England cricket captain Alistair cook wearing a pair of smart glasses during an England nets session in Sri Lanka. (Photo : Getty Images/Gareth Copley)
Smart glasses first began to make waves when Google announced their Google Glass back in 2013. Although that project did not take off the way its developers wanted to, other companies did not give up on the concept and developed their own versions of it.
The latest technology companies to try their hand at developing a pair of smart glasses are Qualcomm and Osterhout Design Group (ODG) through collaboration. Qualcomm is well known for producing semiconductors and other important components that are used in communication devices. On the other hand, ODG is a California-based design group, which specializes in wearable devices as well as devices for augmented and virtual reality.
Qualcomm introduced its new Snapdragon 835 chipset to the public last Jan. 4, GSM Arena reported. They wasted little to no time in announcing their partnership with ODG as well as how they will implement this state of the art chipset into their project together. Much like the Microsoft HoloLens, the R-8 and R-9 smart glasses will offer augmented reality and virtual reality capabilities as well.
"ODG is pioneering glasses for the masses that play movies with cinematic clarity, drop you inside immersive 3D interactive experiences, and reveal new worlds of invention and productivity," said Ralph Osterhout, ODG's founder and CEO, in an official statement released to Tech Crunch and other similar sites. "This is so much bigger than just a device, it's about a whole new computing medium that will transform how we interact with and discover information and engage with people and objects in the world around us," he added.
The R-9 will be released in the Q2 2017 and will be priced at $1,799. This model will be targeted towards small enterprises and those who are looking to use high-end applications.
On the other hand, the smaller and lighter version - the R-8 - will be released to the public in the second half of the year and will be cheaper at a price point less than $1,000. This version of their smart glasses will be targeted towards the general consumer market.
Watch ODG's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 video about their consumer smart glasses below:
