Displaying items by tag: smart glasses

Huawei will launch its second model of smart glasses, the Gentle Monster Eyewear II, on 6 November. The connected wearable comes with a voice-controlled digital assistant and built-in speakers and will sell for a recommend price of EUR 329 (AED 1400).

This is Huawei's second collaboration with the Korean eyewear brand, and the new model upgrades the semi-open speaker to optimize sound for taking calls and listening to music without sound leakage. The glasses feature the same technology as its predecessor. The only difference is that it sports a new design and comes with a redesigned carrying case.

The voice assistant can be used even without the need to connect a smartphone, and the glasses come with Bluetooth 5.2 and support for NFC wireless charging directly in their case. Huawei said the battery supports up to five hours of music on a single charge. 

In addition, thanks to proximity sensors, the Huawei glasses automatically recognize when worn and removed, and automatically play or pause music playback.

The glasses closely resemble a standard pair of glasses with thicker arms that house the sensors and controls. They are sold as frames only, without lenses, which must be acquired by the customer from an optician. 

Shipments of connected wearables reached 116.8 million worldwide in 2018, according to the findings of Berg Insight. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4 percent, total shipments of smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness & activity trackers, smart clothing, mobile telecare and medical devices as well as other wearable devices are forecasted to reach 238.5 million units in 2023. Bluetooth will remain the primary connectivity option in the coming years. A total of 67.7 million of the wearables sold in 2023 are forecasted to incorporate embedded cellular connectivity, mainly in the smartwatch and telecare and medical device categories.

Social networking colossus Facebook has announced that it is attempting to make a ‘technical ‘breakthrough in relation to developing and manufacturing futuristic ‘smart glasses’ specifically designed to allow you see to see virtual objects in the real world.

It has emerged that Facebook published a patent application for a ‘waveguide display with two-dimensional scanner’ which was compiled by three members of its advanced research division of Facebook’s VR subsidiary Oculus.

It has been reported that the display may augment views of a physical, real-world environment with computer generated elements. In addition to this, the patent filing also suggested that the display being developed may be included in an eye-wear comprising a frame and a display assembly yhat presents media to a user’s eyes.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously expressed his belief that virtual and augmented reality - represents the next major computing platform which is capable of replacing smartphones and traditional PCs. Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion and has announced its intentions to continue to invest billions on developing more revolutionary technology.

The ‘smart glasses’ currently being developed by Oculus will use a waveguide display in order to project light onto the wearer’s eyes instead of a more traditional display. However, it has also been claimed that the ‘smart glasses’ would be able to display images, video and be compatible with connected speakers or headphones to play audio when worn.

Facebook has thus far declined to comment on the patent application, but analysts have suggested that the social networking firm have adopted a similar approach to Microsoft, when they launched its HoloLens AR headset. Oculus’s ‘smart glasses’ have also drawn comparisons with glasses being developed by Google start-up Magic Leap.

Interestingly, one of the lead authors of Facebook’s patent application is optical scientist Pasi Saarikko who joined Facebook two years ago, after he spearheaded the optical design of HoloLens at Microsoft. However, despite the announcement being made in relation to work commencing on Facebook’s ‘smart glasses’, analysts have claimed don’t expect to see the device anytime soon.

Chief scientist of Oculus, Michael Abrash said AR glasses won’t start replacing smartphones until 2022. He said, “20 or 30 years from now, I predict that instead of carrying stylish smartphones everywhere, we’ll wear stylish glasses. Those glasses will offer VR, AR and everything in between, and we’ll use them all day.”

A Turkish inventor claims to have created a phone with a screen that can only be seen when using a specific special pair of smart glasses. It’s the perfect privacy solution for anyone storing sensitive information on their device, in an age where people carry around smartphones and tablets everywhere they go, making it increasingly difficult to keep things private.

The inventor, 40-year-old Celal Göger from Diyarbakir, Turkey, is said to have come up with the idea for the private smartphone screen while he was traveling on crowded public transport in the bustling city of Istanbul. He became frustrated when he noticed that other passengers were slyly peering over his shoulder to look at what he was doing on his phone.

“Someone’s phone is a very personal item and I think it’s extremely disrespectful when other people stare at it,” he said.

Following his discomfort on public transport, Göger took it upon himself to create a way for other people to no longer be able to see what was on his smartphone screen. He worked in a small workshop behind his store to invent the new technology. According to the Mirror, it took Göger fourth months to come up with his ingenious ‘Ghost Phone’ concept which he is planning to call C.COGER I.

The concept works by using a chip that makes the screen appear white to anyone who looks at the screen with the naked eye. In order to see the screen normally, a second chip in the glasses connects to the phone, making it visible to the wearer.

“When I finished my invention I started telling people about it, but nobody believed me,” said Göger. “They thought it must be some kind of magic trick until they saw my invention which left them absolutely gobsmacked!”

Göger is still said to be looking for funding to further develop his project. No further details about it have been released. He believes that if he resided in a different country it would be easier for him to proceed with it.

“I think I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “If I had been born in the UK, I think I would have gotten a lot more support to move this project forward and start mass production of my invention. If I can get funding I am planning to take this project further and install an on/off button on the phone which means that the user decides whether to activate the function.”