Sony Unveils New 'Holographic' Smart Glasses That Manage To Be Nerdier Than Google Glass

Sony Electronics announced Friday its own Google Glass competitor that, like the search giant’s headset, connects to an Android smartphone to display different kinds of information. The Japanese manufacturer’s “SmartEyeglass” will go on sale sometime in the first three months of 2015, but it probably won’t win any design awards.

The smart glasses display text more like Robocop’s helmet, or the heads-up display of a video game than Google Glass’ optic, which appears like a small box in the upper-right-hand corner of a wearer’s sight. Sony says SmartEyeglass utilizes “hologram optics technology” to project the text in a number of ways.

“For example, users will be able to view navigation information while walking, check a recipe while cooking without taking their eyes from their hands, or view information related to a certain player while watching a sports game in a stadium,” Sony said in a press release. The smart glasses are separate from the company’s Project Morpheus, a virtual reality headset for its PlayStation 4 game console that it is expected to release sometime next year.

Sony’s wearable boasts a number of sensors, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, digital compass, and a brightness sensor, in addition to a microphone and camera. An early version of SmartEyeglass will go on sale sometime in the first three months of 2015, to developers who Sony hopes will create apps for its... unique-looking headset.