 70-inch screen at a distance of 15 feet with 126 pixels/degree angular resolution and a high luminosity of 3000 nits. You shoot photos or 1080p videos with the 5MP camera placed at the back side of the display.
On the audio specs sides, ORA-X headphones boast High-end 50mm dynamic drivers with noise cancelling microphones and high-definition audio codec using professional-grade DSP technology. The “Pass through” mode lets you stay aware of your surroundings.
ORA X is basically an Android tablet made in a different form factor, and as such it is powered by Android Lollipop, 1.2GHz dual-core processor (ARM Cortex A9, PowerVR SGX54x), and 2GB RAM.
The battery is similar to a smartphone with 2000 mAh capacity, for an all-day battery life, according to Optinvent. On the connectivity side, we have Bluetooth 4.0 LE, WiFi, a 3.5 mm audio jack, micro USD for data transfer and 8GB to store all kind of files locally.
Besides watching and listening to music videos, the ORA-x offers some AR capabilities, I tried with a 2d image of a building that I could see in 3D from all angles!
The headphones are packed with sensors (accelerometer, gyro, compass, ambient light, proximity) so users can get all regular the real-time fitness data they need such as calorie burn, distance, steps…
Gaming on the go is also a great activity to perform with the ORA-X, thanks to the trackpad, the 9-axis position sensor and the large display.
DJs will be able to mix their tunes via third party Android DJ apps or via the built in DJ app that we will be building specifically for the device.
Filed in . Read more about Ar, Connected Object, Connected Objects, Headphones, Smartglass and Wearable Tech.