Half-priced SeeThru eyewear poses new challenge to Google Glass' augmented reality

The original Google Glass is yet to hit stores, but a new gadget reportedly poses a direct threat to the wearable computing eyewear, providing similar features at less than half the cost.

A small French company called Laster Technologies has come up with SeeThru, a direct augmented-reality challenge to Glass.

Laster CEO Zile Liu said that with augmented reality, the Internet comes to the real world, adding that it brings more efficient information, directly in the field of view, Tech Hive reports.

According to the report, the gadget offers a 800x600 display with a 25 degree diagonal field of view, about twice the display window of Google Glass, and the digital content appears squarely in the middle of wearer's field-of-vision.

Laster plans to make the SeeThru sturdy enough for extreme pastimes other than sightseeing, like providing users with head-up display data while they skateboard, hang glide, sail the seas, and fly airplanes.

Liu noted that augmented reality can't be a 24x7 experience as it takes time to get used to these kinds of glasses, but in situations, like sports, it is particularly beneficial for a new experience.

He further said that final version of SeeThru would be lighter at around 2 ounces, use Google's voice-recognition engine and be sans camera, which reduces cost as well as challenges from privacy advocates.

The report said that the device would connect to a smartphone over Bluetooth and would ship in June for 400 dollars with two apps, one for basic mapping and directions and another to add landmark overlays for sightseers.