Ever missed your big-screen TV while travelling? Well, here comes Vuzix, with its Wrap 1200 right out of a Sci-Fi flick, which recreates your home theater experience on the go. With a design like a wrap-around pair of jet black glasses the Wrap 1200 simulates a 75 inch screen as seen from 10 feet.
Features:
Styled like a cool pair of sunglasses, the Wrap 1200 not only supports 2D, but will also blow you away with an outstanding 3D experience. The detail is surprisingly good with 852 x 480 pixels for each eye. It supports both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios.
It comes with a separate remote connected to the glasses by a cable, which serves as the power source. The brightness, contrast, hue and color saturation can be adjusted by means of this nifty remote. Another cable runs from your remote to your video output device.
You have two separate noise-isolating earphones, with one plugged into the left corner and the other into the right.
The ‘AccuTilt’ technology allows users to adjust both left and right eye focuses.
The adjustable nose-piece allows you to wear the Wrap 1200 over your glasses comfortably.
Compatible with all gaming consoles, iPod, iPhone and other standard devices.
Highs:
It’s an excellent portable entertainment device. Once you have properly tweaked the focuses on each eye, and adjusted the color and contrast, video experience is certainly immersive.
The 75 inch screen effect does work very well and with the 60Hz screen refresh rate, there is hardly any motion blur.
The earphones are capable of drowning all of the external noise, and its stereo sound is shockingly good. Bass is decent, and different notes are distinct and balanced.
The ‘AccuTilt’ feature is a plus enabling easy adjustment.
Compatibility with a wide range of outputs, is a strong plus point. You can plug in your iPod, iPhone or any standard media player and enjoy crisp, smooth video.
Lows:
The biggest low must be its price tag. 500 dollars is a huge price to live out your 007 fantasies.
Add to that the amount of cabling. Making the remote wi-fi would have made the device much neater.
The wrap 1200 is certainly not as slim as the marketing pictures show. A video screen behind each lens makes it at least 30mm thick.
Though the ‘AccuTilt’ and different adjustments do help, focusing is a cumbersome process requiring lots of patience.
After altering the onscreen menu settings, it sometimes takes about 30 seconds to change and quite a few times the device shuts down.
The battery life is just of about 3 hours, so a long trip would require you to bring along lots of AA batteries. Besides, wearing the Wrap 1200 for more than a few hours at a stretch is quite uncomfortable.
Price:
US package $499.99
UK package £308.42 pounds
Nowadays with visibility being traded for portability, the Wrap 1200 is certainly a step in the right direction for portable video eyewear. But, the considerable tinkering required, weak battery life and sky high price, makes the Wrap 1200 more of a rich man’s toy than a device for everyday use.
