Olympus is looking to join Google in the enterprise wearables space with the introduction of new, corporate-geared smartglasses the company calls the EyeTrek Insight EI-10. The system, which includes the glasses themselves, associated apps, and dedicated development tools are, of course, built on the Android platform due to the OS’s open-source nature. It would be fair to say that the consumer side of the smartglasses market has utterly failed to take off in a meaningful way, at least for now. With that said, the variety of enterprise uses for these kinds of wearable systems means that they have fared much better in that market. They can be used as an assistive device in a wide range of tasks from managing logistics to quickly referencing a repair manual for on-site equipment. The price tag for EyeTrek Insight, meanwhile, isn’t about to break the bank either since Olympus says the cost should come in at around $1,500 – compared to the higher price of Google’s setup. While EyeTrek certainly isn’t without its own caveats, that alone could make it an appealing choice for use in the enterprise market.
As to the glasses themselves, the components aren’t necessarily bleeding edge technology. For starters, it’s powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 chipset and Android version 4.2. It also only has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. Considering the devices are meant to be linked either via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to an overall enterprise system, with custom applications made using the above-mentioned custom creation tools, that shouldn’t present much of a problem. The smartglasses also feature a camera, 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyro, and 3-axis magnetic field sensors, and some buttons for opening up new interactive opportunities through those applications, in addition to official accessories that allow for voice input. Meanwhile, the whole set is powered by a 300mAh removable battery pack which is charged via micro-USB in a charger capable of providing juice to five batteries at once. Depending on use, Olympus says the packs only last around a half-hour to an hour but that should be plenty of time for a large number of enterprise tasks to be completed and the batteries can be swapped out with relative ease. Setting all of that aside, the wearable also features the ability to easily migrate between certified safety glasses and either standard or perscription frames.
EyeTrek Insight EI-10 may not be the latest and greatest in mobile technology, but it definitely seems as though it could serve any number of purposes in the enterprise realm. That should suit Olympus just fine since that is, after all, the intended purpose for the product and enterprise is currently the only real market for eye-bound wearables – despite the best efforts of several companies to push them more into the mainstream.