E-Ink Goggles Let You Enjoy A Book In Bed Hands-Free
Image via Sol Reader
AR/VR headsets are typically designed with gamers in mind. Bookworms, on the other hand, have been missing out.
If you fall in the latter camp, there’s no need to read it and weep. One startup is developing an e-reader for your face that resembles virtual-reality goggles but are laced with E-Ink paper.
For now, details about the new Sol Reader, which had its prototype previewed at CES 2023, are scant. What’s clear is that, instead of transporting you into an immersive 3D world, it projects book pages through pancake lenses constructed with that lovely electronic paper that’s easy on the eyes and makes reading enjoyable. Also, you can’t walk around in these as all they show is text.
YouTuber Brad Lynch of the SadlyItsBradley channel had a first glimpse of the lightweight gadget, which weighs under 100 grams. The Sol Reader uses a glasses frame instead of a head strap, and it’s ideal for reading while lying in bed. Lynch, who sometimes falls asleep with a VR headset on, says you won’t feel the weight of the goggles on your neck at all.
To turn a page, you simply have to click a button on the accompanying wireless remote. Thanks to the low-energy nature of electronic paper, the glasses can survive up to 30 hours on a single charge.
All things considered, the expected cost for the Sol Reader is rather steep, and it’s said to warrant a price tag of US$350 when it launches sometime this year. As it stands, Lynch says you won’t exactly be paying for the premium quality seen on the Kindle, since Sol’s resolution on the screen isn’t the best. That should change eventually, as the goggles’ creators note that they’ve been in talks with E Ink on working with a display based on a more advanced e-paper.
[via Gizmodo, SadlyItsBradley, Sol Reader, cover image via Sol Reader]
