People today are often overwhelmed with huge amounts of data, as our smartphones ring, alert, and chime us to a state of perpetual distraction.
The constant state of connectivity has driven some to consolidate and view incoming smartphone data on Bluetooth-powered watches or other such devices.
But Google is intent on taking connectivity to the next level as it (reportedly) preps an uber- geeky set of glasses with an integrated heads-up display (HUD).
The glasses – described by several Google employees to the New York Times – may be ready to purchase by the end of the year and are expected to cost about the same as current smartphones, roughly in the $250-$600 range.
According to the sources, the glasses are based on Mountain View’s versatile Android operating system, which really isn’t much of a surprise. The device apparently uses a small screen that sits a few inches from the user’s eyes. Frankly, I find this rather interesting, because there is no way you would find the screen a couple of inches from your face with a normal set of video glasses.
Think about it – the video glasses currently on the market place the screen roughly half an inch from your eye. That distance would make more sense for product such as this to me. If the screen is in fact, a couple inches from the user’s eyeball, the device would be more like a pair of goggles, rather than sunglasses or video glasses.
The lenses of the glasses will apparently be transparent. Reports claim the glasses use a camera to overlay augmented reality data on top of what the user is seeing, including the location of nearby friends, stores, restuarants and other relevant navigation information.
As expected, the glasses also boast an integrated 3G or 4G data connection, along with a number of sensors, including those designated for motion and GPS – allowing a user to navigate simply by tilting his or her head. Although navigation is said to be intuitive and easy to use, I would obviously want to see the glasses/goggles in action before seriously thinking about buying a pair.
