They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And Baidu, a Chinese-language search engine, has taken the phrase to heart, producing Google Glass-like eyewear.
"Baidu Eye," is the internal code name for a wearable device that features speech recognition for Mandarin, as well as image search, which pulls up relevant information based on a photo. Baidu's director of international communications, Kaiser Kuo, confirmed its existence to Mashable Wednesday, after several reports about Eye emerged on Chinese tech sites over the last few days.
While Kuo said Eye is a different product from Glass in terms of functionality, he admitted it's similar in that the device is also an "ocular wearable interface." For its part, Glass is a pair of augmented-reality glasses that includes a heads-up display, works through voice command and can take pictures.
For now, Baidu is not going to productize Eye, but will evaluate the device to see if it has market potential, Kuo said. "We're doing some internal testing on it now on a small scale, and evaluating where this goes from here. That's why we didn't make any public official announcement on this."
He added that the company only decided to comment publicly after inaccurate details about Eye popped up in some reports รข€" a snafu that can be blamed on "an April Fool's prank gone awry."
A Sina Tech article (via Tech in Asia) inaccurately reported Monday that Baidu is working with Qualcomm to give Eye a battery life of 12 hours or above.
Kuo also confirmed that a photo of Baidu Eye circulating online is the real deal, and was taken in the company's offices. Check it out, below.
For its part, Google Glass could arrive as early as the end of this year, and will be priced at less than $1,500 when it goes on sale.
What's your view on a Chinese version of Google Glass? Tell us in the comments, below.
Image courtesy of Sina Tech; homepage image courtesy of Google
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