The Magic has been Leaked (pun very much intended). In this week of leaks, the next company affected is the super secretive, extremely ambitious billion-dollar startup Magic Leap.

Yes! Below is your first sneak peek at the WIP device from the company that promised us this and that:

As the watermark suggests, the picture was delivered by an unnamed source to Business Insider, showing a user wearing a headset, a backpack-like setup with an exposed circuit board and processor, with the user apparently holding the battery pack in his left hand.

This early prototype was described to Business Insider as "PEQ0" (Product Equivalent). The photo is what the device looked like as of early January, and the source said there have been improvements to the prototype since then.

This obviously early prototype indicates something that it shouldn't be: not fully portable. Nevertheless, according to Business Insider's source, the company's board will see a demo unit with belt loops instead of a backpack that looks "more finished" during an important meeting next week.

Business Insider attempted to authenticate this information with Magic Leap but the company declined to comment by time of publication.

So what do you all think? Will Magic Leap deliver game-changing technology and experience as promised? Or is it well behind what it boasts to be, as The Informantion previously suggested?

[UPDATE]

Following the quick spread of the leaked images, the man behind Magic Leap, Rony Abovitz, himself took to Twitter to clear things up:

Hi everyone - the photo you are all excited about is NOT what you think it is.

— Rony Abovitz (@rabovitz) February 12, 2017

The photo shows an @magicleap R&D test rig where we collect room/space data for our machine vision/machine learning work.

— Rony Abovitz (@rabovitz) February 12, 2017

We do this in order to understanding lighting, texture, various surfaces. MxRL lives in the real world.

— Rony Abovitz (@rabovitz) February 12, 2017

We do this in order to understand lighting, texture, various surfaces. sorry - previous tweet had bad spelling :-)

— Rony Abovitz (@rabovitz) February 12, 2017

To all the @magicleap fans: we will not let you down. Back to heads down mode so we can finish and ship :-)

— Rony Abovitz (@rabovitz) February 12, 2017

​

So there you have it from Mr Magic Leap himself! He isn't denying the leaked picture's authenticity but rather clarifying that it's an R&D test rig. Or wait, was his Twitter account hacked to make it yet again a "worthy" news post...?

SOURCE, UPDATE SOURCE

 

[Bladexdsl]

so more VR crap

 

[Prans]

so more VR crap

Theirs is an AR-based device, maybe MR too akin the Microsoft Hololens.

 

[Hells Malice]

All this really shows is Business Insider will take anything to try get some hits, even something that could incredibly easily be fake, and most likely is.

It's just some shit glued to an ugly backpack.
This is not even remotely news. It's pretty much just nothing. It's a picture that shows nothing with no proof of it actually being anything.

EDIT: hell even if it was real, it's still pointless. It doesn't show off anything or accomplish anything. It just shows prototypes are ugly.

This is what GBAtemp considers front page news?

 

[Bladexdsl]

Theirs is an AR-based device, maybe MR too akin the Microsoft Hololens.

so vr with holograms

 

[6adget]

I for one am thankful for this article. No, it's not groundbreaking news, But VR, and AR is something that will be a part of our day to day life. It's such an incredibly complex thing to accomplish, but if it's not rolled out in a perfect user state, everyone wants to talk shit about how it's never going to happen. A few years down the road we will be able to talk about it's infant history and how it became something that everyone agrees that they don't know how one could imagine living without it. OP, don't trip about the people that just want to put down your post. Even vague leaked articles are something that I would like to hear about on this subject. Then we can talk about whether or not it's something that will or will not succeed. not attack the person who shared what is being leaked and talked about elsewhere on the web. even if it is obscure. it's ok to attack the leak, and the subject matter. but to attack the person who posted about it? either contribute or don't but it comes across like an angry child rant when you critique something like this as though it were beneath you. And that's my angry rant as though these responses are beneath me.

 

[Bimmel]

I laughed so hard when I saw this. Ridiculous.

 

[Subtle Demise]

Nice proton pack. This thing looks like it still has about 10 years of development left.

 

[XDel]

Not worth the post.

 

[Deleted User]

This is what GBAtemp considers front page news?

Everyday is a slow news day on GBATemp

I can glue a motherboard to a backpack and strap some head ware also. This is not worth mentioning.

 

[Hells Malice]

I can glue a motherboard to a backpack and strap some head ware also. This is not worth mentioning.

Bro you got the magic leap prototype?!?!?!
Bro post dem pics man how it do?!

 

[Foxi4]

Looks like an early prototype - still has breadboards on it. Once put on a multilayered PCB the size of the unit could be significantly reduced.

 

[TeamScriptKiddies]

Introducing the terrorist fashion line! Now everyone can look like a terrorist, without actually being one! Lol jk.

All joking aside, its a super early prototype, of course it looks like crap, its not suppised to look pretty, just prove that the concept itself works. Engingeering 101. This photo was never meant to see the light of day, now a lot of people will falsely assume the whole product is trash*sighs*

 

[specht]

It likely won't be as good as the concept videos make it out to be. Hololens has an FOV about the size of a postage stamp but when overlaying it on a camera's view they can fill the whole screen. I'm expecting about the same from this.

I don't get all the hostility though. Sure, VR/AR is expensive and still has room to grow, but go look at forums back when the iPhone was announced. There was just as much hostility toward touch screens over physical buttons as there is over virtual displays today. I can't wait to look back 10 years from now.

