New Vuzix augmented reality glasses announced!

[WiredEarp]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/06/vuzi ... ades-spor/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sounds like some cool optical technology...

------------PRESS RELEASE TEXT---------------
Vuzix Announces Plans for SMART Glasses Technology - Holy Grail of Wearable Display Industry, See-Through HD Glasses in a Designer Sunglasses Form Factor - at CES 2012

See New Vuzix SMART Glasses Technology in action at CES – Central Hall Booth #13646

LAS Vegas – January 10, 2012 – Vuzix Corporation (TSX-V: VZX, OTC:BB: VUZI, FMB: V7X), award-winning manufacturer of video eyewear, is excited to unveil SMART Glasses Technology - Integrated HD display engines and waveguide optics that literally break the boundaries of conventional optics and display solutions. For decades wearable displays have been referred to as Head Mounted Displays because of their bulky size and odd appearance; primarily attributable to the displays and conventional refractive and or reflective optics that they employ. This older technology is limited by the laws of optical physics that result in form factors that are large, heavy, and practically impossible to make into fashion eyewear.

Now after years of internal developments and our recent licensing relationship with Nokia Corporation SMART Glasses Technology is finally here. This amazing new technology starts with a compact display engine capable of hi contrast and brightness for outdoor use. The output is then relayed into a 1.4 mm thick plastic waveguide lens with input and output hologram structures on the surface which squeezes the light down the waveguide and then two dimensionally expands the image back into the user's eye, creating an image that is then mixed into the real world. And, all this technology neatly fits into the temples & lenses of a conventional pair of eyewear!

As the name implies, SMART Glasses are much more than just a wearable TV. Designed to work with SMART Devices that are typically connected to the internet, SMART Glasses are interactive and merge virtual information with the real world. They can be used at night or outdoors in full daylight.

Vuzix is planning a line of both monocular and binocular SMART Glasses for the Commercial, Industrial and Consumer markets. With integrated head tracking and options for multiple camera technologies Vuzix SMART Glasses can broaden the users' sensory perception across a greatly expanded light spectrum; additionally they can be used to recognize their environment along with their position in the real world, all-the-while recording and transmitting what the user sees.
From standalone solutions for night vision and first responder use to fully internet connected and geospatially aware devices for amazing Augmented Reality applications.

Look for Vuzix SMART Glasses technology initial release into the commercial and industrial markets by summer 2012.

[Johnny-Mnemonic]

Link on Engadget doesn't work for me.
However here is another link about Vuzix and Nokia collaboration: http://www.slashgear.com/vuzix-secures- ... -24190406/

Design wise it's getting better and better

[cybereality]

This is looking amazing. The form factor is, IMO, enough that I would walk down the street with these. Hopefully Vuzix have managed to get the picture quality up to modern standards. It would suck to have the awesome slick design marred by sub-standard visuals.

[Johnny-Mnemonic]

Vuzix official press release:
http://vuzix.com/site/_news/2012/vuzix- ... S-2012.pdf

[Xensory]

The Verge has posted some pictures. It appears they're just demoing the display technology and not an actual product.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/10/26973 ... e-hands-on" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[cybereality]

Ah, I see. Guess the real products are further down the road.

[Xensory]

Digital Trends has more details and a video!:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/vuz ... ogy-video/

"Vuzix will release its first product SMART product in the last three months of 2012, a monocular geared toward the commercial and industrial markets. The device will be used to display analytics information for shipping, and other industry-related uses. The real exciting stuff won’t arrive for the next 18 to 24 months..."

Another video on TechCrunch:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/11/vuzix- ... explained/

[cybereality]

That prototype does look appealing, lets hope it actually comes out.

[PalmerTech]

I am about to go pass out, so my only update for now, after seeing the Smart Glasses prototype:

1) That physical mockup sure does look spiffy.
2) That demo of the actual display sure does look terrible. Really terrible.

I will try again tomorrow, maybe it was weird content or something.

[cybereality]

Well for something like this it may be OK to not have full color, as long as the FOV was decent. I am thinking more about overlaying stuff onto the real world. Like viewing data from a smart-phone: the time, weather, tweets, texts, things like that. For serious gaming/VR then a bulky full immersion unit will obviously be better.

[PalmerTech]

Oh, I agree. The problem is, the field of view was low (I would place the demo I saw at under 30 degree FOV), the bad color was only in addition. The Vuzix rep I talked to said that they are still developing the waveguides with the intent of improving image quality, which is good, but I don't think they are going to hit a high FOV.

Here are some pictures Engadget took: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/12/vuzi ... -on-video/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Taking pictures of HMD images is hard, but those pics are a pretty fair representation of what it looks like in real life, perhaps a tiny bit brighter.

Will have a full review tomorrow.

[cybereality]

Cool. Well Vuzix still has at least another year or so to refine the concept, hopefully they can improve the quality.

[WiredEarp]

Isn't that Lumus (sp?) see through HMD/glasses thing using light guides? And isn't that supposed to have a decent FOV (going off no specs here, just someone who looked at it at CES) and good quality display?

If so, that suggests that the lightguide tech itself is probably not to blame for the Vuzix image quality. Maybe its the holographic lens thing that is causing the quality loss?