My Full Glyph Review

Introduction  

It wouldn't be an authentic opinion if it didn't feature a lot of criticism. That being said, I wanted to get out of the way, from the get go, that after extensive use I'm still in love with the Glyph. It's a fantastic first gen product, the technology it titllatingly cool, and while still being a first gen product, I have found several use cases for it already that I'm extremely happy about.  

Simultaneously, it's a new thing! So there are some pitfalls and areas of opportunity for Avegant to improve on for the next edition. The edition that was shipped has been dubbed the "Founders Edition", and there's already word of a new edition in the works. Many of what I'll say here has been echoed by other users on the Avegant forums. Some of it is my own, unique critique. But I want to assure you that all of it is positive.  

The Glyph Overview

The Glyph is most accurately described as a head-mounted display. Is it VR? No. Definitely not. It is simply a display, with unique properties, that make it highly portable, and due to its head-mountability, it is fairly (but not completely) immersive.  

The spokespeople from Avegant were being very honest when they said that watching content in the Glyph is much like a movie theatre about two thirds of the way back in the rows. In fact, I went to the theatre the day after spending five hours on the Glyph, and that description is very spot-on. When you sit in a movie theatre, you generally look at the screen and it fills most of your view. Of course, out of your peripherals you'll see the edges of the screen, as well as the rows in front of you. And of course, if you actually cast your eyes about the theatre you can see the aisle, the walls, the roof, etc. As well, when sitting in a theatre watching a movie on the big screen, you may have to actually look at the corner of the screen when something happens there; you can't just stare at the middle and capture it all.  

The Glyph wears exactly like that. Looking at its "display" (can't say screen, cause there isn't one) you can cast your eyes about as see black space around the display. Just like viewing the walls, roof and seating areas in the theatre. Because of this, when you look about inside the Glyph, you do see that the whole thing is small. Extremely small, even. Since, the display's real size is about the size of your iris. However, if you simply focus on the content, it fills your vision.  

What still fascinates me about the Glyph, even after hours and hours of use, is how much detail can be seen. If someone made a Super OLED screen, with even the highest of pixel density, that was the size of your iris, it wouldn't matter how close it was to your eye, you wouldn't be able to see squat. Let alone details like leaves on trees and sweat on an actor's brow. However, with the Glyph you can. You see all the details, and thanks to the brightness setting, perhaps to a fault (more on that later). It is a small screen, but it has all the clarity and visual scope as a movie theatre. It is certainly a better experience than watching a movie on, say, your laptop. It probably comparable (with a slight edge) to watching a movie in a high-end home theatre setup (with the lights all off in the room), but is best compared to a movie theatre.  

The Glyph sports two types of audio input. Ye ol' standard 35mm jack, which allows the Glyph to be used as basic headphones without using any battery; that is, just like ear buds or other over-the-ear headphones, you can listen to infinite music without needing to charge the Glyph. Plug in the HDMI and you can listen to music just the same, however, the "display" will be on and running, even thought you're not using it. This consumes battery.  

Speaking of battery, in my experience it is enough for two movies of 2 hours or less each. I watched a single two hour movie, as well as a 1hr 45min film, and it had about 10% battery left.  

Is movies all it does? Nope! In fact, one of the Glyph's main strengths is that it is extremely versatile. With the right combinations of cables and adapters you can connect it to anything. I've plugged it into my Xbox, a Surface Pro 2 via a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, my phone via MHL (Slimport) adapter, a buddy's OnePlus phone, an Apple iPad, a desktop computer, my work computer via a VGA to HDMI adapter, my Telus PVR, a Chromecast dongle and a Miracast dongle device. I have encountered zero issues getting it to display content on any device so far. Which, when you compare it to other head mounted display options (or, even more so, any VR) it really does stand out as a fantastic feature. Other Glyph owners I have spoken to use it connected to a variety of drone controllers and displays as well. A few people have hooked them up to Raspberry Pi Zero's. The long and short of it is that you can connect it to anything that uses HDMI.

I've mentioned several times now how it doesn't have a screen. Without boring you about the details, the way it works is, through a complex and proprietary arrangement of DLP projectors and mirrors, an image is projected into your retina. It feels a little less like looking at an image, and more like just seeing the image. However, since that image exists in a rectangle, unless you've hit the "sweet spot", your mind will likely interpret the image as something you're looking at.  

