Have you heard about Google’s Project Glass? If you haven’t, then you really need to get with the times. But, if you’ve been out of the loop, Google Glass is essentially a pair of glasses that contain a hidden computer with a small transparent display screen above the right eye. With Google Glass wearers can take pictures and video, surf the web and anything else you can imagine. It’s a marvel of technology.
The thing is, this technology known as heads-up display isn’t really revolutionary. It’s been around for some time. And, Google isn’t the only company working on heads-up display.
Regardless if you’re interested, fearful or believe that this sort of technology violates our privacy, it’s extremely likely that companies will continue to unveil heads-up displays for the foreseeable future, just like Samsung and Microsoft are currently doing.
So, move over on Google. Here are five alternatives to Google Glass.
5. Recon Jet
The Recon Jet was definitely built for people that live an active lifestyle. Not only are these glasses sporty, they’re rugged, lightweight and have polarized lenses. As for the tech side, the Jet can connect to a smartphone and wifi. It runs the Android 4.2 OS, contains a dual-core processor and has a HD camera. And, compared to the Google Glass price tag of $1500, dishing out $599 for these shades doesn’t seem that outrageous.
4. Vergence Labs’ Epiphany Eyewear
If you’re concerned about not being about to tell that a person’s glasses are really a computer, then you’re going to love Vergence Labs’ Epiphany Eyewear. At first glance these glasses appear to be just another pair of stylish shades, but underneath is powerful mini-computer. These fashionable glasses are capable of snapping and capturing 720pm, has 10 processing cores and even features on-board storage. This product is available now for preorder in either 8, 16 or 32 GB.
3. Innovega iOptik Contacts
Innovega has received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation to develop augmented reality contact lenses for soldiers to wear in the field. These contacts basically overlay computer-generated images over real-world environments. The company is looking to develop contacts for civilian use by 2014 or 2015.
2. Telepathy One
Unlike some of the other products mentioned in this list, the Telepathy One is actually rather sleek and futuristic. Besides that, it does pretty much everything the same as the other heads-up displays. It can take video and pictures and can wirelessly connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth. Most interesting, however, is the virtual 5-inch display that superimposes video and computer images directly in front of your face. No release date has been announced yet, but the company hopes that it it’s available in 2013.
1. GlassUp
There may be some better options out there, but we’re throwing this Italian company a bone just because they’ve already been sued by Google. While the idea is the same, GlassUp is in fact different from Google Glass. As anyone can see, these actually look like glasses. Secondly, they don’t feature a camera. And, finally, they’re going to cost a lot less than Google Glass – $399 compared to $1,500. So, what do they do? These eyeglasses can “display emails, text messages, directions, heartbeats, translations, or any other info selected by the relevant apps on your smartphone.” Best of all, the field of view will be in the center, as opposed to near the top right of your field of vision.
