Sony showed a prototype of their SmartEyeGlass back in February when Google was ruling the smart glass market with their Google Glass. There was not a lot to see or compare with other augmented reality glasses as it was just a prototype back then but now that we got to see it in Berlin at the IFA consumer electronics trade show, it’s safe to say that Sony is going to give Google a run for its money.

The SmartEyeGlass looks quite traditional and similar to 3D glasses available for televisions unlike Google Glass. It will act like a secondary Android smartphone screen and will overlay all its information by covering all of the glass whereas Google Glass only shows a small screen which stays in a corner of the glass. As it’s covering the glass completely, you can expect a true augmented reality experience and see the glass annotating the real world. The camera is nicely placed inside the frame instead of outside like Google Glass. To track the movement of the wearer, the camera use compass, accelerometer and gyroscope.

To create a clear green image in front of the wearer, the glass use hologram system and tiny projector which looks like hovering about 2m away. Users can connect the smart glass with their smartphone via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth like most of the other augmented reality glasses to receive heads-up information from different Android apps. An augmented reality app called Wikitude was demonstrated on the show which displayed various landmarks with related information to pinpoint their location as the wearer moves or looks around. There is also a camera based app that can recognize faces and show their names accordingly. These apps are expected to keep the upcoming SmartEyeGlass from Sony ahead of all the other augmented reality glasses. The glass requires using a small handheld control device at the moment which is packed with a battery, microphones for voice recognition, a touch strip and buttons for navigating menu items. However, they are planning to create a form of controller and battery and add them inside the glass before releasing it to the consumers.

That’s all we have learned about the Sony SmartEyeGlass so far. Sony didn’t reveal any information related to price and release date but we are expecting to learn more about this device at CES next year.