I’ve been tempted in the past to get some video glasses before but have always been put off by the screen format being so old hat on them 4:3. I’ve had widescreen TV’s and computer monitors for years so it seemed a step backwards. So when I saw the Vuzix iWear AV310 Widescreen Video Eyewear advertised just before Christmas I couldn’t resist the temptation to get them.

These are the first and to the best of my knowledge the only widescreen format video glasses available. Coupled with the fact that they would work with my iPhone 3G out of the box I was sold.

Sadly for me my ever cautious girlfriend refused to buy them for me insisting that they wouldn’t be any good, strain my eyes and that I would be complaining about them within 5 minutes and they’d be resigned to a drawer in their box for eternity. Luckily though my parents didn’t have the same reservations and agreed to get them for me for Christmas.

I’ll be honest and say I didn’t know what to expect and couldn’t really get my head around how they would work. I read that they were the equivalent to a 52″ screen viewed from 9 feet away but as these glasses are right in front of you I didn’t know if it would be difficult to focus on the picture.

Christmas day came and armed with my iPhone with a pre-installed movie on it I had it up and running in about 5 minutes. The iWear AV310 comes with many connectors including an iPhone/iPod connector that just plugs straight into the bottom of it.

I started the movie up and all I can say is wow! It really was like watching a 52 inch screen from 9 feet away. In fact your eyes focus to a point about 9 feet away even though the tiny screens are so close to your eyes and it felt totally natural. You can even get a sense of your surroundings as if you look slightly up or down you can see perfectly everything around you.

The picture and sound quality is quite good. Admittedly it is far from DVD or High Definition quality and I wouldn’t suggest getting one of these to replace your Plasma TV. The two lcd screens are 428 x 240 so blowing that up into such a large screen is going to have an effect on the quality but doesn’t diminish the overall experience.

After a while the iWear glasses were making the rounds around the room and even my ever cautious girlfriend conceded that they were good. Another useful feature on them is the independent +2 to -5 diopter focus adjustment on each screen so even my brother who tells me he is as blind as a bat without his glasses was able to use them and focus on the screen without his glasses.

As a portable unit they are great. I wanted these mainly for long flights and for watching movies lying on the beach but would imagine they’d be great for commuters too.

I got mine from Play.com but I’ve also seen them on Firebox too.

Posted in Gadgets