Google’s augmented reality visor will reportedly be available to the general public to purchase before the end of this year. What’s more, the headset will debut for less than the $1,500 that developers and lucky contest winners are currently being asked to shell out according to Google product director Steve Lee.
The original plan was to launch Project Glass sometime in 2014 but given the recent hackatons in New York and San Francisco as well as the company’s willingness to let more people in on the action early, one would have to assume that production is moving along more quickly than initially thought.
The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky recently had the opportunity to try out the headgear at Google’s New York City headquarters. The journalist was shown multiple prototypes, including the very first crude design the team came up with nearly three years ago by Babak Parviz as an X Lab project. As you can see in the video above, it was little more than a pair of frames with random electronics attached to the sides.
Lee said Google is currently working on a reference model for prescription lenses for people that have to wear glasses but he said they definitely want to partner with others. He said they don’t want Glass to be a niche product – Google thinks it can help every single human being.
If Google is able to get the price down to a reasonable level, would you consider buying Glass in its current prototype design or would you wait until it’s refined to look a bit less techie – assuming you are interested in it to begin with?
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