Qualcomm VR and AR Press Event: Live Blog (7pm PT, 2am UTC)

09:54PM EDT - Qualcomm is attending the AWE Event, an AR and VR expo. We're here at their press event in Levi's Stadium, ready for the Live Blog. Event starts at 7pm Pacific.

09:57PM EDT - Home of the '49ers

09:57PM EDT - About to start in a few minutes

09:58PM EDT - AWE is one of the bigger VR and AR events in the industry. We just happened to be in the area to cover what is being announced

10:01PM EDT - Here we go

10:01PM EDT - video time: Qualcomm 'making XR a reality'

10:02PM EDT - Mike Roberts, Sr. Director Product Marketing to the stage

10:02PM EDT - AWE = Augmented World Expo

10:03PM EDT - Talking about leadership about on-device AI, and Snapdragon 710

10:03PM EDT - A new announcement for Computex, to be announced

10:03PM EDT - Hugo Swart, head of XR, to the stage

10:04PM EDT - 3 years ago, we started to see the potential for VR

10:04PM EDT - Looking into adjacent markets for Snapdragon

10:04PM EDT - Announced 820 VR reference design for VR in 2016

10:04PM EDT - Then 835, then 845 reference design for VR

10:04PM EDT - Today is the next chapter in this journey

10:04PM EDT - To 'make XR is a journey for everyone'

10:04PM EDT - Starting with terminology

10:05PM EDT - Everyone talks VR, AR, and MR

10:05PM EDT - Last year we talked about XR

10:05PM EDT - XR = VR + AR + MR

10:05PM EDT - use VR or AR when it's a specific application, but XR is an umbrella term

10:05PM EDT - XR is the next gen mobile compute plaform, and substitute smartphones and PCs

10:05PM EDT - >huh ?

10:06PM EDT - Over the years, see new processors and applications

10:06PM EDT - Transforms the way we work and play

10:06PM EDT - To get to this vision, an important product category needs to be come mainstream

10:06PM EDT - That's the standalone VR - that's what will make this vision come true

10:06PM EDT - In 3 years, this category has established itself

10:07PM EDT - We see launches from Oculus, HTC and Lenovo

10:07PM EDT - These products have arrived, in the hands of consumers

10:07PM EDT - Analysts are predicting that by 2023, 186 million devices will be shipped / the install base

10:07PM EDT - This is a huge opportunity for the hardware and software companies around it

10:08PM EDT - Varies from low quality to high quality

10:08PM EDT - The easiest way to implement is with a smartphone

10:08PM EDT - Still some friction at this end of the spectrum

10:08PM EDT - At the top end is the PC tethered experience, a 300W and high price

10:09PM EDT - It's not mainstream - standalone is mainstream

10:09PM EDT - For standalone, quality is key

10:09PM EDT - Taking the affordably mobile ecosystems and give them a high experience

10:09PM EDT - Two quality levels for standalone

10:09PM EDT - 3DoF vs 6 DoF

10:10PM EDT - 'High Quality vs Premium Quality'

10:10PM EDT - But not everyone will go for the premium quality. Some people may choose a more affordable tier

10:10PM EDT - Each customer will define how to position the feature set

10:11PM EDT - But in the market we see today these two quality tiers for XR

10:11PM EDT - Our platforms for XR are perfect for these categories

10:11PM EDT - But there's something we can do more tailored for the high quality tier

10:11PM EDT - Video time

10:11PM EDT - 'First ever dedicated XR platform'

10:12PM EDT - Announcing Snapdragon XR1 platform

10:13PM EDT - Taking XR mainstream

10:13PM EDT - High Quality VR and AR HMDs

10:13PM EDT - The right balance and featureset for high quality

10:13PM EDT - The right audio features (3D audio), low latency, the right combination of 3DoF/6DoF

10:13PM EDT - The right CPU and GPU and video

10:13PM EDT - Boosted by Artificial Intelligence

10:14PM EDT - Using AI for scene understanding

10:14PM EDT - Covered by XR1

10:14PM EDT - Plenty of use cases. OEMs will dictate them, but Qualcomm had a vision in mind

10:14PM EDT - 1) Video watching: 2D, 3D, UHD, 180-degree, 360-degree, 4K 60

10:15PM EDT - Sports, Concerts, Movies

10:15PM EDT - 2) Gaming

10:15PM EDT - Not premium quality, but a high quality gaming experience

10:15PM EDT - 3) Capture

10:15PM EDT - Needs to be a good camera form factor for AR

10:16PM EDT - Small, lightweight

10:16PM EDT - Devices based on XR1 will enable lightweight devices

10:16PM EDT - Every day we use our phones to capture and remember things

10:16PM EDT - Low battery use for voice and picture taking

10:16PM EDT - 4) Share / Enterprise

10:17PM EDT - Share in real time, e.g. remote technicians dialing back for senior staff

