SmartEyeglass
The
Sony SmartEyeglass still looks stupid and
Glassholes may have stuck as a cultural insult, but pricing it at half the Google glass price may win the day eventually. Such HCI technology still has a ways to go for a variety of reasons - bandwidth, hardware, software. When nightvision gets to this size then the civilian market will take off. And if "the Japanese giant's glasses need to be paired with compatible smartphones to work.", then Godzilla's gonna need a pretty big iPhone. The Sony version makes one look like the Hamburgler when it doesn't have to, and in fact a design resembling an accountant's eyeshade, a newsie hat, or a baseball cap would provide better technology camouflage.
Google might have shelved its Glass project for now, but its rapid about-face doesn't mean that its peers have given up on their own augmented reality goggle projects. Sony today made a developer version of its Google Glass-esque SmartEyeglass available for pre-order, before it goes on sale in the US, the UK, and Germany on March 10th.
Sony's augmented spectacles can project symbols, text, and images in a user's field of view, just like Google Glass, but the Japanese giant's glasses need to be paired with compatible smartphones to work. Also like Google before it, Sony appears to be suggesting that SmartEyeglass has everyday applications. A video released alongside the pre-order information shows a wearer using giant green GPS arrows pointing the way a friend's meeting location. But with a US pricetag of $840 — before tax — and a bulky frame that makes Google Glass look positively unobtrusive, this developer version of Sony's SmartEyeglass looks like it won't demand regular time on your face.