Oppo is credited with several innovations in smartphones, especially in the camera and fast charging departments, and the list continues to grow each year. Earlier today, the company hosted the first day of the two-day Oppo Inno Day 2021 event, where it showcased its custom “MariSilicon X†Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and announced the launch of two phones. flagships next year, including the foldable Find N and the 2022 Find X. It also launched its eyeglass-style smart glass, the Oppo Air Glass, for augmented reality (AR) applications.
The MariSilicon X NPU is expected to debut on the Oppo Find X 2022, while the Air Glass goes on sale in China in the first quarter of next year. Pricing hasn’t been revealed yet, but Oppo has shared plenty of product details to help us set our expectations. Here’s everything that was announced on Day 1 of the Oppo Inno Day 2021 event.
Oppo Air Glass
The eyeglass-style Oppo Air Glass is the company’s first commercial smart glass. Focusing on the “commercial” is relevant here, as the company has been showing off its pairs of smart glasses during the last two years of its INNO Day events, but both were only available to developers wishing to build apps. AR.
True to its name, the Air Glass features a lightweight design and weighs just 30 grams. It features a detachable arm that magnetically attaches to the frame, and this design should allow users to add corrective lenses. Oppo currently offers half-rim and full-rim options, but you won’t be able to wear it over just any pair of glasses, although we may see the company offering more models in the future. Air Glass uses transparent sapphire crystal with a set of microLEDs on the screen. He claims the small screen can reach 3 million nits and, therefore, should be useful for outdoor viewing.
The Oppo Air Glass has an internal microprojector which can be used to project an image onto an external surface. It uses a five-piece lens unit housed inside a metal tube for better heat dissipation.
Smart Glass works on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform, which is visible on several Wear OS smartwatches. The chipset also brings connectivity features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS to the smart glass, while the detachable arm includes a speaker and microphone.
The user interface can be controlled using the touch bar on the side and also supports gestures like nodding or shaking your head for clear view and notifications. Besides touch and head movements, users can also control the content of Air Glass using hand gestures or with their voice.
The Oppo Air Glass is supposed to be an extension of the smartphone, but it will be limited to Oppo phones running ColorOS 11 and above. It can also be used with the OPPO Watch 2, which can be controlled with a simple wave of the hand.
Besides supporting notifications, weather updates and step-by-step navigation, the Oppo Air Glass can also be used for real-time translation. It can automatically detect the language spoken by another person and display a translated version like a teleprompter. At present, it supports Chinese-English translations, and Oppo will add support for Japanese and Korean soon.
Oppo announced that Air Glass will only be available to users in China in black and white color options. The price of the product has not yet been announced. The company is also optimistic about offering augmented reality-based shopping experiences in China in partnership with Chinese e-commerce platform JD and video content experiences with iQiYi, a streaming service. Chinese.
MariSilicon X custom NPU
Oppo also announced a custom Neural Processing Unit (NPU) at Inno Day 2021 event. The MariSilicon X combines an NPU with an Image Signal Processor (ISP) and memory subsystem. It is based on a 6nm process node and is specially designed for top performance and features on flagship Oppo smartphones. The applications of the new NPU, as presented by Oppo, include 4K HDR recording, real-time processing based on AI in RAW, improved noise reduction, 4K night video mode and an RGBW Pro mode for the Oppo’s RGBW (red green blue white) sensor.
Oppo claims that the ISP on the new NPU can record 4K videos with a contrast ratio of 1,000,000: 1 and 20-bit bit rate, which translates to a dynamic range of 120 dB, which translates to a higher contrast between light and dark areas of images and videos. Oppo has labeled this “Ultra HDR” and defines it as having a dynamic range four times that of Qualcomm’s Spectra ISP on the Oppo Find X3 Pro.
Real-time RAW processing is also facilitated by the ISP on the MariSilicon X NPU. Oppo says the new NPU can apply HDR directly to multiple frames of video recorded directly in RAW. This implies that users will be able to record lossless 4K HDR videos directly from the flagship Oppo phones launched next year. The Advanced ISP also allows the addition of AI-based enhancements, especially noise reduction features, to high-resolution images and real-time 4K video. Oppo claims the NPU will help capture 30% more detail compared to a standard image pipeline on Android devices.
The high contrast ratio support on MariSilicon X NPU enables sharper and brighter photos and videos. Ultra HDR and better colors also make every frame of the video as clear as a picture and allow better exposure capture at night. The new NPU will enable 4K HDR nighttime video on Oppo phones released from the spring, with the aim of capturing detail at the height of human vision.
The MariSilicon X NPU also extends support for Oppo’s RGBW sensor, which captures two images – one using an RGB grid and the other using a pixel grid only of white color to properly map exposure – simultaneously, then overlays them for more precise exposure and accurate colors. Oppo says RGBW captures 70% more texture in images than a regular RGB sensor, and this improvement makes for better images. Since signals from the RGBW sensor cannot be read using conventional systems-on-a-chip, the technology should be pretty much limited to Oppo phones for now, but the OnePlus line should reap the rewards of its merger with Oppo. earlier this year.
Finally, the MariSilicon NPU is designed to bypass memory bottlenecks by using a tiered memory architecture. By integrating the memory subsystem and ISP into the NPU, Oppo aims to utilize the full potential of these processors without any restriction due to memory. By minimizing the latency in the transmission of data to and from the ISP, the on-board memory reduces the power consumption of the chip.
The first phone to integrate the MariSilicon X NPU will be the Oppo Find X 2022 Edition, which launches in the first quarter of 2022. While this NPU is certainly the starting point, it remains to be seen whether Oppo joins other brands in the market. launch of a full-featured mobile chipset tailored for Oppo phones.
Oppo’s retractable camera
Even though Oppo didn’t say much about the previously teased retractable camera system during the first day of the event, its official website is sharing more information on the usefulness of this mobile camera. As expected, Oppo’s retractable camera will be used to zoom in on objects. The system is designed to provide 2X optical zoom, with an equivalent focal length of 50mm.
The biggest advantage of this feature is that it will allow the main camera to be used for 1x and 2x shots, eliminating any compromise in terms of image quality in telephoto mode. Oppo says the retractable camera system will be paired with a Sony IMX 766 sensor, allowing for equally good photographs and portraits with natural bokeh.
The retractable camera system is expected to be featured on the Oppo Find X 2022, along with the MariSilicon NPU.
Find N foldable phone to be announced on day 2
On the second day of the Oppo Inno Day 2021 event, the company will likely share more details about its upcoming Oppo Find N foldable smartphone, which is expected to compete with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. Based on previous leaks and rumors, the foldable Oppo’s smartphone should feature a smaller screen than the Galaxy Z Fold 3, but with a more flush outer screen and the same power, thanks to its Snapdragon 888 chipset.
Stay tuned for our Day 2 coverage of Oppo Inno Day 2021!
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