Google Glass Release Date Draws Nearer as Samsung Patents Possible Rival

It's probably not a big surprise, but South Korean IT giant Samsung looks to be preparing to challenge Google on the smartglasses front, patenting its own wearable computing "sports glasses" design in Korea.

Samsung's Glass?

The company, which recently released its first Galaxy Gear smartwatch, mostly to thundering indifference, is reportedly looking to take another stab at the wearable computing market with its own smartglasses. As discovered by the Wall Street Journal (via theVerge), the patents describe a pair of sports glasses with a front panel that holds a camera and HUD, along with side buttons and built-in earphones.

"This design is of a type [of glasses] with earphones integrated, allowing [users] to take phone calls and listen to music during workouts," said a memo that accompanied sketches of the possible Samsung smartglasses. Like Google Glass, the ostensible Samsung glasses would display information and offer some interactivity, as it is paired with a smartphone. Unlike Google Glass, the Samsung glasses appear to have wires running down each earpiece, connecting in the back and seemingly plugging directly into the smartphone.

Like the Google Glass competitor Recon, which is already on the market with a $600 pair of smartglasses geared towards professional and serious athletes, Samsung's possible smartglasses look like they emphasize making sports activities smarter. Of course, like with all patents, these particular smartglasses could very well never exist, even if they're currently under preliminary development by Samsung. Or they could make it out of the development process looking completely different.

Still, as Samsung plans its future (and presented some of those plans earlier this week), wearable technology is certainly on its to-do list. For example, part of why Samsung is working on static, bended displays is as a step towards dynamically flexible screens, which are perfect for wearables.

And as the premium smartphone market increasingly looks saturated, IT companies like Samsung, Apple, and LG are looking for the next big market to conquer, and, perhaps for its promise or for lack of a better idea, wearable computing seems to be it.

Google Glass Takes Steps Toward Release

Meanwhile, Google Glass remains the most anticipated wearable smartglasses in development, and the Mountain View company recently took some steps towards an eventual 2014 release to consumers. Announced on Glass's Google+ account, Google is giving existing Glass Explorers the option to swap out their existing Explorer edition Glass for a new one "later this year." The hardware update gives you the option of putting in "future lines" of sunglasses and prescription frames, along with a mono earbud.

In addition, those Explorers will have the opportunity to invite up to three friends to join the Explorer program, greatly expanding the number of people you might see wearing the smartglasses on the street and signaling that Google is getting closer to a public release.

Finally, and most bizarrely, two barges have appeared off the northwest and northeast coasts of the U.S., and they've been tipped as being high-end, reconfigurable, floating showrooms put together by Google[X] to showcase the new Glass to potential customers. Google hasn't confirmed this, but it hasn't denied it either.