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The user

Portable technology has come incredibly far of late – so much so that many users are not aware of what their devices are truly capable of doing.

The iWear range enables users to overcome the limitations and eye-strain of small screens to watch video content on a mobile or other compatible device. As such the target market for such a device is as broad and far-reaching as those products; anyone with a passion for film or who finds peering into the miniature views these products offer will benefit from the cinematic experience iWear provides.

Vuzix’s iWear range is designed for almost any form of video-enabled mobile device including many of the latest mobile phones – i.e. Nokia N95 – video iPods iPhones other media players gaming devices portable DVD players and even laptops. It can genuinely change the way movies are watched and enjoyed and can tap into immense resources of online content such as BBC’s iPlayer.

These state of the art video glasses deliver the same experience as watching movies on a large plasma display yet they are small enough to be carried around in a pocket. With the 920000 pixel screen capable of displaying 16 million colours the AV920 offers the user an unrivalled clear viewing experience.

From user feedback a broad range of user types and applications have been identified:

- Frequent travelers (business or leisure)
- Train car (back set) or airplane who have an iPod Video Portable DVD
- Gamers - Portable Game Systems (e.g. PSP) and consoles as well (e.g. Wii XBox etc.)
- Users of iPods Zunes Archos Creative etc. media players
- Cellular phones (iPhone Nokia N95/93/82 Samsung etc.)

The availability of content and ease of downloading and streaming the appearance of TV Out on more and more mobile phones as well as the ubiquity of the iPod and iPhone have driven the sales of iWear particularly in the past 6-8 months.

The experience

The Vuzix iWear AV920 is the first interactive video eyewear that incorporates immersive big-screen 3D, head tracking, built-in microphone and audio.

Vuzix’s Heritage

Vuzix has leveraged 10+ years of development directed toward military and industrial applications into products for the consumer sector. As a result they have achieved an extremely high quality and natural user experience. Advanced functions include 5th generation optics, on-screen video and audio controls, electronics and software on board for video quality optimisation (including video decoding, scaling and up-scanning).

The Product

The AV920, with its 62-inch virtual screen and twin 640 x 480 high resolution LCD displays, brings video content to life for all electronics devices with video-out connections. Weighing just 2.9 ounces, the ergonomically designed AV920 is fully adjustable and includes an AccuTilt™ viewer that pivots up to 15 degrees up and down. The design allows for use with or without glasses. The speakers on the AV920 can even be moved out of the way or removed completely for users who want to plug in their own high-end audiophile or noise-cancelling headphones. The AV920 also supports iWear 3D™. The iWear AV920 is designed to connect to almost all NTSC or PAL audio/video devices with video out capabilities.

Vuzix’s iWear AV920 is part of a product family of high resolution Video eyewear that has various levels of options for numerous viewing uses. The iWear products solve the main challenges when viewing high-resolution video and digital information on portable devices with small screens.

The AV920 brings advanced optics and LCD display technology to the masses in a truly portable form factor. With the availability and popularity of video content on most portable devices the market has been crying out for a product that allows you to view content in a more immersive way.

iWear can for example be used with PC’s and most console game machines. There is already a following of users of iWear with the Nintendo Wii and another model of iWear (VR920) supports stereographic 3D and head tracking for movement, pointing and scene scanning in many existing PC game titles such as Flight Simulator, World of Warcraft and many others. Head motion and/or 3D is also supported for many of the virtual world environments such as Second Life.

The AV920 supports iWear 3D™ which enables the user to view all standard 3D content, such as games and the movie Beowulf, in stereoscopic 3D. This feature is unique to Vuzix’s consumer product range and produces a breathtaking and immersive user experience.

Availability

The AV920 was launched in the UK on 3rd December 2007 and is available from a dedicated UK website and directly to the end user at www.vuzix.co.uk

Major online webshops such as Expansys and Firebox promote and sell Vuzix Products (see: http://www.firebox.com/product/2029)

Finally 3UK has launched the AV920 in their top 3Stores across the UK for use with 3 content and mobile phones.

Awards and the future

New products introduced by Vuzix have received Innovation and Design Awards at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every year since 2005 (2005 – 2008). Also, Vuzix was one of two companies nominated for an award for Innovation in Mobile Devices at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this past February.

New product releases planned for the second half of 2008 include:
- Improved product design – sunglasses styling
- 16:9 widescreen iWear
- Higher resolution, high end iWear – SVGA (800X600)
- 5th Generation Quantum optics enabling slimmer design while improving display quality
- World’s first consumer iWear to support the augmented reality applications:
- Truly see-through for geo-spatial applications
- Context relevant info, images and ‘moving’ maps
- Location based marketing
- Interesting gaming and video applications