Next Generation Of Glass Dubbed 3.0 In The Works At Google

Even though Google Glass hasn’t been yet released on the consumer market, we’ve already started to pick up here and there, small talks about Google Glass 3.0. Either people are too excited about the device, or Glass is preparing a big surprise for us. This week there were a lot of discussions regarding a third version of Glass, so we decided to sum the most relevant of them.

First of all, there are rumors concerning a business deal between Google and Crystal Optech. One of Crystal Optech’s researchers, Kong Wenjun has put out there some information regarding Glass optical coatings and other components they have been sending to Google’s Research and Development Department. The not so surprising thing about them is that they’re also working on a Glass-like polarization splitting screen.

However, there is a third company involved in this deal, a video eyewear company from Israel, but we don’t know its name. And we don’t know yet if Google or Crystal Optech is directly working with them; or if both of them are. The main supposition is that this Israel-based company would be actually the well-known Lumus Company, which is helping Google work on their next Glass version.

Lumus is also working on a pair of smart-glasses, first released back in 2012, the DK 32. Since then, they keep working on it and releasing new iterations. The first model was pretty uncomfortable to use, hard to manage and used full glass projection, not only a small screen, as seen on Google Glass.

During CES 2014, Lumus announced a new eyewear model, the DK40, which features Android software and uses the standard eyeglass to project the content. Some of the rumors mention that Google has been through a series of negotiations with Lumus, but nothing was put on paper yet. After all, the company is small and wouldn’t be yet capable of delivering parts in the quantities Google would need after releasing Glass.

But who knows, maybe in the near future Google will buy Lumus; you know the new saying: if you can’t beat them, join them… or buy them. Google would definitely need the talent and professionals existent in the Israel-based company, especially after losing a precious employee to Facebook.

If the rumors regarding Google Glass 3.0 are true, we might hear more about the subject during this year’s Google I\O event. And if the next Google Glass version is curently being built, we just hope that at least this one won’t have the same short life battery issues as its predecessor.