Finnish tech startup Varjo has emerged this month from stealth mode. The company promises to jump-start the next computing platform in VR/AR/XR immersive display technologies. The company is now demonstrating the world’s first Human eye-resolution head-mounted display for upcoming Varjo-branded immersive computing products.
Move Over Oculus
If consumers know something about the still nascent world of virtual reality (VR) headgear products, they likely know the name Oculus Rift, the company Facebook purchased for over two billion dollars in July of 2014. But the VR world is far from a foregone conclusion as to who is going to emerge as winners. Oculus has steep competition in several big brand competitors, including Google, Samsung, and HTC with its Vive product.
But now they all have Varjo to consider, a name by the way that means “shadow” in Finnish.
10 Years Ahead
Varjo claims its VR technology is 10 years ahead of the industry. Designed for professionals users and with resolutions greater than 70x beyond what any currently shipping or announced head-mounted display (including Magic Leap), Varjo’s 20/20 technology is a major advancement offering users unprecedented levels of virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality solutions.
01 – A sample image sent to press showing the resolution difference between shipping VR devices today (bottom) and Varjo 20/20 (top). (image: Varjo Technologies Oy. All rights reserved.)
Varjo’s technology is patented technology that replicates how the human eye naturally works, creating super-high resolution images to the user’s gaze direction. That technology is combined with “video-see-through” technologies (VST) for unparalleled AR/MR capabilities.
02 – A second sample image comparison between Varjo’s VR tech (top) and what is available today. (bot).
03 – Urho Konttori, is founder and CEO of Helsinki-headquartered VR startup Varjo Technologies. (image: Varjo Technologies.)
For a comparison, Varjo 20/20, the code name for its product that will ship in Q4, 2017, has an effective resolution of 70 MP with 100 percent field of view (FoV). Today Oculus and Vive have an effective resolution of 1.2 MP with 100 percent FoV. Oculus chief scientist Michael Abrash at the Oculus Connect 3 event predicted back in 2016 that Oculus would reach 16 MP with 140 percent FoV in five years time (2021).
Who, What and When
Based in Finnland, Varjo Technologies Oy, is headquartered in Helsinki. The company was founded by Urho Konttori, who is CEO. The technology is based on the work of a team of optical scientists, creatives and software developers who formerly occupied top positions at Microsoft, Nokia, Intel, Nvidia, and Rovio.
“Varjo’s patented display innovation pushes VR technology 10 years ahead of the current state-of-the-art, where people can experience unprecedented resolution of VR and AR content limited only by the perception of the human eye itself,” said Urho Konttori, CEO and founder of Varjo Technologies. “This technology, along with Varjo VST, jump-starts the immersive computing age overnight—VR is no longer a curiosity, but now can be a professional tool for all industries.”
Again, the company is aiming to deliver the world’s best hardware and software for groundbreaking VR/AR/XR computing devices, merging the real and the digital worlds seamlessly together. And this might be coming by Christmas!
To see more check out the video above or visit them here.
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