New Google Glass patent shows the hardware baked into a more traditional set of frames
There’s no question that, in its current form, many see Glass as a bit of an eyesore. More of a working prototype, Google has officially gone on the record as saying that the Google Glass Explorer Edition we see today is far from a final design. It was recently Google announced that they’d be teaming up with Luxottica — the world’s largest eyewear company and owner of brands such as Oakley, Ray-Ban, Persol, and more — to design frames with Glass compatibility in mind.
Today, our friends at GGlassDay have uncovered a new Google Glass patent (U.S. 8,705,177), and it shows the Glass hardware baked into a more traditional set of frames, sans the usual prism arm seen in the Explorer Edition. In the light of Google’s new partnership with Luxottica, we can’t help but wonder (and cross our fingers) if this is what we could find with the eventual release of Ray-Ban-branded Google Glass in the near future.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Google experiment with a more traditional “glasses look.” Back in September, a patent showed the familiar Google Glass arm, only with the camera module integrated on the opposite end and/or middle of normal set of glasses. It was somewhat odd and like most patents, we’re sure they eventually paved the way for Google Glass’ titanium frames we see today.
Seeing Glass banked into more traditional eyewear and without the huge Glass arm/camera combo, would any of you be more interested in picking up Google Glass in the future if it looked something like this? Or do you need more evidence of Glass’ usefulness in the real world?