Lei Ming, vice-president and design director of Focalmax Technology Co Ltd, delivers a keynote speech during the company's product launch event held in Beijing on October 12, 2016. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)
The unveiling of 4G-ready "all-in-one" goggles by a domestic start-up, provides another answer to implement the concept advocated by Facebook-owned Oculus VR, which says that virtual reality will not be limited to gaming.
"The reason behind Mark Zuckerberg's ambitions on 'VR-gets-social' is that the company specializes in building products with social attributes," said Lei Ming, vice-president and design director of Focalmax Technology Co Ltd, a one-year-old Shenzhen-based company that focuses on optical technology and telecommunication.
Lei said future VR products will become a hardware similar to smartphones, which provide several functions, including making phone calls, taking photos and even connecting to the internet.
Focalmax recently launched a series of "all-in-one" mobile VR goggles—Scati ONE, featuring functions that provide both VR and augmented reality (AR) experiences.
The three versions of the Scati ONE family (Scati ONE Lite, Scati ONE Neo and Scati ONE) target different consumers by providing three price ranges: 999 yuan（$149）, 1,699 yuan and 2,499 yuan.
All of the three versions will be shipped with a SIM slot that supports 4G-connected features, different from other all-in-one VR devices on the market.
Apart from the dual intelligent bionic eye 3D camera that captures simulation images, the dual imaging lens driven by Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 enable the glasses to not only stream interactive game plays and videos in a virtual world, but also offers AR and mixed reality (MR) functions.
"We think an 'all-in-one' product, which provides duo cameras and internet-connected solutions, will not only be a social tool, but also reserves business potentials in the distance education area or even enhances the combat capabilities of soldiers in the battlefield," said Lei Ming.
The company is also in talks with Google to deploy the latter's latest VR software platform – Daydream in its products.
