With this week marking the official public launch of Google Glass (albeit only in $1,500 ‘Explorer’ beta form at this time, available since Wednesday (15 May)), it appears as though a range of competitors are starting to emerge with more formal claims of their competing products, starting with South Korean company Samsung.
With a product that they certainly won’t be able to get into trouble with biggest rivals Apple over, Samsung have reportedly moved closer to an unveiling of their own augmented reality headset, a report from Business Korea suggesting that the ‘Samsung Gear Glass’ will come out in September.
Believed to be running on a ‘next-generation’ edition of Samsung’s own operating system Tizen rather than Google’s Android brand, Samsung’s product will naturally be expected to carry many similarities to Google’s pioneering device in terms of look and function. Previous patent hints have implied that with the product codename of ‘Earphone’, it could be expected that Samsung are planning to one-up Google by incorporating mobile phone-based functionality into their set.
All rumours, including those that it will be ‘more powerful’ than Google Glass, will have to wait until another day to be officially confirmed by Samsung, with the leading competitor to be the second HUD-with-earpiece on the market could be held off until early September to make a full showcase of its powers, with other hints suggesting that the IFA trade show in Berlin (Germany) will be a prime location for such a display. For now, though, Samsung have neither confirmed nor denied that the Gear Glass will exist…
Meanwhile, Google themselves are managed to increased their output of content for their Google Glass product, with another app provider that has revealed a unique feature that will be seen (or not) on the augmented reality headwear. Future customers, prepare to start tapping at air or jerking your head around to type: