If there is one piece of wearable technology, I was most excited about, it was smart glasses in the vein of Google Glass. The possibility of having a HUD that only I could see and provided me with all manner of information seemed really cool, provided it could be deactivated when I needed absolute focus and I wear glasses anyways, so looking like a douche with big frames over my face doesn’t bother me at all.
However, outside of some medical applications, smart glasses haven’t really taken off. Thanks to advancements in technology though where companies are moving away from OLED to MicroLED displays though the opportunity might be there for us to see more viable solutions. Which Vuzix, in partnership with Chinese firm Jade Bird Display is showing off the potential of in a new promotional video unveiled at CES 2021.
Not only does the new MicroLED allow for a smaller optic and better mapping onto glass, but it also features things like Wi-Fi, LTE support, stereo speakers and noise-cancelling microphones. The glasses will support things like Android and iOS gesture and sound support, though will need to be paired with a phone for most of these features to work. The Hud might look like it was pulled out of an 80s sci-fi film, but that only adds to the appeal and somehow makes it feel like its interfering less than with the real world.
Sure, the glasses still don’t look fashionable, but they look a lot more like normal glasses than most Smartglasses and the image display it showcases is relatively simple. There is no release date or pricing for this yet, but hopefully, some of this innovation will help to finally drive smart glass technology to where it needs to be.
Last Updated: January 19, 2021
