It is not a big surprise that not only Google and Valve are working on “Augmented Reality Glasses” project. But the name of the next player on this field is unexpected. It is.. Olympus.
Yes, Japanese company introduced their concept back in July 2012 and there have been no other official news regarding it. As you can see from the picture, it needs real glasses (unlike Google’s version) and is designed only to show information from the mobile phone via Bluetooth.
Virtual screen is 320 x 240 resolution and it is also only in front of one eye. Weight of the device is 30 grams, battery life is around 2 hours. Olympus claims that device is not created to work continuously and “with normal use” 2 hours become 8. Not bad already.
It has no camera, but there is accelerometer to determine, which direction the wearer is facing at the moment. Key difference from Google Glass is that it is intended to show information rather than collect it. Display is rumoured to be of a very high quality, perfectly visible in daylight.
Price and availability are unclear at the moment, probably it stays as a prototype. For me they look quite ugly, to be honest. And lack of camera makes them not a real competitor for Google. Why choose something weird and with less options?
Also, a strange Olympus patent has been found. It is basically an external viewfinder, which switches on only if camera is placed near the glasses. This option is quite nice as it makes cameras lighter and smaller while still retaining viewfinder option. And it can be easily implemented in MEG4.0 to work via Bluetooth.
