Lenovo’s Smart Glasses Are Powered by a Neck Battery

Lenovo NBD Smart Glasses

One of the main downsides of any wearable is the execrable battery life, and until scientists will provide us with sources of infinite power, we need to find solutions to keep our gadgets up and running. Lenovo thought that a battery that’s positioned around your neck should do the trick for its newly announced smart glasses.

Showcased a fortnight ago, the Lenovo smart glasses are this Chinese computing giant’s first step in the wearable tech industry. In terms of popularity, smart glasses are not as huge as smartwatches, but that doesn’t mean that manufacturers shouldn’t look for ways to make them unique. In Lenovo’s case, one of the innovations is represented by the neck battery, which adds another wearable item to the glasses. Since its capacity is larger than in the case of say Google Glass, the stand-by time should be considerably longer.

On the upside, Lenovo’s smart glasses can attached to prescription spectacles, as they don’t have a frame of their own. In terms of design though, it probably would’ve been better had they made the smart glasses a bit more discreet. The bulkiness does not translate into a heavy wearable, but it still might be a bit cumbersome to wear them.

As the operating system, these smart glasses run Android 4.0.4, which is handled quite well by the 1GHz dual-core CPU. Other than that, not much is known about the technical specs of this gadget.

Chen Xudong, Lenovo senior VP, said that “Right now there are too many kinds of devices you can develop for the Internet of Things. It’s too rich. Not one company can do it all.” The NBD platform developed by Lenovo will help the company’s partners to manufacture devices for the Internet of Things, while also providing them with funding and hardware research. Chen added that “We hope to use Lenovo’s advantages to combine with innovators. This platform can help them quickly start selling products, and create a supply chain for the market.”

M100, as Lenovo’s smart glasses developed in collaboration with Vuzix are called, should launch in August or September in China. The price of approximately $1,300 is a bit smaller than of Google Glass, but it’s still a bit steep for people looking to buy their first wearable.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Samsung Tizen OS smart glasses, and the Atheer One smart glasses that enable 3D interaction with Android apps.

Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 hands-on at CES 2013 (update: now with video!)

Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 handson

The wearables market is becoming a growing obsession here at CES 2013 -- and it's been the first chance we've got to handle the Vuzix M100 -- its new lightweight set of smartglasses. It'll have some stiff competition from Google's incoming effort, although the premise is a little different -- less augmented reality, more a wearable smart screen that pairs to your tablet or smartphone. We've got a brief video and our first impressions after the break.

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V-Moda ships its listener-influenced Crossfade M-100 headphones

VModa ships its listenerinfluenced M100 headphones

V-Moda's Crossfade M-100 headphones represent a rare experiment that suggests some of the listeners themselves are the best designers. We're about to learn whether practice matches theory now that the over-ears are shipping. Those who spend $310, slightly more than the originally promised $300, should get a black or white body, an in-line microphone remote and a set of removable shields to tailor the look. V-Moda justifies the price mostly through a more refined sound than the M-80 as well as as a folding, dual-input design that's built for traveling and sharing. A pair of M-100s is expensive relative to some off-the-shelf headphones, but potential customers may already know whether or not they're buying -- many of them had a hand in the venture, after all.

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Source: V-Moda

V-Moda’s M-100 audiophile headphones get ready for mass production, we go ears-on

VModa's M100 audiophile headphones get ready for mass production, we go ears on

V-Moda's been seriously edging for the audiophile crowd lately -- namely with its Crossfade M-80 on-ear headphones, the VAMP headphone amp for the iPhone 4/4S, and a soon-to-be disclosed followup dubbed as Vamp Versa. That brings us to its soon-to-be released M-100 headphones, which haven't really been a secret since their inception, making them a special set. Unlike many companies who strive for secrecy in regards to upcoming products, V-Moda's taken a drastically different approach with its latest cans, with owner Val Kolton stating that they're effectively the first crowd-sourced set of headphones.

Many headphone lovers out there likely know that Kolton's been heavily in contact with the Head-Fi community, hoping to craft the best sounding, looking and fitting ear-gear possible. As he puts it, "the easter egg and inside joke is that the [M-100 headphones] can actually stand up. It is the first headphone that we know of that 'stands above the rest' and all others fall down/crawl. It also can stand on top of a few other new brand's models almost like Cirque De Soleil." It may be hard to tell based on the fashion-focused looks, but the company is adamant that its audio gear goes through more stringent research and testing than some of the biggest names out there, and that it'll show in the end products. Most notably, its TrueHertz testing where, for the M-100, "six points from 5hZ to 12kHz are measured to be within [its] obsessive quality control levels." According to Kolton, most companies only check at 1Khz, and allow for much wider variances. He followed up stating that "like fine wine, a headphone is only as good as its fit (taste buds) and its driver variances (grapes/cork). To us, all brands advertising 'HD' sound [aren't being forthright] unless they believe or even know these key components are "'fugazi.'"

For perspective, the M-100 is essentially the third iteration of the Crossfade LP over-ear headphones. Aside from a few tweaks to the design, it's packing an audiophile-focused tuning (rather than DJ) that's based on blending the voicings of its M-80 on-ears and the LP2 over-ears. It wouldn't be unfair to say the company is aiming for a flat, yet fun sound -- all in a package that's fit to take to the streets like its earlier offerings. Those familiar may know that just under 150 of the first 200 production-quality models are currently floating around as early stock and test units for a final bit of real-world feedback before mass-production begins -- and this editor's been lucky enough to get his mitts on a set for some initial impressions. So, is the product shaping up to match all the hype? Click on past the break our take.

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V-Moda's M-100 audiophile headphones get ready for mass production, we go ears-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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