Augmented reality may be in its formative years, but major tech companies are already setting the route for the upcoming evolution.
Sony's SmartEyeGlass lenses were manufactured with holographic waveguide technology, which allows for brightness adjustments and near glass-level transparency. This increases comfort so that users' eyes adapt better to the displayed graphics.
Sony explained that apps will enable a large number of uses for its gadget. Buyers of the lenses may watch a live sporting event and have stats from the teams or players displayed in their device, or may go for grocery shopping and quickly observe a comparative list of prices between retailer chains. As SmartEyeGlass can connect to a smartphone that supports the apps, their content will appear directly on the goggles.
The high-tech module contains two elements: an optical engine that uses the µDisplay microdisplay technology to showcase images and text as well as a holographic waveguide. This is simply an extremely thin and transparent plate of glass that measures only 1mm, or about 1/25 of an inch thick.
An 8-bit heads-up display, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a microphone that has noise suppression, a 3MP camera, an electronic compass and a brightness sensor are some of the physical features of the wearable tech.
The Sony SED-E1 SmartEyeglass comes with a developer's kit, and developers can immediately begin working on apps that are limited only by the imagination of the person creating them. The kit contains the emulator, guides, codes and video tutorials to ease users into building the first augmented reality app. The only condition is that the device running the app has Android 4.4 or better.
Here is the complete list of what developers get when purchasing the Sony SED-E1 SmartEyeglass:
- Green monochrome heads-up display
- Holographic lenses 3mm (around 3/25 of an inch) thick
- 3MP camera
- Compass, gyroscope and light Sensor
- Wired controller with touch sensor and microphone
- 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0
- Up to 2.5 hours of battery life
- Near Field Communications (NFC)
- Software Development Kit (SDK) with emulator, code, guide and more
- Compatibility with Android 4.4 and up
Augmented reality enthusiasts can purchase the Sony SED-E1 SmartEyeglass Developer Kit from the B&H SuperStore located located at 420 Ninth Avenue in New York for $899.
