The Vuzix Blade Smart AR Glasses were released back in February, and at the time they were nothing special. Thanks to a plethora of updates and partnering companies, the smart glasses have quickly become one of the best AR headsets on market.
Before Vuzix made this deal with Amazon, they struck a deal with Verizon and Zio to make this headset have the ability to give real-time translations for Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Simply select the language you are going to hear, and the words will typed out on the screen for you. This is only a small sample size of what these glasses can do for you. Remember EDITH from Spider-Man Far From Home? Its almost like those glasses, just a little less stylish. And you can’t shoot your school bus with missiles from your glasses.
With Alexa built into the glasses, she is going to be able to take voice commands and display the information on the screen in front of you. Although Amazon and Alexa aren’t exactly compatible with Apple, any iPhone that can be paired with the Vuzix will still be optimized for your experience. The Vuzix app is still available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. You are going to be able to pair your smartphone with your headset so texts, calls, and even emails can appear on your AR display.
“The custom Alexa application developed by Vuzix has been certified by Amazon, paving the way for the Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses to become an Alexa Built-in smart glasses device,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix, in an official release. “The software team at Vuzix worked closely with the Alexa team at Amazon to offer a complete Alexa integration to Vuzix Blade customers. Now that we have the Vuzix Blade available for easy purchase on Amazon.com, we see this offering as the ideal method to make available Amazon Alexa’s cloud-based voice services to Vuzix smart glasses.”
Along with the Alexa announcement, Vuzix now has a built-in app for DJI drones. This will give owners of these drones the ability to control their flying craft without the need of a smartphone or tablet. This will be compatible with the Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, and the Spark Drones. As long as you have wifi, you are going to have access to simple controls and a camera view of the drone all in front of your eyes.
“Drones are being used across multiple vertical markets including security, first responders, insurance, inspection, manufacturing, field service and by consumers,” added Travers. “DJI controls a significant share of the drone market and the integration of the DJI Drone app for the Blade opens up additional adjacent markets for the Blade to be used as a hands-free visual aid eliminating the need for a smartphone or tablet.”
The drone announcement was made today along with the Alexa release. It has been a big day for Vuzix as they hope and expect these announcements will push sales going forward. The AR Smart glasses are something extraordinary, and for a price of $699, you are going to get everything you would expect in modern day augmented reality.