That probably sounds like gibberish. So, let me try it another way. When you look at something, your eyes have to focus on it. The object is a certain distance away and you're focused on it based on that distance. This is why, after staring at a computer screen for an extended period of time, it can sometimes take a while for your eyes to get used to adjusting it's focus; like muscles needing to warm up again. With the Glyph, however, though the mirror array sits only millimeters away from your iris, you're not focusing on it. If you held something up to your eyes, only millimeters away, you probably couldn't focus on it if you want to. With the Glyph, you don't have to. The image is being projected into your eye, pre-focused thanks to the diopter and prescription adjusters. The result is, your eyes don't fatigue.  

It also means that getting the settings right for your vision is incredibly crucial, which brings me to the next section.

Finding the Right Fit and Comfort Issues

Your entire experience with the Glyph hinges on learning how to adjust it to fit your vision. For this reason, I hesitate showing the Glyph to people who don't have more than fifteen minutes available to use it. Since, if they don't have the time to adjust properly, they'll put it on for a few moments, declare the image not that clear, and take it off. Once you learn how to adjust it, it only takes a few moments. But initially, it seems extremely finicky.  

If any of you want to try it in the future, I won't let you unless you promise at least 15min. Preferably a whole movie. Since, that's about how much time it takes to get used to the experience. It is a very unique viewing experience, and one that I believe very rewarding when you give it the necessary time.  

The first comfort issue I've encountered, and the only truly lingering comfort issue, is that my Campbell ears are perhaps too large to comfortably fit inside the ear cans. I have experienced this with every sort of over the ear headphones, including my Wireless Beats and my >$200 studio headphones that connect to my digital piano. After about forty min, my ears hurt. With the Glyph, however, it is more like 25 minutes. Much of the Glyph's ergonomics requires the device to really squeeze your head to support the weight of the device, and as a result it can seen crushing at times. Sometimes I'll watch a movie and feel fine the whole way through. And other times I'll find myself taking it off several times in a movie just to give the sides of my head a break.  

Many users have reported comfort issues to do with their nose. Considerable weight it placed on the bridge of your nose, holding up the device. As a result, Avegant has provided four interchangeable nose pieces, as well as a removable head strap, all supposed to alleviate this concern. I, however, have experienced zero issues with nose comfort. I don't even bother using the interchangeable nose pieces unless I'm lying down, flat on my back, in which case the rubberized nose piece prevents the Glyph from getting right up into my eyes. I put on the head strap once to test it out. Didn't see any value in it, and don't even carry it around in my case anymore.  

The only other instance of discomfort I've experienced is, initially, I was getting the lenses so close to my eyes that my eye lashes would brush up on them. This was partly to compensate for not having the diopter adjustment right, as getting closer to the lenses brighten the image considerably if you haven't got the diopter set right. This wasn't a big deal, comfort-wise, but it did create smudges on the lenses which would obscure the picture. Lesson learned? Don't exaggerate how close it needs to be to your eyes. If the lenses are level with your iris, and the diopter set correctly then the image will look just fine.  

The Image

Biggest question I'm asked is "how does it look?". The short answer is "a lot like my HD TV." The longer answer is as follows.

The visual experience is most closely related to an LCD screen with a slightly low contrast. That means that blacks are more like greys, and in really dark scenes you can still see a fair amount within that grey. On Alien Isolation (which relies heavily on dark scenery), I had to crank the gamma down to the second lowest setting to get the "visible/barely visible" logo to appear as such. For a lot of people, they'd hate that. LCD screens have fallen out of favour, being replaced by AMOLED screens which produce truer blacks. However, I've been an LCD fan since it produces more vibrant colours (and, on cellphones in particular, handles reflective light/exterior light much better). Since my LG TV is LCD, they're very comparable.  

In terms of sharpness, or dpi, the Glyph supports 720p inputs. That means, if whatever you're plugged into is set to 1080p it'll show you an error. Now, interestingly, the content can be whatever. For example, I stream to a Miracast device which outputs 720p. But, I can torrent a 1080p film and stream that to the Miracast, and it will display just fine. It seems like it's more a software impediment than a hardware one, which makes sense because there are no pixels on the Glyph. There's no screen, and what is there is neither LCD nor OLED. Th real issue with that is that most bluray players force 1080p, an thus the Glyph won't jive with them. So, unless your bluray is configurable (for example, the Xbox One's is) then the Glyph might not work for you.

