Lenovo today unveiled at the company’s annual Tech World conference a new standalone AR headset dubbed ‘daystAR’.

Revealed on stage by chief technology officer Yong Rui, daystAR is an augmented reality optical display with what the company says has an “independent vision processing unit and free-formed surface lenses with a 40-degree field of view.”

This marks Lenovo’s second big piece of AR news recently, as we saw the company tease a smartphone based AR headset a few days ago, a project realized in partnership with Disney that aims to deliver a Star Wars-themed HoloChess and lightsaber-focused experience.

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image courtesy Engadget
image courtesy Engadget
image courtesy Engadget
image courtesy Engadget
image courtesy Engadget

The headset is said to be a concept, with no price or release date at this time. Engadget’s Chinese site got a chance to try on a non-functional model, displayed with 4 attractive metallic colors. The model on display features a turn-wheel strap adjustment, a sleek profile, and a number of visible sensors—no doubt purposed to position the headset in 3D space. There’s also a top-mounted wheel, likely used to change the interpupillary distance, or the variable distance between the eyes.

Lenovo also teased an AR development platform in a blogpost so potential daystAR developers can create applications across a variety of industries. The company is including features like Cloud Object Recognition, Remote Assistance, Multiplayer Interaction, and 3D Content Manager, so developers you can scan, upload, and edit 3D content through the platform.

We’re keeping an eye on Lenovo and their recent entrance into AR, possibly signaling the first steps towards a race by well-known manufacturers to capture early consumer interest in augmented reality.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Claus Sølvsten
  • Armando Tavares

    «The headset is said to be a concept, with no price or release date at this time. Engadget’s Chinese site got a chance to try on a non-functional model…» and you can stop reading there.

    • Joel Dittrich

      Yeah… :-( Staying with HoloLens.

  • Marc

    No mention whatsoever of the hololens and how this look like a cheap copy ?

    • Duane Locsin

      I don’t think MS is in this hardware wise.
      MS are a software company and often just make a ‘model’ hardware for their party manufacturers to follow up and improve on.

      This is the case for ‘Surface products’- more expensive, less forward features (USB-C, proprietary)

      ‘The Xbox is their most successful hardware, but I think there were attempts to have that hardware be done by other manufacturers while MS looked after the software platform themselves.

      Hence you will see more of ‘Hololens’ partners devices

  • Duane Locsin

    Sorry to sound cruel, but realistic.

    VR you can get away with headsets that size and shape because they are often used playing games and Entertainment in doors, tethered or have additional support.

    But with using that for AR and their obvious use for productivity “out in the field”?!

    MS is going the whole “mixed reality” jack of all trades master of none again.

    Google glass is a more fitting proof of concept so why not go that way and improve on that style? It’s a better bet for AR to succeed. (You can make it expensive as long as it is not half assed)

  • Seems like a toy version of the HoloLens