Most major manufacturers are jumping into the connected wearables market in some way or another, whether that's with a smartwatch or virtual reality headsets. Toshiba is no exception, and they showed off a new pair of smart glasses at a trade show in Japan this week.
The glasses, called Toshiba Glass, work similarly to Google Glass, but there's a small difference; there's a small projector built into the side of the arm of the glasses, right behind the lens. The result is a pretty bulky, goofy looking device, but it's reportedly quite a bit cheaper than Google Glass, so there's an advantage. The project displays information on the lens of the glasses, which is then reflected onto the person's eyes. Again, not quite as sophisticated as Google Glass, but pricing plays a big role here.
Unfortunately, there are a few other drawbacks to Toshiba Glass that are probably going to make the product DOA. First off, the device isn't actually wireless. Toshiba skipped on a battery for Glass because they didn't want to make it too heavy, so the headset has to connect to a smartphone in your pocket. Having a cable running from your eyeglasses into your pocket seems really, really inconvenient, and there's no telling how much drain that's going to put on your phone battery. It's also different from Google Glass in that it isn't really its own device, but instead just an extension of what your smartphone is doing. It's great for notifications and the like, but so are smartwatches, and a watch is much less cumbersome.
Toshiba plans on launching the device next year in Japan and North America, although they didn't estimate an exact price.
source: Computer World
