Mobile World Congress
(MWC) 2023 kicks off on
February 27th, and we’re excited that Mark Van Name will be
attending the event for the first time since the last pre-pandemic show in 2019. Each year, MWC offers a great opportunity to examine the
new trends and technologies that will shape mobile technology in the years
to come. The major themes of this year’s show include the latest advances in 5G
and IoT technologies, along with what GSMA is calling “Reality+.” Reality+
refers to the intersection of AI, AR, VR, and 5G, and the potential impacts of
these immersive technologies on our future.
Mark will be sharing his thoughts from this year’s show here in the XPRT blog, so be sure to stayed tuned. Will you be attending MWC this year? If so, let us know!
We
have a very talented studio team here at Principled Technologies, and this
week, the team worked with the XPRTs to put together a CES 2023 recap video. In
it, I discuss why we traveled to CES, my overall impressions from the show, and
how the ideas and technologies presented at the show may influence the development
of future XPRT benchmarks. If you missed last week’s post
about my initial thoughts on the advances in AR and VR technology at the show,
or you didn’t get a chance to see some of our photos from the show on social media, this week’s video
provides a good summary of our CES-related activity.
To view the video, you
can follow this link or click the
screenshot below. If you followed CES this year and have any thoughts about how
the XPRTs can help to evaluate emerging technologies, we’d love to hear
from you!
The
last time the XPRTs attended the Consumer Electronics Show
in Las Vegas was in January 2020,
shortly before shutdowns due to the global pandemic began. More than 171,000
people attended that year’s show, the 2021 show was totally virtual, and CES
shortened the 2022 show after many exhibitors and media pulled out during the
Omicron surge. While some aspects of the event are returning to normal this
year, about one-third of the typically jam-packed Las Vegas Convention Center
space is empty, and only about 100,000 people are likely to attend. Nevertheless,
the show is still enormous and full of fascinating new technology.
Just one day into the show, I’ve already noticed some interesting changes in the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) areas since I last attended in 2020. One change is a significant expansion in the sensory capabilities of VR equipment. For a long time, VR technologies have focused almost solely on visual and audio input technology and the graphics-rendering capabilities necessary for lag-free, immersive experiences. In 2020, I saw companies working on various types of haptic feedback gear, including full-body suits, that pushed the boundaries of VR beyond sight and sound. Now, several companies are demonstrating significant progress in “real-feel touch” technologies for VR. One such company is HaptX, which is developing a set of gloves (see the picture below) that pump air through “microfluidic actuators” so that users can feel the size and shape of virtual objects they interact with in a VR environment. While we often think of VR being used for gaming and entertainment, advances in realistic, multi-sensory capabilities can lead to VR becoming a valuable tool for all kinds of industrial and professional training applications.
A show attendee tries out HaptX gear.
Another change I’ve noticed is how AR seems poised to move from demos to everyday life by means of integration with all types of smartphone apps. I enjoyed speaking with a representative from a Korean AR company called Arbeon. Arbeon is developing an app that will allow users to point their phone’s camera at an object (a wine bottle in the picture below), and see an array of customizable, interactive AR animations surrounding the object. You’ll be able to find product info, see and leave feedback similar to “likes” and reviews, attach emojis, tag friends, and even purchase the product, all from your phone’s AR-enhanced camera and screen. It’s an interesting concept with limitless applications. While VR is here to stay and getting better all the time, I personally think that AR will become much more integrated into everyday life in the coming years. I also think AR apps for phones will allow the technology to take off more quickly in the near term than clunkier options like AR eyeglasses.
The large screen displays how Arbeon’s AR phone app interacts with objects like a wine bottle.
Of course, thinking about AR has led me to wonder if we’ll be able to incorporate AR-related workloads into future XPRTs. As new technologies place new and unprecedented levels of processing demand on our computing hardware, the need for objective performance evaluation will continue. Providing reliable, objective performance data is why the XPRTs exist, and planning for the future of the XPRTs is why we’re at CES 2023. If you have any thoughts about how the XPRTs can help to evaluate new technologies, we’d love to hear from you!
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