Oppo has announced its first augmented reality (AR) glasses at its ongoing Oppo Inno Day 2019 conference.

Smartphone maker Oppo has announced a pair of augmented reality glasses and stated they will be released during the first three months of 2020. Oppo’s AR Glass headset is part of an effort to expand beyond only making smartphones, and was revealed alongside plans for a smartwatch and an Oppo-produced mobile processor.

OPPO’s AR glasses definitely comes as a complete surprise. Its innovation-centric week was expected to focus on technologies like 5G but, as some proponents would explain, VR and AR are actually some of the beneficiaries of this next-gen network standard.

The fast and wide bandwidth promised by 5G networks definitely makes it easier for the headgear to communicate with computers and other connected devices. All without wires, of course.

Oppo AR Glass has a unique screen with multiple cameras in the front to create and superimpose images in the real world. There’s a thick round band for support at the back, and it has more of a headset look and feel, than of a traditional sunglasses.

The Oppo AR Glasses offers three-dimensional reproduction and is also has a 3D surround sound. It is reportedly using diffractive optical waveguide technology to achieve thinness and high transmittance. Coming to the software part, the device comes packed with various AR content, including games and services.

During the conference, OPPO demonstrated the smart glasses in action. Apart from just seeing, the AR system was also able to detect hand gestures to control objects that are on the screen. The glasses were also not physically tethered to any computer, a feature that could make the ultimate augmented reality glasses, offering users a standalone experience without bothersome cabling. One thing that is clearly apparent from the reveal is that the glasses will be bulky.