Sony’s SmartEyeglass augmented reality glasses are available for pre-order

Back in September Sony revealed its SmartEyeglass augmented reality glasses to the world, promising that they would be on sale by March. Is it keeping that promise? As it turns out yes it is. The glasses are available for pre-order right now, ready to be shipped next month.

SmartEyeglass itself takes the shape of a pair of glasses that you wear like any other, the only difference being is that it can superimpose text, images, and symbols onto your field of vision. It also comes with a wired remote control, which also houses the device’s battery, NFC, a speaker, and a touch sensor for controlling the display.

Sadly, just like Google Glass and the Oculus Rift, this version of the SmartEyeglass is the developer edition. That means that it’s intended for developers to work with, rather than use by the general public. There’s nothing to stop you from buying one, but you should be warned that SmartEyeglass isn’t a finalised consumer product in its current form.

If you are one of the people who may be interested in tinkering with what SmartEyeglass can do, Sony has also released the software development kit for you to play with. Some of you might prefer just stick with what other people have developed, but you should know that there’s unlikely to be very much of that on day one.

Sony is making the SmartEyeglass available in 10 countries across the world, and anyone in the UK can pre-order it right now for £520 plus VAT —  making a darn sight cheaper than the now defunct Explorer Edition of Google Glass. Anyone who does buy one will also need the companion app, which can be downloaded from Google Play free of charge.