Lenovo creates AR glasses for displaying five virtual monitors when paired with PC

Lenovo makes a new AR glasses for business use. The ThinkReality A3 has a Snapdragon XR1 soc and two 1080p displays. There will be a version that can be connected to PCs and then five virtual monitors can be displayed.

The XR1 soc of the Lenovo ThinkReality A3 comes from 2018 and was presented by Qualcomm at the time as a chip for relatively cheap AR glasses. Lenovo is marketing the new AR glasses as business glasses, which, for example, should offer employees on location more screen space while also being able to observe the environment.

The PC Edition of the ThinkReality A3 can be connected to a laptop or desktop with USB-C and then the two 1080p screens of the glasses display up to five virtual monitors. Lenovo does not disclose how large the field of view of the glasses is in its announcement.

The glasses also contain an 8-megapixel camera with support for 1080p video. There are also two fisheye cameras that observe the room in which the glasses wearer is located, in order to make AR display possible.

Version for use with smartphones

Lenovo also makes a ThinkReality A3 Industrial Edition. It can be used in combination with Motorola smartphones that have at least a Snapdragon 800-soc or better. Also, the phone’s USB-C connector must have DisplayPort support. According to Lenovo, this industrial version is suitable for use in factories and labs. The company also offers software through its ThinkReality platform.

The ThinkReality A3 complements Lenovo’s AR ecosystem. The manufacturer previously released the ThinkReality A6. That is a more advanced model with more sensors, expandable memory, removable battery and waveguide optics. With the A6, Lenovo competes with Microsoft’s HoloLens. The ThinkReality A3 should be available halfway through this year. The price has not been disclosed.