Earlier this year Baidu revealed that they were working on a wearable headset of their own which was meant to rival the likes of Google Glass. Dubbed the “Eye”, it seems that the device is still in its somewhat early stages of development although the company did reveal additional information about it at Baidu World.
Speaking to The Next Web, Baidu’s Director of International Communications, Kaiser Kuo, mentioned that the Eye was still in its prototype stages, but there are plans to make it available to consumers eventually, although they did point out that the Eye was more of an experiment if anything.
Interestingly enough the unit that Baidu showed off, which you can see in the image above, does not come with a screen unlike Google Glass or other wearable headsets. Baidu claims that by adding a screen, it impairs vision and will also tire the eyes of the wearer. Instead the Eye will pair with smartphones and tablets to provide them with the same functionality.
While this does seem to defeat the purpose of such a device, the upside is that battery of the Eye lasts longer and will also be lighter to wear. The device will also allow users to identify objects and analyze images. According to Kuo, ”You can identify plants, or find products (so far, handbags and articles of clothing) on e-commerce sites. The use case scenarios for now are limited, but we’ve got an enormous data set of clothes, bags, and flora right now.”
No word on when Baidu plans on making it available to the masses, but in the meantime what do you guys think? Is it a little odd that it does not come with a display, or are you digging its display-free look?
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