Lenovo Says It Is Working on a Google Glass Competitor

Lenovo says it is developing a wearable smart glass similar to Google Glass that will have an external battery to be worn on the neck. The device, called C1, will have a five-megapixel camera, voice recognition and gesture control, and around 12GB of internal storage. The price of the new device and details will be available in October.

Lenovo now has two smart glasses in production, the Mission Impossible-type M100 and the Google Glass-like C1. According to the report, the M100 uses Android 4.0.4 and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. It will first go on sale to developers for 8,000 yuan ($1298) in August or September, but its ultimate target is the business market.

A report in PC World says that Lenovo is "also looking for partners to help it develop products ranging from wireless routers to air purifiers for its home market of China." The company wants to partner or even invest in tech companies that work on products beyond its traditional expertise like PCs and smartphones.

(Also See: How Google Glass Can Be the Next Big Thing for Agriculture)

"Right now there are too many devices you can develop for the Internet of Things. It is too rich. Not a single company can do it all," Chen Xudong, Senior Vice-President of Lenovo was quoted as saying.

In a bid to achieve its goal, the company has launched the NBD platform. With NBD, which stands for 'new bench', Lenovo wants to "offer funding, manufacturing, hardware research and other logistical support to partners", the report added.

"We hope to use Lenovo's advantages to combine with innovators," Chen added. "This platform can help them quickly start selling products, and create a supply chain for the market."

Written with inputs from IANS