The extremely cool Recon Jet AR smartglasses just got a little bit better with their first update of 2016. The Augmented reality glasses are geared up for cyclists, but they are also great solution for runners and fitness enthusiasts who like to keep an eye on their stats as well staying connected to the digital domain.

Intel-owned Recon Instruments have packed their flagship AR smartglasses with cutting edge technology and have the build-quality to match. They have interchangeable, polarized lenses with full UV protection and adjustable temples and nosepieces.

Jet’s augmented reality display projects images just below the right eye, so if you’re cycling you won’t need to take your eyes off the road to see your data. The projected images are the equivalent of a 30-inch screen being viewed from a distance of 7 ft. To conserve battery power, the Jet’s smart display automatically switches on and off according to your glance thanks to the onboard Glance Detection technology.

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Jet feature a built-GPS and plethora of sensors so you can track metrics such as speed, pace, distance and elevation – all on the AR display which also shows maps, incoming caller ID, text messages and social media notifications thanks to the operating system which is based on Android. Adding to the feature set, Jet can also be used to play, pause, skip and adjust the volume of your music tracks.

Recon Jet use Bluetooth 4.0 to connect to iOS and Android devices. They are also wi-fi enabled and support ANT+ so you can pair with third-party HRMs, cadence sensors, etc.

The smartglasses feature an advanced Point-of-View camera which is always at hand if you come across a photo or video opportunity – combining with the smart display’s Viewfinder makes it easy to get your shot in frame.

Basically, Recon Jet are a powerful mobile computing solution. Some of the specs include a 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of Flash memory.

With all these features and more you’d expect a pretty short battery life. Well you’re kinda right. Jet’s rechargeable battery runs for up to 4 hours, however, spare portable batteries are available that can be easily clipped in while you’re on the move – I suppose you could say this doubles the battery life, or triples it – depending on how many spares you have.

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ReconOS 4.4 Update

The first 2016 update for Recon Jet brings a new Action Menu to enhance the AR experience and make it faster to navigate Jet’s user interface. The Action Menu is easily activated by pressing and holding the select button on the side of the glasses. A list of shortcuts relevant to your current activity are now displayed on various data screens, such as a shortcut to the camera settings in the camera app, and sensor settings in your metrics dashboard.

To make some space for the new Action Menu, a few changes were made to the previous menus, such as pressing the Back/Power button now brings up the QuickNav feature. Recon admits that the changes might take some getting used to, but they say it’s worth it because less time is spent navigating the UI, meaning more time to focus on your activities.

 Recon Jet