As we’ve reported, Google’s been working on a device dubbed “Enterprise Edition” for a couple years — but the company has never officially acknowledged its existence. The device has improved internal hardware and a new robust button-and-hinge system made for working environments, but as you can see, it’s not a drastic departure from the previous Glass. There are some external changes, however, including a new camera LED that lights up when the camera is in use and a new charging port.
We previously told you about the device’s new internals including its Intel Atom processor, improved battery life, and improved wireless connectivity, which includes the addition of a 5 GHz WiFi band specifically for video streaming. We also mentioned better heat management which is a result of the new chip, and its improved performance. We also reported that the device is waterproof and closed-off, as to protect it from debris and other substances that may damage the hardware.
There’s also a yet-to-be-seen Google-made external battery pack, which attaches to the device magnetically — using the same porton the bottom of the device as the one you can see in the images below. Sources have told us that there were other accessories that Google experimented with this device as well, including a desktop dock.
The future of Google Glass, and specifically this unannounced Enterprise variant, is unknown. We do know that the Glass project has been merged with a new project at the Mountain View company called Project Aura. A source close to the situation has said that we’ll be hearing more about availability of this device for enterprise use cases sometime in the next couple of months, but we’ve been told that many times since last summer. It’s possible that we’ll never hear anything.
The following images (more below), which we can independently confirm are of the new unannounced Glass device, are from eBay seller azpawnbroker, which appears to be a pawn shop located in San Francisco. At the time of this writing the device was going for just about $700.
9 to 5 Google