When comparing Seebright Wave vs Carl Zeiss Smart Glass, the Slant community recommends Carl Zeiss Smart Glass for most people. In the question“What are the best smart glasses?” Carl Zeiss Smart Glass is ranked 5th while Seebright Wave is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Carl Zeiss Smart Glass is:
Instead of shining light directly into your eyes, the light simply reflects off the glass, meaning its less obtrusive.
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Pros
Pro Affordable
While no final cost figures are available yet, the most expensive components (CPU, GPU, display, camera) are absent - these will be provided through a smartphone which will be mounted in the Wave. This allows the Wave to attain an affordable pricepoint when compared to other smartglasses.
The Kickstarter campaign was priced around $150, however typically retail prices are higher than Kickstarter prices.
Pro Reflective display
Instead of shining light directly into your eyes, the light simply reflects off the glass, meaning its less obtrusive.
Pro Adaptable technology
The technology used in the Carl Zeiss Smart Glasses project can be transferred to normal glasses, or wherever curved glass is present. This solves the fundamental issue with Google Glass, which required an out-of-place flat piece of glass to function.
Pro Low-profile
The glasses look very much like regular, non-smart glasses.
Cons
Con Smartphone powered
A smartphone needs to be inserted into the Wave for it to function. The CPU, GPU, display and camera of the phone will be used to provide most of the functions of the Wave. This provides certain limitations however - the display of a smartphone isn't designed for AR or VR, and current implementations can't take advantage of the display's full resolution (edges will be cut off and warped to provide the field of view required by the eyepieces). Processing power and battery life will be limited by the phone as well - even the highest end current smartphones have trouble sometimes keeping up with the current VR solutions. This could be solved in part by new mobile CPUs and GPUs that will be available by 2017, such as the Snapdragon 821.
Con Not launching until 2017
The Innovator Edition is expected to launch in 2017, however this will be intended for developers. There is no date for expected consumer versions yet.
Con Hardware only (for now)
Carl Zeiss is a company that makes optics, and doesn't work on software. This is only a hardware solution, with no software implementation yet. Currently Carl Zeiss is seeking a software partner, however this will take time for them to develop a complete product once they do find a suitable partner.
Con Not yet available
These glasses are currently in prototype stage. It's not clear when and even if they will go into production.