Qualcomm and ODG Announce the First Augmented Reality Smartglasses Powered by the New Snapdragon 835 Processor

At CES® 2017 today, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), and ODG (Osterhout Design Group), a leading developer and manufacturer of mobile headworn computing and augmented reality technologies and products, announced that R-8 and R-9 will be the first announced devices powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 835 processor, which uses 10-nanometer (nm) FinFET process technology to enable a new generation of premium consumer devices in small form factors with breakthrough performance and superior power efficiency. R-8 is ODG’s first consumer mobile AR/VR smartglasses, targeted at the consumer early adopter, and R-9 is for a wide variety of wide field-of-view (FOV) experiences from light enterprise, to prosumer media consumption, and as a development platform for sophisticated mobile AR/VR and smartglasses applications.

“The premium Snapdragon 835 processor was designed from the ground-up to support new and innovative products and experiences beyond mobile phones, and it’s great to see that the first announced Snapdragon 835 devices will be ODG’s smartglasses,” said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Thermal dissipation on a heavy compute but small device is very difficult so higher power efficiency is a must. The Snapdragon 835 processor, with our unique SoC design expertise on a 10nm process node, enables ODG to meet their design goals and develop lighter, smaller and sleeker smartglasses that take advantage of the new processor’s superior performance and power efficiency.”

The latest in a line of proven, high performance mobile processors, the Snapdragon 835 processor’s architecture allows for higher power efficiency, increased performance, longer battery life, and slimmer device size when compared to previous generations of processors, and ideal for manufacturers racing to meet demand for products that can deliver the next-generation of connectivity-rich user experiences. Snapdragon 835 combines Qualcomm® Kryo™ 280 CPU with Qualcomm Technologies’ many additional low power, high-performance processing technologies to support great battery life for user experiences such as AR and VR, listening to high fidelity audio, watching HD video, playing games, and using the camera/camcorder. Snapdragon 835 is an Ultra HD Premium mobile processor and supports full 4K/60fps, 10-bit HDR10/HEVC video decode, HDR graphics rendering and display directly to wide color gamut 10-bit 4K displays.

“As consumers look for more and more out of their mobile devices, we are seeing a shift taking place towards a new era of mobile computing,” said Ralph Osterhout, founder and chief executive officer, ODG. “This is so much bigger than just a device, it’s about a whole new computing medium that will transform how we interact and discover information and engage with people and objects in the world around us. The Snapdragon 835 processor’s superior performance and power efficiency allows us to accelerate along the path we’ve been striving towards for so long – in bringing a self-contained, lightweight and powerful headworn computing device with stunning visual experiences to the consumer. It is an honor to work so closely with the brilliant minds at Qualcomm Technologies and to be the first to announce that we are integrating this latest technology into devices.”

R-8 brings the power of mobile virtual computing to consumers. With a greater than 40˚ FOV and HD resolution, innovative consumers can access the familiarity of movies, sports, gaming, navigation and education experiences but on smartglasses that are lighter, smaller and sleeker than any other device in ODG’s portfolio. R-8 offers the same private screen that floats in your view, wherever you are and however you are moving, with the added dimension of AR, VR and Mixed Reality overlays for a richer computing experience.

R-9 is based on ODG’s award-winning 50° FOV and 1080p Project Horizon platform, and is a winner in three CES Innovation Award categories. Targeted to a variety of WFOV experiences from light enterprise to prosumer mobile media consumption, it is also a development platform for sophisticated mobile AR/VR and smartglasses applications. Both devices benefit from advanced features within Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon VR SDK, such as hardware accelerated, visual inertial odometry based 6DOF motion tracking. For more details, see ODG’s release here: https://osterhoutgroup.com/presskit/pressreleases/Industry_Leader_ODG_Introduces_R-8_and_R-9_Smartglasses.pdf

The Snapdragon 835 is in production now and is expected to ship in commercial devices in the first half of 2017. For more information please visit: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/835.