Hands-On: This Is How Magic Leap’s Voice Control Works via the New Lumin OS Update « Magic Leap :: Next Reality


This week’s Magic Leap Lumin OS update contained a number of goodies, including iris authentication, and a way to stream to Twitch from the device.

But one new feature really stood out to me, and that’s voice control of the system’s interface.

With the increasing popularity of voice-controlled virtual assistants and smart homes, we’ve become much more comfortable with voice interfaces as a way to speed the process of interacting with our devices. Therefore, it only makes sense the most cutting-edge mobile devices — high-end augmented reality headsets — would offer the same ease of use.

I’ve already tried the voice control functions on the HoloLens 2 and while most the system’s interface is geared more toward gesture control, its voice features are powerful. So how does the Magic Leap One stand up in this category? Here’s what I found during a brief test.

The Basics

I was somewhat surprised that the voice prompt for the system is “Hey Lumin” and not something a little more mainstream and, dare I say it, cute. Sure, Lumin is an easy and short name to say, but, at this point, only a small group of developers are really familiar with the name.

It seems like this was a missed opportunity to begin branding Mica, the company’s incredibly impressive virtual assistant. Hey Mica, rolls off the tongue just as easy, if not easier, than Hey Lumin, and it would allow Magic Leap to begin training users to get used to looking to Mica for help.

How It Performs

Before I get into specifics, I just want to say how much I love the feedback audio prompt that follows “Hey Lumin.” When you utter the phrase, you’re quickly met with the system’s audio response “Yeah?” There’s also a visual indicator in case you didn’t catch the snappy reply. The audio response is generally fast and, somehow, encouraging, and thus makes using the voice interface a lot more fun.

Is It Useful?

The voice controls in the updated Lumin OS let you combine voice commands and gaze tracking, which means you can perform a kind of AR magic by issuing a verbal command and then finishing that command off with just a look in a certain direction.

For example, you can say, “Hey Lumin, open Helio” (Magic Leap’s web browser app). And once the app is open, if it’s hovering in an inconvenient area in your workspace, you can say, “Hey Lumin, move this,” which will make the app moveable. Then, just by looking at a particular area while in move mode, you can say, “Put it there,” and the object will lock into that new position.

Downsides

So far, I haven’t encountered too many downsides, but there are a couple worth mentioning. First off, I did notice a bit of a lag at times when issuing commands. That could be due to a number of factors, but, in general, the lag kind of erases some of the advantages of using voice control in terms of speed and efficiency.

Thankfully, the lag wasn’t persistent or particularly pronounced during my sessions, but when it happens, it diminishes the experience.

Conclusion

If you’re a Magic Leap gamer or casual user, I’m not sure the voice controls will be a huge difference maker. However, if you’re an enterprise user of any sort (medical, factory floor, industrial design, etc.) using the new voice control functions could make multitasking far easier. Still, this hands-free, Control-free method of controlling the Magic Leap device will only truly reach its potential when more apps are designed to allow for full interface control via voice.

Nevertheless, this initial voice offering is a great beginning to what could eventually surpass gestures and Control-based pointing as a more natural way to interact with the device.

Cover image via Warpin Media



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