Magic Leap One testers knock fit and field of view, say ‘ML2’ is coming

The initial verdicts are in regarding Magic Leap’s $2,295 augmented reality platform Magic Leap One: Expect a step rather than a leap forward from Microsoft’s HoloLens, thanks largely to fidgety first-generation hardware. While developers in six U.S. cities can order Magic Leap One today, testers are hinting that regular consumers may want to hold off until “ML2” or “ML3,” both of which are already being shown off to investors.

According to hands-on reports from several publications, Magic Leap One’s single biggest issue is its narrow field of view, a problem foreshadowed last week. CNBC described the digital content as “sort of like looking through a window within your field of view,” and said that it “can be hard to see objects that are really close to you or too big.” Similarly, Cnet called the small viewing area “a serious drawback,” saying that a user may require sound cues to “track where the augmented things are hiding, and where to turn.” Magic Leap told CNBC that subsequent hardware versions will “start to fix this problem.”