Newsletter
Back in 2021 Google unveiled Project Starline, and this year at Google I/O 2023, the company showed off its new prototype which has a “simpler design.”
Google refers to Project Starline as a “magic window where you can talk, gesture and make eye contact with another person, life-size and in three dimensions.” In simpler terms, think of it like a more advanced video chat display. Though it’s certainly more than just a display to use for video chat. While it does only serve the single purpose, it’s definitely not just any old display.
It uses AI and some snazzy cameras to build a photorealistic model of the person you’re talking to. The end result is some pretty insane 3D rendering of the person on the other end, making it feel like you’re actually talking to them from across the table. The drawback with Project Starline when it was initially unveiled two years ago, is that it was really quite big. Google says it took up entire rooms which sort of limited who could use it. Google hopes its new prototype design will change that.
The new Project Starline prototype is smaller so it fits more spaces
Project Starline is still kind of a big device, as you won’t be fitting it on top of your desk. But in comparison to its first iteration that began testing, it’s much smaller. Now it seems really no bigger than a 55-inch TV screen.
Its first prototype was about the size of a restaurant booth. The new version also uses new AI techniques that only require a few cameras to perform its function. But it also produces a higher-quality lifelike image. So not only has Google shrunk the technology down, but it’s also made it so it performs better.
Google is currently working with partners T-Mobile, Salesforce, and WeWork to test the new prototypes. With “promising results” being given in the feedback.