Sony to begin shipping developer-focused SmartEyeglass wearable in March
The unspoken failure of Google's Glass has not deterred Sony from forging ahead with its own face-attached augmented reality device, and interested early adopters can now place a pre-order for their own set of "SmartEyeglass Developer Edition" eyewear for delivery in March.
Given the unquestionably Sony-like designation SED-E1, the company's new wearable -- first revealed last fall -- is similar in appearance to an early pair of active 3D glasses. The 77-gram glasses pack a 3-megapixel camera as well as a complement of positioning and environmental sensors including an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and brightness sensor.
Computation is handled by a Bluetooth-attached Android smartphone, with text and images projected onto lenses over both eyes for a three-dimensional view. Sony says the lenses are just 3 millimeters thick with 85 percent transmittance.
According to Sony, the display module uses proprietary "hologram optics" technology.
"Holographic waveguide technology entails the propagation of image light that is output from the optical engine, using holographic optical elements embedded in both sides of a glass plate," the company said in a release. "The light is propagated through the extremely thin (1 mm) glass plate and then delivered to the eyes."
Unlike Google's Glass, Sony has included a tethered control pod. The disc-shaped controller includes a battery that will power the SmartEyeglass for up to 150 minutes, as well as a speaker, microphone, NFC chip, and touch sensor.
As expected, Sony will also release an official version of the software development kit it has been previewing to developers since the SmartEyeglass's unveiling.
The SED-E1 SmartEyeglass Developer Edition is now available for pre-order in the U.K. and Germany. Distribution will be expanded to Japan and the U.S. -- where it will cost some $840 -- on March 10th.
Given the unquestionably Sony-like designation SED-E1, the company's new wearable -- first revealed last fall -- is similar in appearance to an early pair of active 3D glasses. The 77-gram glasses pack a 3-megapixel camera as well as a complement of positioning and environmental sensors including an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and brightness sensor.
Computation is handled by a Bluetooth-attached Android smartphone, with text and images projected onto lenses over both eyes for a three-dimensional view. Sony says the lenses are just 3 millimeters thick with 85 percent transmittance.
According to Sony, the display module uses proprietary "hologram optics" technology.
"Holographic waveguide technology entails the propagation of image light that is output from the optical engine, using holographic optical elements embedded in both sides of a glass plate," the company said in a release. "The light is propagated through the extremely thin (1 mm) glass plate and then delivered to the eyes."
Unlike Google's Glass, Sony has included a tethered control pod. The disc-shaped controller includes a battery that will power the SmartEyeglass for up to 150 minutes, as well as a speaker, microphone, NFC chip, and touch sensor.
As expected, Sony will also release an official version of the software development kit it has been previewing to developers since the SmartEyeglass's unveiling.
The SED-E1 SmartEyeglass Developer Edition is now available for pre-order in the U.K. and Germany. Distribution will be expanded to Japan and the U.S. -- where it will cost some $840 -- on March 10th.
Comments
Haha, this makes Google Glass look like an elegant work of art.
Maybe it is a joke. Is there an equivalent of April Fool's Day in Japan? Or maybe it's the Japanese Buddy Holly fan club behind this.
a. Display and speak navigational info.
b. Display visuals from rear cameras in the car.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Nah. Said it before and i'll say it again. The reason you want to punch someone wearing Google Glass is that it violates facial symmetry, and no biological wiring that we have is deeper than face recognition, primarily based on the eyes.
To see someone covering one eye with a snaggy tech device for geek reasons is infuriating. That's why Glass is doomed, but everybody thinks it's because of its intrusiveness. They are wrong. It's because it's monocular, not binocular.
At least Sony went for the two-eyed approach, so they will not meet with such hostility. But they do seem more than a bit clunky. Sony's other headware designs are similarly disastrous. See Morpheus and the HMZ-T1.
It wouldn't have made any difference if Google Glass had been symmetrical.
You're never going to persuade people to wear glasses if they don't have to. I wore glasses for many years, and have no desire to wear them again. They're nothing but a nuisance.
The sun persuades people to wear glasses every day, but this would seem an obscure curiosity where you live.
I guess if you don't mind being seen in those giant glasses, that's fine, but the massive dongle emblazoned with "SONY" attached to the lapel is what will kill this.
Good grief.
Bad eyesight persuades people to wear glasses, too.
Sunglasses are also often worn in all weather by douchebags; similar to Google Glass, really.
Or Roy Orbinson
Bad eyesight persuades people to wear glasses, too.
Sunglasses are also often worn in all weather by douchebags; similar to Google Glass, really.
But mostly by people who want to protect their eyes from the suns harmful rays.
Originally Posted by Flaneur
"Nah. Said it before and i'll say it again. The reason you want to punch someone wearing Google Glass is that it violates facial symmetry.{snip} To see someone covering one eye with a snaggy tech device for geek reasons is infuriating. That's why Glass is doomed, but everybody thinks it's because of its intrusiveness. They are wrong. It's because it's monocular, not binocular. {snip} At least Sony went for the two-eyed approach, so they will not meet with such hostility."
People prefer symmetry and don't tend to like asymmetry, but your reasoning is absolutely ridiculous. If correct, we would be infuriated by eye patches too, right? By your reasoning, if a Google Glass had TWO cameras, people would be ok with it? You may not mind, but I don't think most people want their every move to be recorded and potentially become part of some stranger's social media mockery. We do not have any expectation of privacy in public (duh) but we don't have to like being recorded all the time.
If people are not infuriated by the Sony glasses, it will only be because they're laughing at them. The fact (and it is a fact) is that the Sony glasses will be equally unwelcome in gyms, locker rooms, and many other places. People will get those glasses punched off their faces.
Ya know, I'd love a pair of driving glasses that would do two things:
a. Display and speak navigational info.
b. Display visuals from rear cameras in the car.
There are applications for wearable glasses. This Sony...thing...isn't one of them. Eww.
I can see things like cycling glasses with HUD type info (mostly for serious athletes.) I also understand there has been some work on HUD type displays for contact lenses. You can image the FDA regulatory and medical risk challenges.
Even worse, it seems Sony has no long term commitment the concept, and no desire to keep iterating on it in the future. If it's not attached to the PlayStation platform, it's effectively "sink or swim" for these cabled eyeglasses. I predict: sink. Sony has so many CE products, they would not hesitate to drop this if it fails to find a market. It's like the Microsoft Sidewinder Voice (game) controller for Windows 98, or the Intel-branded digital microscopes: a dead-end.
Only the lonely would wear them anyway.
These are doomed. Jeez Sony.