As non-functioning prototypes go, the new Avegant Glyph design we tried on certainly racks up with the higher end of consumer headphones. The company is definitely going for same market slice as Beats By Dre, having recently curried favor with the the likes of Snoop Dog in a round of investor funding that netted them a cool $9.37 million last November.
The device, best described as a pair of headphones that converts into head-mounted display, is offering the ability for private, mobile consumption of video that is supposed to inject itself into the down times of your life, like waiting for a bus or avoiding the curious gaze of taxi drivers everywhere.
The following images are of a non-functional prototype built to represent the level of fit and finish expected at retail. We’ll be covering the functionality of their actual device in another article, with the two coming together sometime in the fall of 2015 at the current pre-order price of $499.
The New Design
The design prototype at the Avegant booth was a two tone, metallic accented model that gave us a good visual understanding of the companies design philosophy: This is a very normal, very pretty pair of headphones that just so happens to play video.
The heft on top is noticeable, but not nearly as distracting as you’d think.
Here’s a mock-up of the interpupillary distance (IPD) toggles that change the relative distance between the eyes for custom viewing.
Here’s a better look of the variable IPD, which slides according to the individual distance of your eyes.
Paul, trusty editor and VR evangelist here at Road to VR is looking at absolutely nothing, and loving every minute of it.
A side view that shows the metallic detailing and matte finish to the plastic outer shell.
The Old Design
The new design and materials communicate a premium feel that we think is an improvement over the older prototype with the simplified version eschewing the perhaps over-complicated pivoting mechanism of its predecessor.
The apparent stream-lining of the head band and overall smoothness of the new iteration helps further obscure the Glyph’s intent on clicking down to cover the eyes, which wasn’t such a well guarded secret with previous prototypes.
Pre-orders have also limited the color selection of the new device, instead relegating it to either a two-tone black/white predominate, or white/black predominate version—because who needs lime green or burnt orange drawing attention to device that’s supposed to fly under the radar as a personal video viewer—a wise choice on the the part of Avegant at least until HMDs become a little more wide spread.
Make sure to keep tabs on Road to VR in the coming days for more CES updates, because we have boots on the ground until its close on January 9th.
