It looks like Sony themselves are about to make the jump to the world of smartglasses, too, with their latest effort being the transparent lens eyewear that they call the “SmartEyeglass”. Well, at least its software development kit (SDK) is now available, and the SmartEyeglass is meant to hook up to compatible smartphones (compatible here meaning smartphones which run on the Android operating system version 4.1 or later), allowing it to superimpose various information including the likes of text, symbols, and images, onto the user’s field of view.
The SmartEyeglass will arrive with a wide range of sensing technologies, where among them are a CMOS image sensor, accelerometer, Gyroscope, electronic compass, brightness sensor, and microphone. It will make use of these features alongside GPS location information from the connected handset, allowing it to deliver information that has been optimized to the user’s existing circumstances.
Using their unique hologram optics technology, Sony has managed to come up with a lens which is capable of achieving high transparency of 85%, all with a thickness that measures just 3.0 mm. This is achieved without the need of half mirrors which tend to obstruct the user’s vision. Apart from that, the monochrome display paves the way for better energy consumption that is lower compared to that of a color display, high luminance (up to 1,000 cd/m2), and clear readability.
Sony hopes to roll out a dedicated SmartEyeglass Software Development Kit (Developer Preview) today, where the SmartEyeglass itself ought to go on sale to developers before the year is over. [Press Release]
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