Sony introduced a SmartEyeglass software developer kit a few months ago. Now it looks like the company could have hardware to go with the software kit soon.
A listing for Sony SmartEyeglass just showed up at the FCC, which suggests that the company plans to begin distributing its wearable computer soon.
SmartEyeglass works a bit like Google Glass. But while Google’s head-up display put a small transparent lens above one of your eyes, Sony SmartEyeglass has transparent lenses that you wear like a pair of glasses. They’re 85 percent transparent, which means you should have no problem seeing right through them… but you should also be able to see text or images sent to the lenses.
That image above shows the wired controller which has a battery, buttons, speaker, and a touch sensor.
Sony says its system has a display resolution of 419 x 138 pixels and they’re designed to display a monochrome green display.
The system features WiFi and Bluetooth, sports a 3MP camera and motion sensors including an accelerometer, gyroscrope and compass.
Initially SmartEyeglass is expected to be aimed at developer. But if the smart head-up display space starts to take off we could eventually see consumer devices based on the technology… although it’s more likely that we’ll see devices of this type used first in industrial, healthcare, or other workplace environments. That’s where Google Glass has had the most success so far.