This year's Indian Mobile Congress was a telecom-centric event, and it featured perhaps the largest Jio booth I've ever seen at an exhibition. Among the various demos at the booth was the JioGlass, which is easily one of the most exciting products of the year from an Indian company.
The JioGlass is a product of Tesseract, a deep-tech startup acquired by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) in 2019. The JioGlass is their flagship product and is proudly made in India to support the "Make in India" vision.
The first thing that caught my eye about the JioGlass was its futuristic design. The 69-gram glasses have a sleek metallic grey frame with two lenses. Thanks to the featherweight design, comfort wasn't a problem either, and I'm sure they'd feel natural even during extended sessions.
The lenses can switch between AR and VR modes by attaching or detaching a removable flap that covers your eyes. The flap blocks out the outside world in VR mode, immersing you in the content you are watching. In AR mode, the flap is lifted to allow you to see the real world with an augmented reality overlay.
The JioGlass also has two speakers on the sides, located on top of the ears. Spatial audio support is also included, creating a realistic sound environment. I recommend using earbuds with the JioGlass for a better audio experience.
The JioGlass must be connected to a smartphone via a Type-C cable, which also serves as a power source. This cable can be annoying, especially since it is invisible in VR mode. However, users will likely get used to it over time. On the bright side, there is no bulky battery pack to carry around.
You can use your smartphone as a virtual controller to navigate the JioGlass interface and select content. The JioImmerse XR Store app on your phone gives you access to hundreds of XR apps tailored to different interests and preferences.
You can even connect your gaming consoles or PCs to the glasses and enjoy immersive gaming on a large screen. JioGlass is expected to launch later this year, with a wireless version on the horizon.