Gadget
Now Reading
Vufine+ Wearable Display Review – Affordable & stylish glasses display
Silver Pokdeward
0
Review

Vufine+ Wearable Display Review – Affordable & stylish glasses display

by November 4, 2016
Positives

+ Very portable
+ Very efficient battery
+ Pivotable to your comfort
+ Very elegant design

Negatives

- Cable can get really annoying
- Too much vibration doesn't hold the Vufine+ at the same position (Needs stronger magnet?)

Pokde Scoreboard
Pokde Rating
Appearance
8.9
Features
7.9
Materials
8.9
Performance
8.9
Portability
7.9
Value
8.9
Bottom Line

If wearable devices is your thing and you need a glasses accessory, Vufine+ is definitely what you should get. Hands down.

8.6
Pokde Rating
You have rated this
What's your reaction?
Me Gusta
100%
WOW
0%
Potato
0%
Sad Reacc
0%
Angery
0%

Vufine+ just went on kickstarter at the time of this writing. Get a pair at it’s best price HERE.

 

I have a special affection for wearable gadgets but at the same time a rather odd phobia in having them. Don’t get me wrong, the affection does override the phobia but it juggles my decision in owning and wearing them. What’s the phobia, you say? At the end of the day, I have to charge two of my mobile phones, one tablet, one Bluetooth earpiece, one wireless powerbank and in some days, even a laptop. I wear a Casio Rangeman G-Shock watch that comes with solar charging which eliminates the need to charge it at all. So, you get it, the phobia is – having to charge even more batteries at the end of the day. I was very tempted to get a Google Glass too and the phobia did override the affection at that time. However, I can’t be selfish when there are plenty of readers who love digital wearables. So here’s one for you guys – the Vufine+ Wearable Display.

Introduction

This product needs a special introduction. A year ago, a company based in California went to Kickstarter with their product called Vufine. It’s one of the world’s first truly affordable wearable display and was backed by 1,466 backers with all devices delivered to them. If you noticed the missing plus sign, that’s because the company is now back again an improved version, the Vufine+. Vufine+ has a larger, more versatile display and a totally redefined docking station.

Compared to its predecessor, Vufine+ has an increased portrait and landscape viewing area by 77% and 33% respectively. It has a new charging dock, pivoting ball/joint for easier adjustment, and a handsfree adapter that lets you stream videos from desktops, drones, mobile phones, or any device that supports MHL or HDMI output.

Unboxing

The Vufine+ comes in a simplistic box, sealed with once-open-considered-broken latch and is etched with silver branding on it. The product’s tagline is “Real Life Picture-in-Picture” which I found really catchy indeed.

img_1913

Clockwise from top – the Vufine+, headband mount, some glass mats and stickers, HDMI-to-Lightning adapter

It comes with a number of accessories for your consideration. One of them that we got is the Headband Mount which is rather useful if you do not wear glasses and do not want to wear one. It holds the Vufine+ much firmly and can be very useful if you are off for outdoor activities. It’s washable too in case you are wondering. This single piece of accessory can totally change the landscape of using the Vufine+ as it now open the doors to those who desire a glass wearable but just didn’t find it practical to try one.

The headband mount accessory - in case glasses are not your thing.

The headband mount accessory – in case glasses are not your thing.

The other accessory that we got was the HDMI-to-iPhone adapter that allows us to connect the Vufine+ to an Apple device. It has a lightning port connector on one end and a HDMI slot for connectivity along with lightning input in case the power delivery to the adapter is not sufficient enough.

img_1912

Opening up the box unveils the content inside.

This is a very well thought packaging. It even includes a glasses soft pouch to carry your Vufine+ or glasses in it.

This is a very well thought packaging. It even includes a glasses soft pouch to carry your Vufine+ or glasses in it. There’s a quick guide mounted at the top part of the box too.

Let’s take a look inside.

img_1917

Clockwise from the top-left, we have the Vufine+ accessory, a thin-frame metal dock, a pair of non-prescription glasses, magnetic dock, HDMI MHL cable and a micro USB cable.

