It´s been 5 years since Google Glass was released in the market. Time flies, right? Since then we have stumbled upon some attempts in the smart glasses market – these somehow only had their heyday for a short-period. Anyhow, 2018 promises to be the year for smart glasses! Big names have been investing in this not so new market and their new products will have a great deal of influence on how we perceive these glasses.
Deutsche Telekom and Carl Zeiss have paired up and created Tooz Technologies, a smart glasses joint venture in which each company holds a 50 % stake. This partnership couldn´t have been any better since Carl Zeiss will provide their optical AR technology whilst Deutsche Telekom will be responsible for connectivity services. Tooz Technologies will aim at a broad variety of customer with its products and their solutions are expected to be marketed to both consumers as well as enterprise clients. According to Dr. Ulrich Simons – Head of the Corporate Research and Technology at Zeiss –, the goal is to develop glasses that can be light and design-acceptable to the industry and consumers. Namely, unobtrusive glasses that bring value and can be carried along on a daily basis.
Vaunt smart glasses, powered by Intel, have been another recent exciting release. They look like normal eyeglasses and don’t have a camera embedded, nor a glowing LCD screen or buttons. Intel´s Vaunt glasses were designed with a light plastic frame and could possibly be mistaken by a normal pair of Wayfarers. Nonetheless, these smart glasses hide something on the inside: two little modules built into the stems of the eyeglasses. These modules can project pictures directly onto the wearers Iris! The first-gen models will be controlled by simple gestures as nodding your head. Vaunt smart glasses are still in beta and there is no concrete prevision when it will come to the market.
But there is not only news for consumers on the glasses market also professional users can look forward to some new releases!
Vuzix Blade™, by Vuzix, is an augmented reality smart glasses that provide the user with a smart display with a see-through viewing experience. Vuzix has other types of smart glasses launched in the market, such as Vuzix M300 and Vuzix M100 which focused more on industrial and enterprise. Vuzix Blade is the company’s try to delight the general public with its discrete design and tempting features. The wearer can access information such as mapping directions, weather information, restaurants ratings, alerts and many more without checking your smartphone. Furthermore, the smart glasses are paired with Android, iOS, and Wi-Fi. Vuzix announced earlier this month that their Blade smart glasses now have Alexa Amazon integration and according to Alex Kelly – Vuzix´s Director of Innovation & Strategic Partnerships – Alexa-enabled technologies will allow users not only to see the digital world but also to communicate with it hands-free, at any-time.
VPS 16 glasses from Viewpoint are embedded with stereoscopic cameras in the nose bridge that enables the tracking of spatial vision. Namely, the spatial plane can be precisely determined by the user. VPS 16 is equipped with 4 cameras that support different customer in different situations e.g. enhancing the visibility of road signs, supporting surgeons executing operations as well as improving athletes´ performance. Moreover, the technology behind VPS 16 allows real-time streaming of video and eye coordinates to any kind of mobiles such as laptop, tablet or smartphone. The smart glasses weigh 41-gramme, which can be the perfect fit for an everyday wear once its weight doesn´t leave the user any pressure sores.
Eager for more? You can meet Viewpoint in person at our next WT | Wearable Technologies Conference 2018 USA in San Francisco that will take place on 11th and 12th of July. Check out our 2017´s conference program and stay tuned for more updates coming soon!! You can pre-register here.