Magic Leap One Mixed Reality Glasses Unveiled, Shipments of 'Creator Edition' to Go Live in 2018

A long time after teasing its development, Magic Leap has finally unveiled the Magic Leap One mixed reality glasses. The new wearable is currently available as a "creator edition", which means it won't be available to the masses but to the creators who want to build new experiences using a mix of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). The Google-backed company is set to provide open access to its SDK with all the relevant tools, documentation, and support in early 2018, while the Magic Leap One goggles will be shipped sometime next year. Designers, developers, and creatives can sign up on the Magic Leap site to learn about its partnerships and promotional programmes in addition to the arrival of the device.

The Magic Leap One goggles come bundled with a wireless controller that offers "force control and haptic feedback" and enables six degrees of freedom (6DoF). Magic Leap has also provided an external computing unit called Lightpack that drives the proprietary spatial computing platform using built-in processing and graphics support. This component appears to help the company meet its promise of offering every possible thing that one can do with a smartphone, which was made at the WSJDLive event back in 2015. Moreover, the glasses are touted to accept multiple input modes such as voice, gesture, head pose, and eye tracking.

Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz invited Rolling Stone journalist Brian Crecente for an initial experience with its technology. Crecente writes that the demonstration dropped him into a "science-fiction world" where augmented reality was blended with the virtual reality - what is called mixed reality (MR). He also points out that the early experience was smooth with "no stuttering or slowdowns", and the goggles will be available in two different sizes - with customisation options to adjust forehead, nose, and temple pad. Additionally, the company is said to add support for prescription lenses.

Abovitz reportedly stated that the bundled Lightpack delivers power similar to a MacBook Pro or an Alienware PC. Also, the goggles are said to have a separate low-powered processing unit that can have some machine learning capabilities and includes four microphones as well as six external cameras. There are also built-in speakers to produce audio while taking the users to the MR world. This sounds similar to Microsoft HoloLens.

Magic Leap is presently leveraging the funds received by companies including Alibaba, Qualcomm, and Warner Bros. in addition to the early support provided by Google to bolster the development of its MR technology that has been in the pipeline for a couple of years from now. Eventually, we hope that the final outcome would emerge sometime next year.