China's largest internet search company, Baidu, unveiled a new wearable called Baidu Eye in competition with Google's Glass eyewear.
Baidu is challenging the world leader in internet search with a new wearable gadget rivaling Google Glass. Disrupting Google's dominance in the wearable arena, Baidu unveiled a working prototype of Baidu Eye.
Baidu showed off the new eyewear tech at its annual Technology Innovation Conference in Beijing Wednesday. Baidu Eye has features similar to the highly advanced Google Glass with a few alterations. It is to be worn like a wraparound headset that sits on top of the wearer's ears. An earpiece goes into the left ear, and a camera is fitted on the right arm to take photos, recognize objects, analyze information and search , Mashable reported. It can be paired with a smartphone and offers features like voice recognition and gesture commands.
"We found that screens impair vision and tire your eyes easily," the company's director of international communications, Kaiser Kuo, told Tech in Asia. "Instead, we tether it to a smartphone app, so you can receive information on your phone screen (or your tablet, or another device) which is larger and easier to browse on than a small, head-mounted screen. It also uses much less energy, and the battery lasts much longer. Its design is very light in the front, and of course people who wear eyeglasses can use it easily."
The Baidu Eye lacks the screen or optical display found in Goolge Glass.
The new Google Glass rival is still in a test phase. Baidu Eye lacks several functions, but the company hopes to add several functions like taking photos and videos. The pricing and availability details are yet to be finalized.
