Meta is full steam ahead on its mixed reality platform, however Head of AR Glasses hardware Caitlin Kalinowski says in a new interview with Android Central that its first augmented reality glasses will offer a real “wow” moment to users thanks to its “high field of view immersion.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed in late 2021 the company was working on Project Nazare, which is set to be the company’s “first fully augmented reality glasses.” Since then, Meta has revealed essentially nothing about the project beyond that initial announcement.

Now, Kalinowski echoes Zuckerberg’s nearly three year-old statement, telling Android Central that they’re indeed still working on transparent AR glasses which they define as showing “both the original photons of the real world in addition to what overlay you effectively want to have.”

That’s not really unusual as far as AR devices go, like HoloLens 2 or Magic Leap 2—a product category that typically uses waveguides pared with micoOLEDs in place of the passthrough cameras and traditional VR headset displays that we’re used to seeing in the company’s mixed reality headsets Quest 3 and Quest Pro.

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What is unusual though is its purported “high field of view,” as Kalinowski calls it. Those bulky AR headsets of today provide somewhere in the range of 50 degree diagonal—something Microsoft was keen to fudge in HoloLens 2’s initial reveal in 2019. Typical VR headsets are around the 100 – 120 degree diagonal FOV range.

As Kalinowski notes, “[n]othing prepares you for the high field of view immersion” of Project Nazare, further saying Meta’s AR hardware team has been working to achieve the “same degree of ‘oh my God, WOW! I can’t believe this!’ that the original Rift was” for her.

Whatever the case, creating a high field-of-view AR pair of glasses—not a headset, helmet, goggles… glasses—is an entirely different prospect to pushing the company’s Meta Ray-Ban line of smart(er) sunglasses. In addition to serving up music, AI-assisted queries, and video capture in a small form factor, Meta Ray-Bans are seemingly becoming a test bed for the company’s object recognition system despite lacking any sort of AR display.

At its reveal, Zuckerberg said Project Nazare was “still a few years out” from release, and there’s been no further official word when that will be. Whenever it’s coming though, we’ll certainly have some pretty high expectations.

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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.
  • ViRGiN

    Meanwhile valve “confirms” they are “working” on vr

  • ApocalypseShadow

    Might end up being cool. But if it’s still some time out, hyping it up this early is just a dangling carrot tease that’s pretty much worthless without some type of demonstration.

    It’s only to keep individuals engaged in the ecosystem.

    • Mr. Fox

      They will probably show it at this years connect (Boz teased a showcase in 2024).

  • Nevets

    It could be a long way away, but one thing Meta hasn’t done – to my knowledge – is bullshit about its R&D. I’d be excited, at least when the product emerges onto the horizon.

  • Well, the rumor talked about an expensive prototype to be revealed this year with around 70° FOV. But this will never go into commercialization because too expensive and the one going to the market will have more normal specs. So, if the rumors are confirmed, there is indeed a wow effect, but just for a showcase product

    • ViRGiN

      Which Apple could have done with Vision Pro, and they would probably maintain their publicity hype.
      Today nobody really cares about AVP. There are no true use cases for it given the form/weight factor after the honeymoon.

  • Ondrej

    Not only 90+ deg FoV is necessary, but also OPAQUE pixels. If everything has to be transparent it’s not gonna be able to replace a normal monitor, tablet or even a phone.