Omni-Wearables is tapping Kickstarter’s crowdfunding community to get its Active Sunglasses produced. The Omni-Wearable FaceShot is a pair of smart sunglasses that combines sun protection for your eyes as well as an integrated action camera to capture life’s greatest moments. Unlike smart glasses of the past, like Google Glass, Omni-Wearables claims that its foldable design keeps the camera portion safely stowed when not in use and helps protect the privacy of those around the user.
In the outdoors, sunglasses are typically worn throughout the day, which means that the camera on the Omni-Wearable FaceShot is always accessible in an instant should you need to begin recording. The process is advertised as more instantaneous than pulling a smartphone out of your pocket and launching the camera to begin capturing video and image files. With the Omni-Wearable Active Sunglasses, you just need to flip out the camera arm, which is mounted right on the temple of the sunglasses, to begin recording. A privacy LED light will blink red to indicate that the camera is in use, and you can tilt the camera up or down to get the best shot. Once you’re done capturing your video, just flip the camera back to stow it flush with the temple.
In use, the design is not that unlike that of the Oakley smart glasses, but rather than earbuds extending from the temple to listen to music, the Omni-Wearable FaceShot comes with an integrated foldable camera that is capable of recording either full HD 1080p video at 30 frames per second, or 720p resolution video files at 60 frames per second with a 120-degree field of view. The latter, Omni-Wearables says, is good for slow motion video. The glasses store videos to a removable micro SD card, and they can be recharged with a micro USB cable. Additionally, the Omni-Wearable Active Sunglasses are also rated as water-resistant. Omni-Wearable is asking for $199 for a single pair of its connected sunglasses through its Super Early Bird Kickstarter promotion, and there are bundles for a set of two pairs or four pairs of glasses if you need to outfit your group with a wearable action camera on your next outdoor adventure. Proceeds from the Kickstarter campaign will be used to finance a large production run. Omni-Wearables expects to have the glasses shipped to early backers sometime in December 2017, but as with all crowdfunding campaigns, there is a certain degree of risk that you’re taking on by backing a project. When the glasses hit retail, Omni-Wearables expects to charge $299.