Next-Gen Android-Fueled Google Glass Takes Fight To HoloLens With $999 Price Tag

With other companies now entering smart eyewear sector -- most notably Microsoft with HoloLens and HoloLens 2 -- Google is back at it again with what it is calling Glass Enterprise Edition 2. This time around, Google has built the glasses on the Android platform, which should help expedite the release of apps that will take advantage of the new hardware.

Speaking of hardware, the Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is running a more powerful SoC. Specifically, it takes advantage of Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR1 platform (10nm, 1.7GHz quad-core CPU) that has been specifically designed for wearable devices. The SoC is paired with 3GB of RAM, 32GB eMMC flash and includes 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. There are three beam-forming microphones onboard and a multi-touch gesture touchpad for navigating the UI.

There's also a new artificial intelligence engine along with big improvements to power efficiency, which means that the eyewear will be able to last longer on a charge. Google has stepped up the quality of the onboard camera and now adds USB-C connectivity with fast-charge support for the 820 mAh battery.

In what is a graduation of sorts, it has also been announced that Glass has now exited the X incubation program. Alphabet's X division is home to experimental "moonshot" projects, which may or may not actually make it to full-scale production status. Now, Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is a fully-fledged member of the Google family.

According to Google, Glass Enterprise Edition 2 will be priced at $999, which greatly undercuts the pricing of the [admittedly more capable] HoloLens 2's $3,500 price tag.