LAS VEGAS, NEVADA—If Google Glass tickled your fancy but $1,500 is a little steep and 2014 is a little too far in the future, one company is stepping forward with a less expensive alternate reality interface. Vuzix’s smart glasses debuted at CES Sunday evening, and while we won’t get a chance to play with the prototypes until the show floor opens, we got a look at the device from the perspective of what may soon be your jealous peers (that is, we got to watch someone wear a dummy pair).

Vuzix’s M100 smart glasses run a version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, according to a company representative. The downside of Vuzix’s glasses relative to Google Glass is that they currently rely on a smartphone to interface with the device (via Bluetooth or WiFi) and provide additional functionality, which is a blow to their flexibility. Still, rare will be the instance when someone interested in using smart glasses won’t also be carrying a smartphone, so this may not be a huge problem. A Vuzix rep told Ars that the company eventually intends the glasses to have enough internal hardware to sustain themselves; soon, the smartphone tethering won’t be necessary.

The display inside the glasses is the visual equivalent of a 4-inch smartphone screen held 14 inches from the eye and has a WQVGA resolution (likely 240x432 at a 16:9 aspect ratio). A TI OMAP 4 processor and 4GB of memory will be packed inside the device along with GPS, a 1080p camera, and a microUSB port.

The smart glasses get only two hours of battery life when fully on or 8 hours for a “typical usage profile,” which is a bit troubling; it would take some effort to make them last a full day.

As for wearing the device, Vuzix says smart glasses will affix to noggins either by headband, ear clip, or around the back of your neck. Android phones will be supported first, followed by iOS, and software development kits were recently made available for both platforms. The price is not official yet, but Vuzis says the glasses will retail for around $500 and are set to appear sometime in 2013.

Listing image by Casey Johnston