LONDON: VR Education announced that the Group’s ENGAGE platform has been selected as one of a handful of titles to be a launch application for a new 5G VR head mounted display (HMD).
HMD is currently being developed in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and XRSPACE.
It is anticipated that this new 5G VR HMD, which is lighter and less bulky than its predecessors and due for launch in mid-2020, will deliver a significant boost to the VR ecosystem through its low latency attributes, allowing it to redefine the way people connect, learn, socialise, play and collaborate.
The new 5G VR HMD will allow consumers to experience a metaverse, where the virtual and real-world blur to transform how people come together in a more personal, natural, and meaningful way, without the confines of physical boundaries.
Instead of moving a cursor across a grid of icons to open applications as in today’s VR experiences, the device will offer a novel user interface where users are represented as a real-life looking avatar and navigate the virtual world.
This new offering will be distributed exclusively through global telecom operators and initially include a VR HMD powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile VR Platform and innovative content spanning communication, social, education, media, shopping, and entertainment.
It represents a key use for 5G technology and has support from telecom operator Deutsche Telekom, which has 7 million mobile customers in Germany and about 44 million around the globe. More than 300,000 of those German customers use the carrier’s current VR app, Magenta VR, under their T-Mobile brand.
David Whelan, CEO of VR Education, said: “VR and AR technology (XR) up to now has only appealed to very large corporations for training and the hardcore video game community. 5G deployment is about to change this mindset allowing for more immersive experiences, faster streaming services and smaller end user devices making a currently niche product appeal to a mass market. This new 5G VR device is certainly much smaller and lighter than what we have seen in the past from other manufacturers and we are definitely in touching distance of where XR headsets will actually have the same form as standard glasses.
“Having a leading telecom company such as Deutsche Telekom push forward with an XR offering for their new 5G customers is a welcome development and ENGAGE being part of this push on the corporate training and education side is very exciting.”