Google augmented reality Android glasses on sale this year

Google's rumoured head-up display glasses could be on sale by the end of the year, with reports further suggesting that the search giant's specs will be powered by the Android operating system.

The news comes via the New York Times, which cites "several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named".

As well as specifying that the Google glasses will be sold before the end of 2012, those anonymous bods reportedly reckon the glasses will include a tiny screen that sits a few inches from the wearer's eye.

They'll come packing 3G or 4G connectivity, and will be jammed full of motion sensors and GPS tech, and will cost "around the price of current smart phones", so expect to shell out about £300-£500 for these enigmatic eyeglasses.

A low-resolution camera will be stuck on the front, though apparently Google has been discussing the privacy implications of this tech, with the company keen to ensure people know when they're being captured by the potentially privacy-breaching pince-nez. I suggest a deafening klaxon that screams "This person is filming you!" when the camera becomes active.

The fantastical frames, which are rumoured to be in development inside Google's top-secret-but-not-very-inconspicuously-named Google X Lab, will apparently make use of a number of Google services, displaying info using augmented reality.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is said to be a head honcho on the glasses project, and the report suggests that in true Google fashion, the smart phone spectacles are being developed as an 'experiment', that could be expanded if the public take to the idea.

Reports that the bionic bifocals are crammed full of sensors chime with earlier reports that the glasses would be controlled -- hilariously enough -- by tilting your head. Dismayingly, those reports also hinted that the display only works on one eye, and isn't transparent.

As for the design, Google's glasses supposedly resemble Oakley Thumps (pictured above) -- a set of MP3 shades. We'd have preferred those fancy specs Morpheus wears in The Matrix, or those '2000' novelty glasses everyone was wearing around the millennium.

Are you excited about Google's glasses? Or do smart phones belong in your pocket, not on your face. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.