Google Glass vs. Glass Up

By Robin Sinha

Image Courtesy: www.google.com/ glass / www.glassup.net

Seen only in futuristic science-fiction movies, augmented reality is soon to come into the market of eye gears for the common man.

Google Glass, the latest spectacles that people are going gung-ho about these days, is one of the most unique next-generation devices. It is a wearable computer that interfaces with your smartphone to perform all its functions via interactive voice-commands and hands-free.

Image Courtesy: www.google.com/glass

Google, however, is not alone in this market. A group of experienced developers have made a cheaper, less hyped about, but a more stylish device called Glass Up with features similar to the Google Glass.

Image Courtesy: www.google.com/glass

Analogous in design, both the glasses are stylish in their own unique ways. Google Glass is frameless with a little screen on the top right-hand corner coupled with a touch pad, a camera and a USB-port, which fits right behind the wearer’s ear, making the device look formal yet smart.

Image Courtesy: www.glassup.net

Glass Up is a little more stylish with the colour red trendily highlighting the frame. Unlike Google Glass, Glass Up uses a small projector fitted in the right side of the frame; this displays the data on the main tinted glasses - the design style reportedly used to merely cut down the cost of mounting a separate screen.

Image Courtesy: www.glassup.net

The question that arises however is - will Glass Up give Google Glass any competition?

With its brand name, Google is set to rule the market, which it might consider monopolistic. However, Glass Up targets the budgeted crowd, who want the fancy-feature device but not the high cost it entails. Though the device, with its low cost technology, may be able to attract a large audience that can’t afford Google’s high priced product, it might take some time to build a name as big as Google’s.

Presently, both the devices are undergoing tests and fighting a patent war. Once that ends, we’ll soon see, which one of the two comes out victorious.