It looks like Google’s going to be getting competition in the smart glasses market come 2013 courtesy of Vuzix. Their Smart Glass M100 is a wearable Android computer which has pretty much the same function as Google’s miracle peepers. The hardware on the M100 on paper looks impressive – virtual display eyepiece, WiFi, 720P HD camera that can also take pictures, voice command capability and the ability to link up with your Android or iOS device for augmented reality duties. The M100 is also capable of tracking your head’s movement via a 3-axis system, and can figure out your current location using GPS.
The display on the M100 has WVGA resolution, and approximates the screen of a 4-inch smartphone viewed at a distance of 14-inches away. The display is capable of around 2,000 nits of brightness, which should be useful once you take this hybrid device outdoors. The M100 is setup in a way that it can be worn either on either eye.
As for the internals, you’re looking at a 1GHz OMAP4430 processor with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of flash storage, running on Android 4.0. The Android build that will run on the M100 won’t be your typical build of course – Vuzix will be tweaking the OS to suit the unique demands of this particular product category, which would probably include apps and an interface unique to the device. Speaking of software, Vuzix will be sending an SDK for the M100 to any developer that’s interested so that they’ll be able to use their software with the M100. No price has been set for the Vuzix, though the company is offering a developer kit that has a Windows-based emulator, sample code, access to a private coders portal with assistance from Vuzix, and the promise of an early production M100 when it becomes available for the price of $999.
Source: Slashgear