Google to sell US$250-US$600 HUD glasses by year’s end?

22 Feb 2012

So, are the real Google Goggles about to emerge?

Google is reportedly bringing out Android-based heads-up display (HUD) glasses that will have augmented reality capability and will stream information from the web to the glasses’ lenses.

All eyes (no pun intended) will be on Google’s presentation by executive chairman Eric Schmidt at next week’s Mobile World Congress where they may be unveiled for the first time.

According to the New York Times, the glasses will be Android-based and will cost the same as a standard smartphone, which is in the US$250-US$600 range.

The glasses are believed to contain a unique new navigation system that uses head tilting to scroll and click and will be very intuitive.

They will also sport a built-in, low-resolution camera that overlays information about locations, buildings and friends.

The glasses, which apparently resemble Oakley shades, are just one of the projects to emerge from the mysterious Google X project team, a secret lab near Google’s campus that is working on futuristic technologies, such as robots and space elevators.

The glasses will transmit data to the cloud via Google Latitude, Google Maps and Google Goggles.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com