Edit: For anyone who's actually interested, that appears to be an Nvidia TX1 dev board or some variation.

 

[needhelp3ds]

Everyday is a slow news day on GBATemp

I can glue a motherboard to a backpack and strap some head ware also. This is not worth mentioning.

Switch is worth getting, not his shit

 

[Pluupy]

All i'm sayin is the retail product better fuckin not involve a backpack of any kind.

 

[6adget]

People just are not understanding how prototyping works. I repair electronics by trade, and I sometimes like to build projects for things that I need, and things I can build instead of buying. like a control system for my hermit crab terrarium. It monitors the humidity level which is very important for them. when it's low, it mists water through a couple of fuel injectors that was meant for a ford truck. yes, they were brand new. It also turns on and off the daytime, and nighttime lighting. things like that. I have also done things like that for our out door garden, and other small projects with local friends that are into electronics as a hobby. I'm saying all this to show that I have a little experience with prototyping. nothing on this scale obviously, but as you know, when learning to do something like this, or other hobbies you do a lot of reading and research. When you are prototyping something that has never been done before you don't give a shit about how it looks or how big it is. you are trying to work out bugs with software, and you want a setup that is very easy to swap out parts, and reconfigure. Like Foxi4 pointed out, there are large breadboards on there. that shows what stage of development it's in. Those are for fast and ease of changing hardware around. once you are happy with how the software and then hardware is working, they then will make a custom PCB board. If you have ever messed around with autodesk eagle software you understand just how small you can get from prototype to a custom PCB that that instead of long jumper wires, and individual components, can be replicated in very tiny traces and integrated components. I really am not trying to be rude are start shit by saying this, but I know no other way than to just say it. To those who are talking shit about it being a back pack and how big it is. You obviously have no idea how a LOT the things we use today looked just as ridiculous during the beta testing phase. many of my projects looked just as crazy at first. prototyping style and and still keeping function (which is a real thing) is the very last thing that one even worries about.

 

[Foxi4]

People just are not understanding how prototyping works. I repair electronics by trade, and I sometimes like to build projects for things that I need, and things I can build instead of buying. like a control system for my hermit crab terrarium. It monitors the humidity level which is very important for them. when it's low, it mists water through a couple of fuel injectors that was meant for a ford truck. yes, they were brand new. It also turns on and off the daytime, and nighttime lighting. things like that. I have also done things like that for our out door garden, and other small projects with local friends that are into electronics as a hobby. I'm saying all this to show that I have a little experience with prototyping. nothing on this scale obviously, but as you know, when learning to do something like this, or other hobbies you do a lot of reading and research. When you are prototyping something that has never been done before you don't give a shit about how it looks or how big it is. you are trying to work out bugs with software, and you want a setup that is very easy to swap out parts, and reconfigure. Like Foxi4 pointed out, there are large breadboards on there. that shows what stage of development it's in. Those are for fast and ease of changing hardware around. once you are happy with how the software and then hardware is working, they then will make a custom PCB board. If you have ever messed around with autodesk eagle software you understand just how small you can get from prototype to a custom PCB that that instead of long jumper wires, and individual components, can be replicated in very tiny traces and integrated components. I really am not trying to be rude are start shit by saying this, but I know no other way than to just say it. To those who are talking shit about it being a back pack and how big it is. You obviously have no idea how a LOT the things we use today looked just as ridiculous during the beta testing phase. many of my projects looked just as crazy at first. prototyping style and and still keeping function (which is a real thing) is the very last thing that one even worries about.

To illustrate the point, here's the *advanced* prototype of the 3DS.

As you can see, it's about three times the size of the final unit, and it's separated into multiple PCB's layered on-top of each other - if laid out flat, it'd be even bigger. The final product fits in your pocket.

Prototypes are big for convenience of development - they need to be easy to alter and they need loads of test points scattered across the board. They demonstrate the functionality of a product, not the product itself.

 

[death360]

Looks like the guy from Elysium but like in a hunger strike.

 

[Veho]

OMG that looks so stupid why is it so big why is there no casing why are all the wires so exposed OMG it's gonna get so much dust, and why is the fan exposed, my dick is going to get caught in it ;O;

(It's a very small fan, but then again it's a very small dick ;O; )


Right, with that out of the way... In college we had to build an mp3 player out of a microcontroller and basic components for a class on computer architecture. It was the size of a desk

Electronic device prototypes are cobbled together from what you have lying around and held together with tape and zip ties, and the finished product is a sleek compact thing made from tiny SMD components and optimized wiring routes and sleek tiny casing. The lesson here is that anything you can do, cheap outsourced labor can do better

 

[Foxi4]

OMG that looks so stupid why is it so big why is there no casing why are all the wires so exposed OMG it's gonna get so much dust, and why is the fan exposed, my dick is going to get caught in it ;O;

(It's a very small fan, but then again it's a very small dick ;O; )


Right, with that out of the way... In college we had to build an mp3 player out of a microcontroller and basic components for a class on computer architecture. It was the size of a desk

Electronic device prototypes are cobbled together from what you have lying around and held together with tape and zip ties, and the finished product is a sleek compact thing made from tiny SMD components and optimized wiring routes and sleek tiny casing. The lesson here is that anything you can do, cheap outsourced labor can do better

Funnily enough, you just reminded me of the latest segment in the portable computing industry - the backpack PC. 4K VR on the go, baby! ;O;