Living in an Augmented Reality

I have to admit I’m both optimistic and pessimistic at the same time about the Vuzix Wrap 920AV that was annouced at CES this year.  

Displays from companies like this (we have a bunch of them) are pretty low end, and haven’t really been suitable for virtual reality and augmented reality.  These ones are intriguing, though.  With see-through optics, they might actually be useful for “everyday” AR;  with two cameras and an (even cheap) orientation sensor, more interesting things might be possible! 

Of course, the proof will be in the implementation, not the specs or press.  If the cameras and orientation sensor are poor quality, if the field of view is too narrow, if they are uncomfortable, if the optics suck … any of these things will kill it.

But, we’ll probably still buy a bunch to play with.  Too bad they won’t give me a pre-release one soon!