We’ve seen several competitors to Google Glass over the past few years, including smart glasses from Vuzix and Epson. The latter of those, in fact, beat Google to the market back in 2012 with its Moverio glasses. Today, Epson has announced its second generation smart glasses, powered by Android.
The Moverio BT-200 glasses are available today from Epson of just $700, which is quite the bargain compared to the $1500 price tag of Glass. The BT-200 includes a built-in gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetic compass. It’s also packing a front-facing camera for augmented-reality apps, photos, and videos. As far as connectivity goes, the Moverio glasses are packing WiFi, Bluetooth, and Dolby Mobile surround sound. Epson says the glasses will get 6 hours of battery life on one charge, which means you won’t even be able to make it through a full day on a single charge. The device will ship with Android 4.0 installed, that Engadget notes as being “decrepit.”
The design of the Moverio glasses isn’t especially slick either, with the device appearing to be at least twice the size of Google Glass. Don’t expect to be immune from the odd looks you’ll get in public with these glasses. If you’re still interested, however, cheek out the press release below and head over to Epson’s website to purchases a pair for yourself.
Epson Moverio DT-200 Advanced Augmented Reality Smart Glasses Shipping Commercially
Epson Targeting Enterprise, App Developers and Early Technology Adopters with Latest Generation Moverio Platform
LONG BEACH, CA – May 6, 2014 – Epson® today announced the commercial availability of its award-winning second-generation Moverio™ BT-200 smart glasses, delivering an advanced, full-featured augmented reality platform for enterprise, Android app developers and early adopters. With an MSRP of $699.99, the Epson Moverio BT-200 smart glasses are currently available through Epson.com and prelaunch.com.
Leveraging Epson’s patented core technologies, the Moverio BT-200 offers an unparalleled binocular smart glasses experience optimized for augmented reality applications. Micro projectors located on each side of the eyeglasses project transparent overlays of digital content directly in the user’s field of view over the real-world environment. In addition, the Moverio BT-200 glasses contain sensors such as a gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetic compass for head-motion tracking and hands-free navigation. A front-facing camera for video and image capture also detects real-world markers for augmented reality (AR) applications.
AR smart glasses can improve worker efficiency in vertical markets such as healthcare, logistics, field service, energy, manufacturing, education, retail and more. Developers such as APX Labs and Metaio are already working with Epson and enterprises to incorporate the Moverio BT-200 smart glasses’ “see-through” augmented reality technology to allow for use cases such as retail and wholesale supply chain tracking, surgical training for doctors in the operating room, and remote field service support for complex repair assistance.
“Moverio BT-200 is Epson’s second-generation smart glasses and incorporates much of the feedback provided by both the AR developer and end-user communities,” said Anna Jen, director, New Ventures/New Products for Epson America. “With these improvements, Moverio BT-200 is poised to deliver an AR experience that will revolutionize workflow, training and repair in the enterprise environment.”
“Wearable technologies present a very compelling opportunity for those organizations that want to push the boundaries of innovative design and technology applications,” said Andrew Vaz, chief innovation officer, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “It’s crucial for organizations to build a baseline understanding of how wearables will impact the strategic drivers of their market, and find ways to use wearables in their businesses to gain competitive advantage.”
APX Labs built Skylight, the enterprise software platform for smart glasses which takes full advantage of the Moverio BT-200 capabilities. Skylight uses the front-facing camera to stream real-time video feeds, enabling workers to get instant expert help; it uses the powerful motion sensors to enable completely hands-free user interaction; and it uses the rich overlay display to provide data right where work is getting done.
“The Epson Moverio BT-200 is practical, affordable, and powerful enough to handle a wide range of important use cases,” said Ed English, chief product officer at APX Labs.
For complete Moverio BT-200 specifications and additional information, please visit www.epson.com/Moverio.
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