Viture Luma Ultra tested: Mobile 146-inch display with 6DoF & hand tracking
The Viture Luma Ultra display glasses promise a mobile screen on the go, as well as AR and hand tracking. But how reliably do they work?
The Viture Luma Ultra display glasses can be operated via hand tracking.
(Image: Viture)
Viture has been manufacturing display glasses since 2021, primarily aimed at movie fans, mobile gamers, and productive commuters. These devices mirror the screen of a playback device via birdbath optics into the user's field of view, creating the impression of a huge digital canvas in the room. Until now, full-fledged augmented reality was not possible in this device class due to the technology used. Nevertheless, manufacturers aggressively market the glasses as "AR Glasses" or "XR Glasses". In the case of the "Viture Luma Ultra", these designations do not seem so far-fetched, as it is supposed to master 6DoF tracking, i.e., movement detection in space in six degrees of freedom, and hand tracking. We tried out how well it can actually do this.
Virtual Canvas: The Main Task of the Viture Luma Ultra
With its nearly 80 grams and magnetic nose pads in different sizes, the Viture Luma Ultra sits relatively stably on the nose. However, after prolonged use, a certain front-heaviness becomes noticeable, leading to slight pressure points on the nasal bone. The diopter correction in the form of two wheels above the lenses adjusts the image sharpness but has a drawback: the wheels do not lock. So, if you accidentally touch the frame at the top, you have to readjust.
Display glasses do not work autonomously and only display what another device plays to them via a cable connection. In most cases, this is a smartphone, but it can also be a laptop, MacBook, or a portable handheld console like the Steam Deck. As soon as the glasses are connected to a compatible device via USB-C, a virtual screen appears, which, according to the manufacturer, should correspond to a 147-inch screen at a distance of three meters. However, this description doesn't quite hold true, as display glasses have a very limited field of view. You look at a large, slightly transparent canvas that becomes increasingly blurry towards the edges and is coupled to head movement.
Viture Luma Ultra (3 Bilder)
(joe)
)Furthermore, the visual experience is not comparable to looking at a large television due to the optical technology. The image is always close to the eye and is generated by a combination of OLED displays and semi-transparent mirrors, which create reflections and image artifacts. The glasses lenses dampen the real environment, so the "large screen" illusion works best in the context of a rather dark environment. In the living room, on the train, or on an airplane, this creates the impression of a private cinema; on a sunny day in the garden, hardly anything is visible anymore. The electrochromic darkening of the lenses, which can be activated at the touch of a button, doesn't help much either.
Under ideal lighting conditions, the Viture Luma Ultra, with its OLED displays (1920 Ă— 1080 pixels per eye), still delivers rich colors and decent blacks. The display is brilliantly bright and reaches 1250 nits, according to the manufacturer. This is also necessary so that the display appears less transparent. If you reduce the brightness, the virtual canvas becomes less opaque. The glasses are not entirely free from unwanted reflections from the surroundings, which can mar the viewing pleasure. Viture touts the 3D mode as a highlight. With a button on the glasses, every two-dimensional image should be transformable into a 3D image. However, this never works truly convincingly. While the companion app "Immersive 3D" ran most stably on the laptop, with the "Neckband Pro" or the connection to the smartphone, the stuttering was almost unbearable. Ideally, a depth effect is clearly visible and can be impressive in some film scenes. However, at the latest with video games, the refresh rate completely collapses. An exciting feature, but one that still requires a lot of software maintenance.
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Hand Tracking and Augmented Reality Only with Expensive Accessories
It's similar with hand tracking and AR features. In theory, the Viture Luma Ultra is supposed to deliver a similar "spatial computing experience" as the Apple Vision Pro or the Meta Quest 3. In practice, however, the devices are worlds apart. Viture offers its own small computer, the "Neckband Pro", which is worn around the neck and connected to the glasses by cable. The neckband is essentially an Android mini-PC with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, battery, and storage. Via the associated app, the screen can be split into multiple virtual windows and displays content from YouTube, GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming, or even files from your own NAS network.
The advertised 6-DoF functions and hand tracking only work on mobile in combination with the almost 400 Euro accessory. Currently, Viture offers only two applications that truly support hand tracking and 6DoF tracking: a mini-game based on "Angry Birds" where small structures must be demolished with a slingshot, and a solar system floating in physical space. The display is also well done here. Apart from the limited field of view (52 degrees), the digital objects are razor-sharp, bright, and glow in rich colors. If you get close to the small planets, you can also see fine details on the surface of the Earth. Graphically, the combination of OLED displays and birdbath optics certainly has potential. However, interaction becomes a bit difficult, because, in its current state, the Viture Luma Ultra's hand tracking is nothing more than an annoying gimmick.
The hands are displayed as small dots that look like finger joints and can also replicate their movement. However, there is a clearly perceptible delay between the real movement and that of my digital hands. In addition, there is a general inaccuracy that makes hand tracking practically unusable as a control option for the menu. The basic principle is similar to Quest 3 or Vision Pro: a kind of laser pointer emanates from the hand towards the menu panels and buttons "floating" in space, with which the user points to the target by moving their hand. For a button to be "pressed" with a pinch gesture, the laser pointer must first briefly lock onto it, and in some situations, this feels like pure luck. Especially if the menu also moves slightly because it wants to adapt to the field of view. Scrolling through YouTube videos or articles in the browser, on the other hand, works smoothly.
Another drawback is the heat development and the loud fan. After just a few minutes of use, the neckband and glasses become noticeably warm. In addition, there is a fan noise in the neckband that, due to its proximity to the ear, overshadows any high-end gaming PC running at full speed. Battery life is also a point that users should keep an eye on: with active use (3D display, hand tracking, streaming), it's over after about an hour and a half – significantly less than the stated four hours. Without an additional power bank, it quickly becomes tight.
Conclusion: Too Many Unfinished Features
While the display of digital objects in physical space works fundamentally with the Luma Ultra, it still feels very unfinished. Hand tracking suffers from high latency and lack of precision, and the AR features so far are little more than tech demos. Viture's software structure also needs improvement. It takes three proprietary apps to use all the features. In addition, there's the Android installation on the neckband. All of this seems overloaded and is not very intuitive. Furthermore, it quickly becomes clear that the operating system is not designed for spatial interaction and feels more like a smartphone interface operated with a laser pointer.
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Visually, however, the Viture Luma Ultra can impress. The image is clear in the sweet spot for glasses of this class, extremely bright and high in contrast – provided the environment is not too brightly lit. Especially when watching YouTube videos, Netflix series, or playing games on the Steam Deck, the experience feels high-quality. However, those who primarily want to buy such glasses for media consumption will be well served by the cheaper Luma or Luma Pro models. Although Viture has announced several times that it wants to expand XR content in cooperation with external developers and optimize display and operation via software updates, in the current state, we see no added value that would justify the additional cost of the Luma Ultra (RRP: 759 Euros) of almost 240 Euros compared to the standard version, plus the almost 370 Euros for the Pro Neckband.
Those hoping for a mature AR system with well-thought-out applications will have to wait until at least next year. A full-fledged augmented reality experience will likely only be available with the releases of Meta's Orion or Snap's Spectacles – and even then, it's probably worth tempering expectations.
(joe)
