Mad Gaze (Hong Kong) is about ready to start shipping the company’s Glow smartglasses product. Even before the Glow is out the door, the company is developing the next generation product.
It is to be called the Glow Plus. In as much as the technology and design of the Glow Plus builds on that utilized in Glow, perhaps the best way to discuss the Glow Plus is to start with a description of the company’s current Glow product.
Glow is a 3D-enabled mixed reality smartglasses. The smartglasses are plug and play meaning that all that is required of the wearer to initiate use of the smartglasses is to connect the Glow to their Android smartphone, tablet, PC, PS4, XBox, Switch or DJI via a USB-C with displayport.
Glow is represented as a hands-free device that allows the user to multitask. As an example, Glow can be used to view the content displayed on their smartphone as well as to control the smartphone.
Some of the features and specifications of the Glow smartglasses include the following:
- Weight is 75g – which means that it is quite light.
- Display resolution is 720p.
- 45° FOV. This translates to viewing a 90” screen from a distance of 3 meters.
- The power required to operate the Glow smartglasses derives from the smartphone to which it is connected. Glow can be expected to operate for up to 5 hours when in continuous use.
- 5 mp RGB camera.
- Infrared light and 5 mp IR detector camera. Provides the capability of capturing videos in a dark environment and producing black and white images.
- Microphone.
- Stereo speakers.
- The frame can accept prescription lenses, is foldable and comes in 6 colors.
Input to the Glow can be by hand gesture, tap input, voice recognition in English Mandarin and Cantonese and through the associated smartphone. Hand gesture control on the Glow is implemented by use of SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) tracking technology.
A video at the end of this article illustrates the design and functionality of the Glow smartglasses. The figure below on the left is an exploded view of the Glow smartglasses indicating the components in the smartglasses. The right of the figure is a photograph of the black colored version of the Glow smartglasses.
Left: Exploded view of the Glow smartglasses. Right: The Glow smartglasses.
Apps for the Glow smartglasses are already available in the company’s Mad Store. Glow is also compatible with a range of third party apps available on Google Play.
Since the software used by Mad Gaze is based on a familiar Android development platform, it is described as easy to build apps for Glow. In fact, the company offers a free SDK to developers to enable easy access to Mad Gaze control. The company invites developers to join the Mad Gaze Developer Community and launch their apps on the Mad Store.
Mad Gaze is reported as well into the development of the next version of the Glow product. Although the Glow Plus will have substantially the same design as Glow, one major difference is that the Glow Plus will use a micro OLED display with 1080p resolution. One other significant improvement is that the FOV will be increased to 53º which produces a 118” image at 3 meters. The Glow Plus is anticipated to sell for $399.
Funds needed to complete development of the Glow Plus are being raised with an InDemand post-campaign on Indiegogo. (An InDemand post-campaign is a funding solution that bridges the gap between crowdfunding and commerce. InDemand campaigns do not have a set fundraising goal or deadline date.) The initial funding campaign, conducted on another platform, successfully closed on October 1st having raised $209,763 from 399 backers. The current campaign can be found here. At the time this article is written, the InDemand post-campaign has raised $440,361 from 873 backers.
The target delivery of Glow is December 2019. Glow Plus is scheduled for initial delivery 3 months after that of Glow. -Arthur Berman
