5G-Powered Smart Glasses Enable Immersive Shopping, Gaming and Learning

Aiming to speed the creation of immersive 5G-powered augmented reality (AR) experiences for smart glasses, T-Mobile has launched a T-Mobile Accelerator program that provides resources to selected developers.

“Smart glasses will completely change how we connect and experience the world around us,” John Saw, executive vice president of advanced and emerging technologies at T-Mobile, said in a Wednesday (May 18) statement announcing the first six participants chosen for the program.

The participants’ projects illustrate the range of consumer and enterprise applications that can be built for 5G-powered smart glasses.

Bringing New AR Applications to Life

Livestreaming in AR and sharing pre-recorded messages is a capability delivered by Beem . This AR tool enables users to appear in the same room as their contacts when viewed through the contacts’ phones.

Games and videos employing AR are the focus of Krikey , which has already built several custom games for brand partners. This gaming and social media app also enables users to create AR videos and custom 3D avatars to use in games and videos.

Enabling 3D extended reality (XR) real-time content streaming is the goal of Mawari . It provides a streaming software development kit that renders 3D content in the cloud and delivers it to devices.

The ability to blend games into the real world is delivered by Mohx-Games using both AR and virtual reality (VR). The company also facilitates event experiences that put the viewer in the front row, augmented education, indoor navigation and remote sales presentation.

“Shared presence communication” is enabled by Pluto , which uses VR and AR to help people communicate as if they were in the same location. The firm also makes it possible to stream high-end PC VR games on supported wearable and mobile devices.

Immersive classrooms and campuses are delivered by VictoryXR , creating more engaged and enjoyable online learning experiences, the company said. For example, its VR enables students to virtually dissect a frog or ride a dinosaur during science class.

Engineers and business leaders from both T-Mobile and Qualcomm Technologies will work with these participants in the business accelerator, helping them test, develop, and bring their new applications to market.

“With T-Mobile 5G, we have the capacity and performance needed to power high-bandwidth, immersive AR experiences for smart glasses, but it’s the developers and entrepreneurs that will bring these new applications to life,” Saw said in the statement.

Speeding the Deployment of 5G, AR Applications

The T-Mobile Accelerator joins some other efforts to speed the deployment of applications that make full use of the capabilities of 5G to deliver AR content.

T-Mobile and T-Labs, the research and development unit of Deutsche Telekom, are currently running a contest in which 20 finalists refine their solutions that use 5G-powered XR technology to help retailers serve customers inside and outside the physical store.

Read more: Competition Highlights Future Retail Use Cases for 5G XR

Verizon announced in March that it would collaborate with Meta to explore both the use cases of the metaverse and the infrastructure that will enable them. The two companies are exploring a range of metaverse opportunities, from the future of hybrid work and collaboration to metaverse-related consumer experiences.

Read more: Verizon, Meta Partner to Explore 5G-Enabled Metaverse Opportunities