August 29, 2018 – Acer has announced the Acer OJO 500 during its next@acer Global Press Conference at IFA 2018 in Berlin today. The OJO 500 is a Windows Mixed Reality headset and Virtual Reality headset that features a detachable design, patented built-in sound pipe technology, and software-assisted interpupillary distance adjustment technology.
“The Acer OJO 500 brings several significant new features to this class of Windows Mixed Reality headsets,” said Andrew Chuang, General Manager, Presence Computing, IT Products Business, Acer Inc. “We’ve improved the user experience with innovative visual and audio technologies and made the headset more comfortable and easier than ever to use.”
The headset’s design enables the lens and head strap to be individually removed, making it easier to clean. This may prove beneficial for businesses who want to provide customers with clean headwear for each use. Furthermore, commercial customers are able to personalize the headset with a logo or company colors on the front cover.
The headset has been made available with either a hard or soft head strap. The soft head strap is machine washable, and the extra-large padding on the hard head strap helps the headset fit securely and firmly in place. In addition, the mask can be flipped up, eliminating the need to remove the entire headset to switch back to real world activities.
The Acer OJO 500 includes a built-in interpupillary distance (IPD) wheel and a patented smart phone app to measure IPD distance (the gap between the eye’s pupil and the display). The software-assisted IPD measurement app, Acer IPD Meter, along with Acer IPD Indicator software lets users modify this distance for sharper, clearer images.
Two front-hinged 2.89-inch high-resolution liquid crystal displays provide a 100 degree field of view and deliver 2880 x 1440 resolution with a refresh rate of up to 90Hz for an immersive mixed reality experience.
The integrated audio system on the headset consists of embedded speakers, a patented sound pipe, and a built-in mic array. The sound pipe design directs sound from built-in speakers toward the wearer’s ears, which means users can hear audio without wearing earphones, enabling them to remain aware of surroundings while having an immersive experience. Wearers can also use the built-in earphones that come with the hard head strap, or their own earphones with the soft head strap.
The headset includes a camera for inside-out tracking, so there is no need to set up additional tracking hardware. Once the headset is connected to a Windows Mixed Reality-ready PC, it installs the required software. Acer states that setup is quick, taking about 10 minutes. The 6 degrees of freedom positional tracking includes forward/back, up/down, and left/right as well as pitch, yaw and roll. The headset comes with a 4 meter (13 feet) cable allowing a wider range of movement, and connects to a PC via HDMI 2.0, while a USB 3.0 connector downloads data.
The Acer OJO 500 also comes in an optional configuration that includes two Bluetooth enabled motion controllers that sync with the headset; a Windows 10 button, touchpad, and grab button to let users interact with digital objects in mixed reality.
As a Windows Mixed Reality headset, the OJO 500 requires a compatible Windows-based PC in order to take advantage of more than 2,500 games and applications available between the Steam VR and Microsoft Store platforms.
The Acer OJO 500 will be available in North America in November, starting at USD $399; and in EMEA in November, starting at EUR €499.
Video credit: Acer/YouTube
About the author
Sam Sprigg
Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.
