Thalmic Labs, the wearables company & producer of the $200 Myo armband, has rebranded & will now go by the name ‘North’. The Ontario-based startup recently unveiled its new product – a holographic Alexa powered smart glasses named Focals.
The announcement confirmed rumors that have been making the rounds since last month that the Amazon-backed company which raised a whopping $120 million in funding 2 years ago is working on new smart glasses. North had earlier revealed that it was discontinuing the production of its innovative Myo armband in order to focus fully on its new product.
The custom-built sports lenses, Focals come with an in-built display which allows you to view information from your mobile device like messages & notifications, weather forecasts, directions & a lot more. In addition to these, integration with Alexa makes it possible for Focals to perform some basic functions as well as ordering an Uber, getting calendar notifications & so on.
The smart glasses will be able to connect via Bluetooth to both Android & iOS devices & will also require a small ring which North calls ‘Loop’ which will allow the user to interact with the spectacles by clicking it. Focals inbuilt computer is embedded in 1 of the spectacles’ temples & displays to the glasses via a small retinal projector that protrudes from its side & displays directly to your field of view. There is also a mic for asking Alexa questions & a little speaker from which information can be broadcasted to you as well.
Focals is now available for preorder. Interested buyers have 3 color options black, grey or tortoise to choose from. The glasses also come in 2 styles; classic or round. However, unlike most smart gadgets that you can purchase Online, you will need to book an appointment & visit 1 of the North’s showrooms in Brooklyn or Toronto to get Focals since each pair of spectacles has to be customized for its wearer.
This isn’t the 1st time a company is attempting to make smart glasses; Google Glass wasn’t able to generate much popularity. However, North claims to have corrected some of the mistakes of its predecessors & hopes to create glasses everyone would love & want to wear.
Image credit: North
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