This 5G neckband from Motorola might make XR glasses much less cumbersome

Motorola has a brand new wearable 5G neckband that’s designed to energy light-weight VR and AR headsets (collectively often called XR headsets) corresponding to mother or father firm Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 sensible glasses, the corporate introduced at present. The neckband appears to be like quite a bit like a big plastic lanyard, and is supplied with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, a 5,000mAh battery, a touchpad, SIM card slot, audio system, and a spread of sensors together with a gyroscope and accelerometer, Engadget reports. Motorola says it’s partnered with Verizon on the neckband, which is in a position to hook up with the service’s mmWave 5G community.

The thought is that the neckband, which Motorola doesn’t present an official product identify for, will be capable of act because the brains and brawn for a linked VR or AR headset. By offloading elements like a strong processor and heavy battery, the headset itself can grow to be lighter and extra comfy to put on. For instance, Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 sensible glasses are usually designed to be powered by laptops, however utilizing them with a neckband might make them much more moveable, much like makes an attempt to energy AR and VR headsets utilizing smartphones.

From the press photos, the lanyard-style neckband appears to be like slightly goofy, much like the varied neckband audio system which have appeared over time. But Motorola particularly cites enterprise customers as one among its key goal prospects. In an announcement, Verizon’s vp of machine know-how Brian Mecum mentions “sports training and fan experiences, as well as making VR theaters scalable,” as a few of the potential use instances for the neckband. So customers would possibly look slightly foolish sporting the accent, however they’ll theoretically be surrounded by a crowd of individuals sporting the identical factor.

Although its promotional photos present the 5G neckband getting used with Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 glasses, Engadget studies it’s additionally designed to work with different sensible glasses. It’s reportedly suitable with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon VR platform, Microsoft’s Remote Network Driver Interface, and in addition options USB-C and DP1.4 ports.

There’s no data on how a lot the accent will price, when it’ll be out there, or who its first enterprise prospects is likely to be. But Verizon’s Brian Mecum tells Engadget that the corporate is speaking with companions within the retail house, sports activities leagues, and training.