DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

These new glasses will have Google Glass-like camera – They just look slicker

Mar 19, 2020 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

When Google first announced Glass a few years ago, there was a lot of excitement. Once they finally hit the streets, however, that excitement was short-lived. With numerous issues, chief amongst them being the privacy concerns, Google pulled them from the shelves to concentrate on the enterprise market.

But Google isn’t the only company working on “Smart Glasses”. Focals by North were released at the beginning of 2019. But now production is winding down as North gets ready to release their second-generation Focals 2.0. Very little information has been released about Focals 2.0, but now we know that they will have a built-in camera.

With the controversy surrounding the privacy issues of Google Glass, and the total lack of ability for others to know when a wearer’s camera was recording, it was unclear whether Focals 2.0 would include a camera or not. The first version did not include one and was merely a heads-up display. A tweet posted by Stephen Lake, one of North’s co-founders, showing the view from his Focals 2.0 glasses, though, confirms that Version 2 does indeed include a camera.

https://twitter.com/srlake/status/1239987573407338498

Unlike Google Glass, Focals isn’t just a personal heads-up display. Sure, they’re that, too, but they’re an actual pair of glasses that can be made to your prescription. As well as the addition of a camera, Focals 2.0 promises to offer support for a broader range of prescriptions so that more people are able to make use of them.

Looking at the video in the tweet, the quality of the camera isn’t amazing – in fact, you could get better with just about any smartphone released in the last five years – but it doesn’t look completely terrible either. For the purposes of things like augmented reality, it should do the job quite nicely. Also, bear in mind, a lot of videos posted to Twitter don’t look that great, regardless of the device used to create them.

Still, smart glasses technology is still in popular demand. The usefulness of a heads-up display is not in question. But there is still that privacy issue. So far, the couple of images that we presume are Focals 2.0 don’t show any obvious indication that there’s even a camera in the device. So, there’s possibly no indication at all that if you’re confronted by somebody wearing them that they may actually be recording.

There’s no word on a price yet, however the original Focals were $999 at release, although you can find them for around $599 today. For more information and to keep updated, there’s an email notification signup thing on the North website.

[via Slashgear]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

You thought that Google Glass was bad? Sony wants to make a contact lens camera Default ThumbnailA Beautiful Teardown of Google Glass (And Camera Module) Jason Jones Hilariously Reports on the Discrimination Google Glass Explorers Face Today Default ThumbnailThis Clever Stop Motion Movie Was Made Entirely With Google Glass

Filed Under: news

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« Sony’s 12-24mm f/2.8 GM lens to be delayed and will cost an eye-watering $4,000
Samsung rumoured to be developing an insane 150-megapixel 1″ sensor for a smartphone coming in Q4 »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Samyang adds 100mm T2.3 to its compact autofocus cine prime lineup
  • Build your own DIY night vision camera with a Raspberry Pi
  • This adorable LEGO retro camera set hits the stores soon
  • Here are the cameras that shot Flickr’s best images
  • Meta AI image generator Imagine gets its own website

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy