There was a pleasant surprise for everyone at Google I/O 2022 and it’s something that could have a long term impact on the optical industry.
The Smartglasses market has so far always connected itself as an accessory to the smartphone and rarely has been seen as an independent device. But with this new development thing might just change! Here’s a look at Google’s latest AR glasses.
The key feature Google showed off was the ability to see languages translated right in front of your eyes, which seems to me like a very practical application for AR glasses. While a big part of Silicon Valley is heavily invested in making AR glasses a reality, thus far, no one has suggested a truly “killer” app for AR that would let you overlook the wide variety of privacy concerns inherent with the tech. Live translating the spoken word would definitely be a killer feature.
The company didn’t share any details about when they might be available and only demonstrated them in a recorded video that didn’t actually show the display or how you would interact with them. But what was shown in the video painted a very cool picture of a potential AR future.
The user can see what someone is speaking to him or her, just transcribed for you in real time — kind of like subtitles for the world. The translated language appears in real time in the wearer’s line of sight.
Until these become a real product we can try, we won’t know how well they might work in practice. But Google’s vision shown at I/O, if it pans out, would be incredibly useful.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared some context about how the company views AR and based on what he said, it seems the company believes that AR can exist in many places that aren’t a smartphone.
We posed this question to a few opticians and a few consumers and we’ll share their feedback soon. Watch this space!
