Three weeks ago I met with Paul Travers, Founder and CEO of AR glasses maker Vuzix, to talk about the much anticipated upcoming release of the new Vuzix Blade, their first hybrid consumer - enterprise monocular display. The new Blade is light and easy to use. Vuzix has done a brilliant job of integrating intuitive easy to learn and easy to use touch control on the wings.
I’ve been using the pre-release version of the Blade for several weeks now and can honestly say it’s the only piece of AR Hardware (aside from my Pixel 2) that I have gone back to several times. In short, it’s a great, wearable heads-up display that will show you anything on your phone. Naturally, the Blade apps are the strongest, but other apps could easily be integrated and optimized to display the bite-size information the Blade seems to like best.
There were a few promised features not yet available that should dramatically improve the Blade experience. Google Assistant integration, Maps, and video streaming from a large provider (Vuzix asked me to withhold their name until the ink is dry on the deal). The demo clip from Zootopia included with my Blade shows off the Blade’s incredible video quality. However, it’s not yet ready for prescription lenses, so that will prevent users like me from doing much more than watching video while walking the dog.
Without these apps, my vision Rx, and living with it for most of the day, I can’t say for sure how the Blade will appeal to average consumers. It’s a promising approach, focused on what the tech does well now. Travers told me the company plans to iterate its AR glasses the way Apple did with the iPhone. Personally, can’t wait for my golf rangefinder to get integrated.
What the Blade does now it does well. The monocular display feels binocular. The Blade is a solid product, not a demo, thoughtfully designed, made in Rochester, NY, and clearly ready for prime time. It’s a swiss army knife of AR headwear that seems to ready for almost any job.
If you’re attending CES next week you can check out the Blade for yourself in the Vuzix booth (Tech East LVCC, Central Hall - #15036).
The $999.99 Blade will be released at the end of January, but you can pre-order it today on the Vuzix web site. The company can only make a few thousand of these a month right now, so chop chop or you might have to wait in line.
