Seeing The World Differently: Google’s ‘Augmented Reality’ Specs Could Arrive in 2012
Remember Cyclops glasses from X-Men, controlling all that power that he otherwise wouldn’t have been able to contain? Well, this latest news from Google is a bit like that, just without the connotations of killing ones enemies and such. Anyway, we digress.
A report from by the New York Times has claimed that Google’s rumoured Android-based ‘X Glasses’ could hit markets before the end of the year.
The official line from the Android creator is precisely nothing, but according to the article, conversations with Google employees ‘familiar with the project’ have revealed new info – allegedly the augmented reality specs will have either 3G or 4G capability, GPS and numerous other smartphone sensors (such as an accelerometer, gyro etc).
According to the report, the glasses will “tap into a number of Google software products that are currently available”, and use a head-up display to show augmented reality info, sharing data with the Cloud, and using things like Google latitude and Google maps to display navigation information share location.
In addition the glasses will have a low-resolution built-in camera so as to monitor the world in real time, but that is causing an issue in development:
“Internally, the Google X team has been actively discussing the privacy implications of the glasses and the company wants to ensure that people know if they are being recorded by someone wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in camera” said the mystery source.
It all sounds very interesting, but we can’t help but think that these are no more than a novelty device. Why not simplify and make it cohesive with an external device – such as the smartphone already in your pocket? Just a thought Google.
