This is apparently the week for long-forgotten projects to finally deliver. Like Jorno, the Recon Jet was a project that immediately caught my eye. When they first announced the Recon Jet Pilot Edition in June of 2013, I considered it but I was just days away from heading to New York to pick up my Google Glass and wasn’t quite ready to go deeper down the smart eye-wear rabbit hole.
While Google wanted Glass to be something that you wore throughout the day, Recon Jet was targeting a much more specific use case. They are made to be worn during fitness or sports activities. This is a much more attainable goal for a variety of reasons. The looks of Recon Jet become far less crucial; you don’t look any less like a cyborg than those wearing Google Glass (if anything a bit more so), but in the midst of cycling, running or whatever non-swimming outdoor activity you enjoy, the fashion statement isn’t so precious.
Like Glass, the Recon Jet relies on a small screen that is just outside of your normal field of view to deliver the information to you. It looks roughly like a 30-inch HDTV viewed from seven feet away, similar to Glass.
Here’s the full specs rundown:
- 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9
- 1GB RAM
- 8GB storage
- 3D accelerometer
- 3D gyroscope
- 3D magnetometer
- Pressure sensor
- Infrared (IR) sensor
- GPS
- Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth Smart)
- ANT+â„¢
- Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11a/b/g/n)
- Micro USB 2.0
Recon Jet runs ReconOS 4.1, which is based on Android. It provides activity tracking, GPS tracking with maps, syncs your stats to the cloud, controls your music, allows you to take calls and view notifications and it has a camera for stills or video with just a swipe.
Battery life is one potential issue for Recon Jet, which offers a stated life of just four hours. The battery is swappable, though, so if you’re looking at a marathon workout session, a second battery would be a wise investment.
The Recon Jet Pilot Edition was $499 originally, but that was “early backer” pricing. Not surprisingly, that price proved untenable for the general consumer release, so at launch today the Recon Jet will set you back $699. That’s still less than half the cost of Google Glass, but we’ll have to see if fitness enthusiasts are willing to put that kind of money on Jet.