Google AR Glasses Coming By Year's End
Google AR Glasses Coming By Year's End
The future of augmented reality is being written as we speak, with app developers and smartphone providers hustling to beat each other to the punch in what many consider to be a potentially exponential growth industry. Other tech growth industries, such as cloud computing and real time communications—which see companies competing to provide the best online storage and the most lightning quick VoiP services—may have their work cut out for them as some AR developers work to package those services together. For instance, the rumors of Google's forthcoming heads-up augmented reality display glasses appear to have been confirmed, making it likely we will see pairs of Oakley Thumps AR HUD glasses hitting the market by the end of the year.
The glasses will be Android-based and equipped with motion sensors, GPS technology, a sophisticated navigation system, and a 3G or 4G data connection. Using a low-resolution built-in camera, wearers of the glasses will be able to stream real time information about locations, buildings, and nearby friends and overlay it on what they're looking at. The glasses are intended to be used like smartphones, not contact lenses, though smart lenses could be in the pipeline this decade as well.
Taken on by the Google X team, which Google has charged with developing number of highly secretive projects in an underground lab, the glasses will integrate a number of already existing Google products and services, including web browsing, cloud data storage, social media connectivity, and place-based messaging functionality. Navigation will be handled by Google Latitude, which will work with Google Maps to allow users to check-in to a location and leave messages to friends. People will also be able to use the glasses to tap into Web 3.0-style information streams, such as the Layars app. Google says they don't intend users to wear the glasses all the time, but rather to utilize them as one would a smartphone. In other words, as needed.
Industry insiders say the Google X team will have to contend with a number of highly sensitive issues, including privacy, data storage, battery life, and other practical concerns such as safety and comfort. Perhaps in response to this pressue, Google says they don't plan on monetizing the glasses yet, or even developing a business plan. They consider the glasses more of an experiment. Only time will tell whether more tech advances in GPS and connectivity will help make Google's new glasses ubiquitous like smartphones, or a temporary venture into the limits of augmented reality.
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