The Mobile World Congress has given us the opportunity to see some of the advances that brands have made in terms of augmented reality glasses this year. We didn’t know all of them (Meta finally didn’t present their Ray-Banas to the public), but OPPO showed the attendees the Air Glass frame presented at the end of last year.

Lightweight and interesting, but outstanding

We're not talking about augmented reality. The idea for OPPO to develop its Air Glass model was to add a glass frame that is glued to one of its sides and offers a view of the data in one of our eyes. The information appears in plain text or graphics in pure green but on a screen that can reach a brightness of 1,000 niches, according to OPPO representatives at the conference showroom.

You can display various types of data that are synchronized with an OPPO smartphone: teleprompter, translator (now from Chinese to English), navigation path steps on maps, or audio playback information (which can be played via bone transmission). To navigate through all the information you want to see, slide your finger forward or backward with your finger on the side of the frame. The gesture is simple and easy to learn, and the speed of the software is enough to make the experience smooth.

What is most appreciated about these OPPO Air Glass is its lightness. The equipment weighs only 30 grams, and even if you have one more lens on your glasses, you won’t have the feeling of a big, heavy thing, as is the case with other augmented reality propositions. The attachment to the frame of the accessory is magnetic and seems to have a good handle, holding back the head and some basic movements. Of course, despite its lightness, it’s obvious that you have electronic equipment in your glasses. That is, you would be the object of street gazing.

No one should be bothered if they use glasses with this version of OPPO Air Glass. It’s not the small text we see out of the corner of our eye, it’s the good-sized information that takes up part of our field of vision.

We can appreciate the usefulness of these glasses, which support the precedent of others like Google Glass: being able to see information without having to take your phone out of your pocket, or raising your wrist to check our smartwatch. Details like being able to see routes and a map are interesting, although at the moment we can only use Baidu Maps and OPPO needs to integrate other more universal platforms.

In general, we are faced with an interesting bet that augmented reality glasses should be taken in its path. Each manufacturer has its own vision and proposal, but we still don’t have a clear winner, and here OPPO has opted for something simple but effective that can be basic for people looking for basic information directly in their field of vision. We will see over time that this concept improves or changes depending on market trends.

The glasses provide clarification

Calling them “glasses” isn’t very accurate because they’re not real glasses. OPPO Air Glass is a device that fits into the arms of our glasses and has a Spark microprocessor developed by OPPO to project information before our eyes.

They are designed by OPPO Air Glass and offer a minimalist design, very elegant, even if not so striking or light. The set weighs 30 grams and, according to the Chinese company, can be worn like an ordinary glasses. In this body we find the battery, the speaker, the processor (a Snapdragon Wear 4100) and the Spark microprocessor. The lens, on the other hand, can be neutral or graduated.

And what does it offer? The key is in the Spark microprocessor. It is developed by OPPO and has a thickness of 0.5 cc. Inside is a projector with a micro LED, which according to OPPO, generates a maximum brightness of three million nits. His goal? Provide contextual information directly to our eye in any light situation.

To do this, OPPO Air Glass assembles a custom optical diffraction waveguide with two display modes. First, the 16-level gray scale. Second, a 256-degree gray scale and an average brightness of 1,400 niches. According to OPPO, two layers of sapphire crystal are used to cover the waveguide on both sides, thus providing more transparency and strength.