Sony built their own Google Glass competitor and it’s flippin’ huge
Sony is no stranger when it comes to the wearable tech, often times jumping in head first without really testing the waters. They were one of the first out of the gate with a smartwatch, and more recently, we saw their take on the virtual reality headset with Project Morpheus.
Back when Google Glass was just getting off the ground — and people were still excited about the idea of strapping a computer to their faces — we heard rumors that other manufacturers would soon try their hand at an augmented reality headset.
Sony is now putting these rumors to rest with the announcement of their “Single-Lens Display Module,” a wearable computing device that attaches to existing eye wear, giving it “smart” capabilities. Like Google Glass, Sony’s headset uses a tiny “High-Resolution Color OLED Microdisplay” that brings varying types of visual information front and center to its wearer.
Applications are very much the same as Google Glass, with Sony saying they’re more or less targeting entertainment and/or sports enthusiasts, the latter making more sense given physical activity like biking tends to keep your hands tied. They’re already busy preparing an SDK that developers can use to build apps with Sony saying they’re planning for mass production sometime next year.
We can’t help but notice that, while admittedly more versatile than Google’s implementation, Sony’s headset actually makes the already clunky Google Glass look like a svelte piece of science fiction. What do you guys think? Even if they could drop 10 strokes from your golf game, would you wear these things outdoors?
Sony says they’ll be showing these off during CES 2015 in just a few short weeks time and we’ll be sure to bring you a heads-on.