10:17PM EDT - Using tools to connect in real time

10:17PM EDT - The more affordable, the more enterprises will be able to ise it

10:17PM EDT - *use

10:18PM EDT - Time will tell when these devices come to market will see what developers will create with the hardware

10:18PM EDT - Beyond XR1 there are already customers that are going public today with their product roadmaps

10:18PM EDT - Customers coming on stage

10:19PM EDT - Starting with Pico

10:19PM EDT - Focusing on VR/AR for 3 years

10:19PM EDT - S820 and S835 based products already launched

10:20PM EDT - Pico is #2 market share in China

10:20PM EDT - out of all mobile VR / PC VR

10:20PM EDT - AR/VR/MR all on roadmap with XR1

10:21PM EDT - Product design can be challenging, need good platform

10:21PM EDT - Working with QC for more than 4 years on multi-VR platform

10:21PM EDT - XR1 can combine powerful VR perf and SDK together

10:21PM EDT - Often discuss the benefits AR can bring to the market

10:22PM EDT - New product will be available next year

10:22PM EDT - 720 stereoscopic LCD, two embedded cameras (RGB and depth)

10:22PM EDT - 720p*

10:22PM EDT - embedded microphone and speakers

10:22PM EDT - Built in battery gives 3 hours

10:22PM EDT - Support skeleton tracking, gestures

10:23PM EDT - Looking forward to progress

10:23PM EDT - Next to the stage is HTC Vive

10:23PM EDT - President of VivePort to the stage

10:24PM EDT - Changing the world with XR

10:24PM EDT - XR1 will make it more available

10:24PM EDT - But content makes VR and AR exciting

10:24PM EDT - Viveport is the environment / app store for VR

10:24PM EDT - A spaceport into VR

10:25PM EDT - A lot of great free experiences

10:25PM EDT - Over 2000 experiences on Vive today

10:25PM EDT - People want to subscribe to VR content - try a lot of content without buying it directly (like Netflix)

10:26PM EDT - Launched ViveWave that runs the VivePort

10:26PM EDT - Can provide the runtime and the store with XR1

10:26PM EDT - Pico uses ViveWave

10:26PM EDT - The netflix of china is coming out with a device that works with wave

10:27PM EDT - Build an app for the ViveWave platform, works on all supported devices, rather than a single device

10:27PM EDT - Providing a VivePort for enterprise businesses, e.g. BMW's own Port

10:28PM EDT - Having fun as consumers - provide games, experiences, learning, and social experiences

10:28PM EDT - Social is important

10:29PM EDT - Meta to the stage

10:29PM EDT - Meta 2 is the industry leading AR headset

10:30PM EDT - Projects holograms onto the real world

10:30PM EDT - Gesture and skeleton tracking

10:30PM EDT - 'Most Affordable' at $1495

10:30PM EDT - Humans learn better in the real world, so Meta has tools to allow for collaboration

10:30PM EDT - Workplace interactions

10:31PM EDT - Coming next is Meta XR1 product

10:31PM EDT - More power at a lower price point

10:32PM EDT - Now Vusix to the stage

10:32PM EDT - Vusix is 20 years old, first business relationship with Qualcomm with XR1

10:33PM EDT - 'Huge for Vusix'

10:34PM EDT - Driving next gen products

10:35PM EDT - Form factor and fashion is number 1 requirement

10:35PM EDT - 2018 Vusix Blade Edge

10:35PM EDT - Expect XR1 versions in 2019 and 2020

10:35PM EDT - Also enterprise headsets

10:36PM EDT - Tied in closely to Vusix mission statement with standalone devices

10:37PM EDT - Now ODG to the stage

10:37PM EDT - ODG + Qualcomm collaboration is long time

10:38PM EDT - S835 launched on the ODG R9

10:38PM EDT - Cinema quality optics

10:38PM EDT - No other AR product has THX Video Cinema certification

10:38PM EDT - R7 for rugged

10:38PM EDT - Collaboration with Porsche - every dealership will have an R7

10:39PM EDT - R7 with BP for hazardous analysis

10:39PM EDT - R9 distributed via mobile carriers

10:39PM EDT - The next gen XR1 platform must be fashionable

10:39PM EDT - Must fuse the real and the digital

10:39PM EDT - Must lead the pack to mass adoption

10:40PM EDT - XR1 brings the price point down

10:40PM EDT - Hope to redefine what mobile computing is

10:40PM EDT - Back to Qualcomm

10:41PM EDT - Our goal is to make XR mainstream

10:41PM EDT - >Ryan actually was briefed on the XR1 platform, you can read his analysis here

10:41PM EDT - https://www.anandtech.com/show/12793/qualcomm-xr1