Posts Tagged ‘MEG4.0’

Watch out, Google. Here comes Olympus with the MEG4.0 and don’t dismiss this as a Google Glass knockoff. Olympus has been researching and developing wearable displays for more than 20 years. The MEG4.0 concept, and with that, its eventual production counterpart, has been a long time coming and could be a serious competitor in the space.

Olympus made it clear in today’s announcement that the 30g MEG4.0 is both a prototype and a working name. The stem-like system sits on one side of the glasses and connects to a tablet or phone through Bluetooth. A 320 x 240 virtual screen floats above the wearer’s eye line. The MEG4.0 is designed for all-day use and should last eight hours on a charge, although Olympus states the glasses are designed for bursts of use, 15-seconds at a time.

Google isn’t the only player in the augmented reality game. In fact several companies have toyed with the concept for the last few years including Olympus. The company introduced a working set of AR glasses back in 2008. Called the Mobile Eye-Trek (shown above) the glasses were designed to be worn on a daily basis, feeding information like email to the wearer on a screen placed 50cm in front of the eyes, making it appear as a 3.8-inch screen.

While the Mobile Eye-Track never hit the retail market, Olympus indicated at the time that the prototype would lead to a production version by 2012.

However, much like Google, Olympus is not revealing the user interface yet. If the MEG4.0 is to be a success, the interface, and more importantly, the depth of the information available needs to be as mature as Google Glass. Price and availability was not announced.

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While Google could have gotten hold of headlines for its recent wearable tech, Olympus is doggedly forging ahead with its very own prototypes, 7 years on. Unlike Project Glass, the MEG4.0 isn’t really a standalone framework and requires a glasses frame to hang on, although the sub-30g unit should not tax it too a great deal. The QVGA (320 x 240) display can easily connect to tools with Bluetooth 2.1, with Olympus indicating a smartphone hook-up to provide both the processing power and web connection– which seems different to exactly what we’re anticipating from Google’s effort. The current prototype can eject eight hours of intermittent usage, or two hours of non-stop projection. While the device is being pitched at daily users, Olympus aren’t providing any sort of suggestion at launch dates or rates, but you can easily look at just what the company is willing to share in the (Google-translated) press release below.

Continue reading Olympus announces MEG4.0 wearable display prototype, skips the skydiveOlympus reveals MEG4.0 wearable display prototype, skips the skydive originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Akihabara News|Olympus Japan (translated)|E-mail this|Remarks