Recon Jet smart glasses ready for shipping

Vancouver-based Recon Instruments says it has started shipping its Recon Jet smart glasses globally.

Recon Jet displays smartphone notifications in a virtual screen below the user’s right eye.

While Google Glass languishes, competitors appear to be going from strength-to-strength.

Vancouver-based Recon Instruments said its Recon Jet smart glasses were now shipping globally, after 7 years in the making.

Australians will pay around $US699 ($A892) for a pair which they can get through Queensland distributor Meeco Sales.

“With Jet shipping, we’ve achieved a huge milestone: delivering on an idea first conceived in 2008, when Recon was founded,” said Dan Eisenhardt, chief executive of Recon Instruments.

Recon Jet has features in common with Google Glass and those found on a smartwatch. It displays smartphone notifications in a virtual screen below the user’s right eye. It can snap photos, shoot video, and monitor running, cycling and other outdoor activities. It displays exercise metrics such as pace, distance, duration and vertical elevation.

It has a dual-core CPU, GPS, on-board sensors, and it links by Bluetooth to a smartphone. It will also link to third-party ANT+ heath devices such as a heart rate monitor.

Another smart glass supplier, New York-based Vuzix, has given a hint about its future direction by announcing two patent acquisitions — one covering gesture control of 3D objects, including in augmented reality apps, and another that addresses ambient light management in optical see-through glasses.

Vuzix said it held 41 patents and 10 additional patents pending and numerous IP licenses in the video eyewear market..