January 8, 2019 – Vuzix Corporation, has today announced that its Vuzix Blade AR Smart Glasses are now available for purchase by the general public at a price of USD$999.99 on the company’s website.
The Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses are a wearable smart display with a see-through viewing experience that utilizes the company’s proprietary waveguide optics and full color Cobra II display engine in a wearable form that allow applications to run directly on the glasses
Vuzix Blade AR Smart Glasses include an HD camera to let users see, recognize, respond to and record the outside real world. The glasses also receive personalized alerts and information as a function of where a user is looking, with a visual overlay that pops into the field of vision.
The Vuzix Blade Companion App, available on the App Store or Google Play, enables setup and customization of the Blade Smart Glasses, including managing Wi-Fi connections and pairing to a user’s phone. Vuzix states that its Blade smart phone companion app will allows users to manage practically all application notifications and alerts from their phone to the Blade including email, messages and navigation as well as media player control and more. The current Vuzix Blade Companion App is also being upgraded with new functionality including the enablement of photo and video sharing between the Blade and the smart phone.
The Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses platform includes an Android based operating system on the device, a cloud based services platform that is being developed specifically for the Blade, as well as an ecosystem of apps and software development firms around the world that the company is working with. Vuzix has stated that it expects this ecosystem of consumer oriented applications to grow throughout 2019.
Vuzix is currently working with Amazon to finish the broader integration of its AI, Alexa, to further take advantage of the capabilities of the Blade. An Alexa BETA for the glasses is currently available for developers.
The company also has a strategic partnership with weather media company AccuWeather, which will bring dynamic interactive AR-based weather experiences to the Blade Smart Glasses, and will allow users to interact and view localized weather content and weather forecasts through their Vuzix Blades. The AccuWeather AR weather app is expected to be released on the Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses during the first quarter of 2019.
Shipments of the consumer version of the Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses are expected to begin by the first week of February 2019. “The general release of the Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses is a significant step forward for the AR Smart Glasses industry and delivers against many promises made by other notable players in the smart glasses industry that have gone unfulfilled. Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses are truly wearable smart glasses that can not only be unboxed and paired to a phone in a matter of minutes, but also deliver immediate utility for prosumers and consumers,” said Paul Travers, Vuzix President and Chief Executive Officer. “Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses also mark the beginning of leaving your phone in your pocket, ushering in a new and dynamic era of wearable computing. And of course, the Blade Smart Glasses is also a great hands-free productivity tool for business, delivering a powerful mobile computing experience.”
Image credit: Vuzix
Related Posts
About the author
Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.