Remember back in the 1950s when people liked to speculate about technology of the future? Wild ideas such as flying cars, spaceships and television screens in sunglasses were widespread in popular culture TV shows and… wait a moment, we actually do have one of those things right now.
The new Vuzix Wrap 310 is essentially a pair of funky-looking shades equipped with a small television screen in each eye. Fresh from America and recently released to the UK market, the Wrap 310, under the re-tinkered with alias of the Wrap 280, sold out pretty soon after it appeared on Vuzix’s site, with each pair selling for a hefty 180 pounds a pop.
To summarize, the 310, or 280 in Britain, offers movies and video on the go, and with the iPhone attachment you can freely roam your various iPod video libraries at your leisure. As well as this, glasses do offer privacy, letting you watch your more dubious videos away from the prying eyes of co-workers and other passengers on the tube, giving the user complete exclusion from the outside world. Is this a good thing though, as you may miss important announcements or not notice when the local kids are about to perform a prank on you as you sit aboard the tube.
While the 310 offers an incredibly large screen ahead of your eyes, the quality of the video output sadly falls a bit short, the picture polluted with horizontal lines and the image itself feeling very far away, described as ‘Like watching the biggest TV in the world from ten miles away while standing at the other end of a huge corridor.’ I get that Vuzix are a company whose other applications include military and medical usage, and that the quality is probably adequate for those applications, but the average user might be a little put off. No matter, as the screen, no matter what problems might arise, is more than large enough to satisfy those with the largest LCD TV sets waiting at home. The sound quality isn’t half bad either, with high-end in-ear headphones that minimize the amount of flex used to keep tangles or getting caught to a minimum.
While rooting around in the 310’s box looking for something to write about, I came across a mysterious cable, consisting of a jack that apparently connects to the glasses, and three mysterious other cables. On closer inspection, they turned out to be a set of red-white-yellow RCA input, so not only does the Vuzix connect to the iPod family of products, but it can also connect to… well, everything. For example, a hardcore gamer, equipped with a bandolier of AA batteries to keep his trusty 310 glasses going, could in theory plug his lightweight and portable (And decidedly retro…) Nintendo 64 console into his 310 and play privately wherever a plug socket is to be found. This also applies to compact DVD players or even the Playstation 2 slimline. Wow.
So to recap, the Vuzix Wrap 310 offers a huge screen, quite decent playback, good sound and the ability to bring along fond favourite games consoles to anywhere with a plug socket. Next time I’m in the airport, I’m bringing some AA batteries, my PS2 slim and the trusty Vuzix Wrap 310s for some departure gate gaming!
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