# How big of a deal will AR Glasses be this time around? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518 "2020-10-21T16:58:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/41 "2020-10-26T15:48:43Z")
This is a cute response, but the counter is that even for people who never put their phone away, a technology that gave us an additional hand would be pretty useful, right? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/42 "2020-11-08T23:43:59Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Because yeah, as someone who can hear perfectly well, dropping a thousand dollars on glasses that will give me subtitles seems wasteful. The lifestyle guru that I follow ( [Tynan](https://tynan.com/) ) has just come out with a very positive comment on the new Facebook VR goggles. Price is down to $299. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/43 "2020-11-09T00:17:55Z")
I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. It’s not all that big a leap from a phone permanently mounted on one’s hand to a phone permanently mounted on one’s face. I mean, it seems like a pretty big leap to us old fogeys, but to the folks who will be the first adopters, it’ll seem perfectly natural. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/44 "2020-11-09T05:46:39Z")
From another thread, a useful example: > [@Why not wear masks forever?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/16): > > > [@Why not wear masks forever?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/11): > > > > Lastly, since I’m hearing impaired, having to listen to everyone’s muffled voices has been hell for me. I don’t claim to be able to read lips, but I wonder if not being able to see the lip movement is also negatively affecting my ability to understand others. > > [This might help you - or anyone else dealing with hearing impairment and a mask.](https://twitter.com/SECAmb_Danny/status/1284071390107361285?s=20) > For those who don’t want to watch, it’s a demonstration/suggestion by an NHS ambulance driver - use Google Live Transcribe on your phone. It’s probably already installed if you have an Android phone, and is available for I-things as well. > I’ll certainly keep it in mind for the next time I deal with a hearing-impaired customer at work, mask or no. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/45 "2020-11-09T08:00:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I mean, it seems like a pretty big leap to us old fogeys, but to the folks who will be the first adopters, it’ll seem perfectly natural. Yep. It’s worth bearing in mind that the dope does skew Luddite. 😄 Im sure I could find threads as recent as 2018 say that still either claim smart phones are useless, or just an amalgamation of existing tech so what’s the point? Kinda funny to see the shift now to “But I can do that on my cellphone!” For me personally, I’ll probably be an early adopter this time. One app I’ll look forward to will be starlight over cities. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/46 "2020-11-09T12:36:46Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > For me personally, I’ll probably be an early adopter this time. One app I’ll look forward to will be starlight over cities Ooh, that’s a good one. There are already apps where you hold your phone up to the sky and it shows you the names of stars and constellations, but it’s a bit awkward to use. Wearing glasses and looking up, otoh… ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/47 "2020-11-09T16:05:03Z")
I’ve seen a lot of speculation about capabilities to assist the hard-of-hearing, but what about those with partial vision loss? If macular degeneration has caused a loss of central vision could that field of view be somehow shifted to a part of the retina that would perceive it better? Or take my case, my left eye is totally sightless. Could part of its field of view be moved over to the right eye? Similar to how those rear view mirrors work by giving you a parabolic reflection. Objects would be closer than they appear, but maybe people could adapt to it. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/48 "2020-11-09T16:30:55Z")
So a digital version of correcting lenses - one that can adjust as needed? Yeah I would think that’s very possible. Or a way to give you a wider field of view with just 1 working eye. For people who are completely blind or whose eyes are missing or damaged beyond use, you can even bypass the eye and send data straight to the optic nerve. This is rudimentary at the moment but wasn’t possible at all just a few years ago. > **[A new implant for blind people jacks directly into the brain](https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/06/844908/a-new-implant-for-blind-people-jacks-directly-into-the-brain/)** > > Researchers have successfully bypassed the eyes with a brain implant that allows rudimentary vision. Eta: if your eye is blind but your optic nerve intact (a situation that’s rarer than you might expect) you can actually already get full vision from a camera through that nerve. This tech is about bypassing the eye AND nerve and going straight to the visual cortex. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518/49 "2020-11-09T16:48:46Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > I work in manufacturing. I can think of a hundred uses for this product. This is the immediate future for AR and likely where the innovations will happen, long before it’s to the point where every consumer is wearing them. They have to keep improving the FOV, but within the next 5 years, that should be solved. Lockheed Martin is having success integrating them into some really cool projects, such as Orion, which you can see in the video below. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Chk489dEgVc/maxresdefault.jpg "Building the future: How NASA and Lockheed Martin are using HoloLens 2 to go to the moon and beyond") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chk489dEgVc) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-of-a-deal-will-ar-glasses-be-this-time-around/923518.md?page=2)