Promising Google Glass Competitor Unveiled

Move over Google Glass: a little-known Seattle-based outfit called Innovega just announced a set of smart contact lenses that pair with a special set of mega-pixel panoramic eyeglasses to deliver a fully immersive HUD display.

While the company’s iOptik system is still a prototype (in fact, the company intends to license the technology rather than sell to consumers), it is arguably one of the first Glass competitors looking to offer a unique augmented reality experience as opposed to cloning Mountain View’s wearable.

The glasses work via built-in micro-projectors and pair with a set of contact lenses that Innovega says will also include a corrective function. 

“At last year's CES event we demonstrated new eyewear optics that offered to the wearer a clear and simultaneous view of both their personal digital media and of their immediate surroundings,” said Innovega co-founder and CEO, Steve Willey in a press statement. “The big news for 2014 is that our team has succeeded in advancing the platform from feasibility demonstration to wearable, contact lens-enabled, full-function, mega-pixel eyewear. Though 2013 represented an exciting launch of 'wearable technology' and 'the Internet of things', neither will gain traction without development of powerful user interfaces.”

Innovega’s iOptik glasses offer a clear benefit over Google Glass in that they utilize a lot more real estate to display a whole lot more stuff. Google Glass is basically limited to one app at a time. In addition to multitasking, the company also boasts that users will be able to play “truly immersive” video games and watch movies that mimic an IMAX screen.

"Innovega was founded to solve a problem that has continued to frustrate consumers: The quality and quantity of digital media available from mobile devices exceeds the capability of conventional, tiny mobile displays,” Wiley said. "The display industry has attempted to respond to the small mobile screen bottleneck in their design of either light-weight, head-worn 'glance-able' infotainment displays that in keeping with their size, fail to deliver a compelling media experience, or by designs that do deliver performance but fail to meet consumer demand for comfort, convenience and style.”

Don’t expect to see the iOptik system in stores any time soon. Innovega says it plans to submit its contact lenses for FDA approval either later this year or in early 2015.