Does that mean it looks 720p? Not really. I dunno if it looks 1080p, but it doesn't look 720p. Its actual output probably lies somewhere between the two. Sadly, I feel like I haven't fully tested this yet, since, all the movies I've watched have been torrents. So, they're of dubious quality to begin with, and there are always artifacts of  compression (especially in low lighting scenes, where torrents often produce black "blooms"). That being said, I have connected it to my Telus set top box and watched an HD On Demand video: it looked great. I've also run some Vimeo "4K" video that also looked great. So, I can't say there's any issues with the HDness of the display. The highest res download I did was a 6gb 1080p download of the Fellowship of the Ring. Looked fantastic.  

3D, is another story. When the Glyph first shipped to me it supported SBS 3D. SBS 3D videos are hard to come by (though, Pornhub seems to have a good collection...), and it comes with some serious limitations. At 720p, SBS essentially halves that, with 360p in one eye, and 360p in the other, supposedly combining to make the 720p 3D image. In reality it just looks like a 360p 3D image and it kinda sucks. What's cool about this, is that this 3D is the most natural looking I've ever experienced. 3D in theatre sucks balls, IMO. Wearing sunglasses that produce the effect, which destroys the colour vibrancy over top of my glasses, and the image never quite looking right, and pans being jittery and distorted... the whole thing rubs me the wrong way. With the Glyph, however, none of that is a factor. In fact, the 3D looks so natural (besides the low res) that you almost immediately forget that it is there. Which ultimately destroys the purpose of 3D. It is certainly present on the Glyph, but it offers zero wow factor.  

All that being said, last week's firmware update added frame packed 3D, which I haven't tried yet, and which should resolve resolution issues. I'm just not a 3D buff, so testing out frame packed hasn't been high on my list of priorities.  

The Sound

As mentioned above, the Glyph has two audio interactions. One, HDMI, and two, 33mm. When connected with the 33mm it is basically identical to my Beats headphones. When the HDMI is active, however, I hear a constant, digital hum when there's no audio coming. When there is audio, is definitely high quality, and for people who like a little rumble, it does have more than average rumble.  

The stereo qualities of the audio sound really good when gaming. In Alien Isolation, there is spatial awareness provided by the audio, as, when characters (or aliens) make sound to the left or right side of the character, it matches the ear cans, and fades gracefully between them as you turn your character. What it doesn't do, is produce a top/bottom audio experience. So, I couldn't honestly call it "surround sound", but because the cans ensure that all you hear is the game, and because there is limited spatial audio awareness, it does a darn good job of being immersive as far as audio goes.  

The Physical Device

The build quality of the device itself is deceptively good. Deceptive, because it looks fantastic, and feels fantastic, and appears sturdy. But I've noticed some weak points that have the potential to develop into real problems. It seems that the arms of the headband aren't that flexible. They do indeed flex as you take it on or off, but it causes a seam between two "chunks" of the band to buckle. It doesn't cause any damage, however, I believe it is the root cause of the "dust" issue that has been reported.  

For those unfamiliar with the dust issue, there are a significant amount of people who have reported dust particles getting into the optic chamber and onto the lenses. For some, and depending on the size/quantity of dust, this becomes an unbearable distraction.  

I too, have noticed one speck of dust that I can't see unless I go looking for it, an unless I strain my eyes to focus on it. But I an confident it wasn't there when the Glyph was shipped to me, since, I was aware of the dust issue and inspected it immaculately. I see no way dust could get into the innards of the device, except through the small crack that's created when the arm seam buckles.  

Other than that, it's a very solidly developed device.  

The Closing Remarks

I'm sure there is a lot more to say, but my brain is fried from writing all this. So, instead I'll give a tl;dr. I'll also note that as a portable video viewing device it is unparalleled. I'll never watch another movie on a plane or in a car on a phone or tablet. There's no reason to. And when the lady wants you in bed, but you wanna watch a movie, this is the perfect solution. Watching a movie while in sleeping position and in your comfortable bed is a fantastic experience.  

Please! Fire me questions. I'm more that willing to answer any that I can.

TL;DR Awesome shit. Excited for future models to perfect the small imperfections and expand capabilities. But for what it is, I got exactly what I wanted.

Submitted by AlexRogansBeta | #Specialdealer Special Offer Online Shopping Store 2016