Appearance

I won’t dig into the cables as those are pretty standard. Let’s begin with the mounting docks first. For the best experience, you would need the magnetic dock that allows you to pivot the Vufine+ to your comfort.

img_1941

It straps around your glasses and up to one-inch thickness is really not a problem. However, if you wear thin metal band glasses like RayBans, it wouldn’t position properly on your glasses. Fear not, there is another accessory for that. The metal clip. This metal clip elegantly slides on to your metal frame glasses and mounts the Vufine+ magnetically to it.

img_1942

Moving on to the glasses, they’re non-prescription glasses and are the best to mount the Vufine+ as it’s designed to fit the Vufine+ perfectly. You could take these glasses to your optician and get a custom prescription lens cut out to it’s size as an option. These glasses are very lightweight, making them rather comfortable to wear.

img_1943

Now let’s move to the real accessory – the Vufine+ Wearable Display. It weighs about 26g, and has a dimension of 96mm (W) x 20mm (H) x 14mm (D) making it very lightweight and portable. There is a power button at the back of the unit, a round magnet in the center and a 21mm diagonal display that churns out the video output projection to the viewer.img_1938

There is a HDMI mini port at the bottom that connects to any device that supports HDMI-out streaming and a MicroUSB port for charging the device. I don’t think the design could have been any better really!

img_1933

Got a Vufine+? Want to get started? Watch the following video.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

User Experience

So who would be using the Vufine+? What are the practical purposes of it? Now that the Pokemon hype has died down – which would have made this an epic accessory to pair with your devices, you would be wondering how this device could be better utilized. Some of the identified use-case scenarios are:

cycling

Road safe cycling

Drone Piloting

Drone Piloting

Mobile Computing and Entertainment

Mobile Computing and Entertainment

That’s just a handful of it. You could use it with action cameras, video recipes while cooking, yoga, couple it with a Raspberry Pi or pretty much anything where you need a handsfree-display. But how does the Vufine+ actually feels when it’s being used?

20161101_171024

The first and most important thing that you need to identify, is whether your device supports HDMI output at all. If you are using a GoPro or an iPhone, there will be no problems connecting to the Vufine+. But don’t make wild guesses. Even my Samsung Note 5 doesn’t come with MHL feature, rendering it useless with the Vufine+, just to give you a rough idea of how carefully you need to do your homework. So I plugged it to my desktop, powered it up and voila! An additional extended screen of my desktop is now projected to my glasses! What I project on it is totally private to me, as there is no way anyone could see what’s going on this display. Well, I’m talking about passwords and the like. What were you thinking? :P

This is how it looks like, mounted to the glasses.

This is how it looks like, mounted to the glasses.

It’s really not heavy and using it for prolonged hours has not been a problem to me. If you do not wear glasses, at first you might find it a little awkward to have a device hooked to your head, but it gets normal eventually. Once you have mounted it, you can extend the display to the center to find the best viewing position, after which you can pivot it to the top or bottom of the glasses where you will find it the most comfortable.

Now, unlike Google Glass, the Vufine+ is opaque – which means it has a dark area behind the screen. This makes it ideal for outdoor usages as the sunlight does not disrupt the display at all. There is one major downside if you ask me – the cable has to be mounted all the time in order for you to continuously stream from the connected device. It’s really tough to find the perfect length cable for this purpose and it gets pulled accidentally a lot in my case. Thankfully, the device is attached magnetically so it snaps off easily or there could be chances of injury – especially when you are out and about with it.

The HDMI cable has to be always connected to the device.

The HDMI cable has to be always connected to the device.

To me, I think this is the best accessory for motorcyclists. Navigation on your glasses while riding your bike is really a bliss. You have nowhere to mount your phone and you need a display for your Waze / Google Maps. This is the accessory for it! Bikers can totally relate to this.

The battery lasted me for well over an hour of continuous usage – which is rather impressive! You can plug in the Micro USB together with the HDMI cable for continuous prolonged usage and because it charges over Micro USB, you can actually use a powerbank to charge it while on the go. Yep, such is what mobility has become today.

If you are getting the Vufine+, seriously consider getting the headband mount. You can thank me later. It holds the device much firmly and it works without interfering with your glasses, while managing the cable much better.

mg_3590_a_large

Trust me, this accessory is worth getting!

Conclusion

Wearable gadgets are really trendy to have, and there is plenty of headroom in terms of improvisation. Of course, cost is a concern and Vufine+ has made itself a beautiful spot in terms of affordability. The official kickstarter campaign of the Vufine+ has just gone up at the time of this article, so you can be an early backer to get the Vufine+ at it’s best price! I enjoyed using the Vufine+, really! I’d love to see the company add wireless streaming options for better portability and perhaps have more accessories like headband mountable batteries for extra juice. Otherwise, the Vufine+ is well worth the purchase!

Pokde-Silver

About The Author
Super Daddy
A proof that the real fun does not actually ends, but rather begins when you become a daddy. Enterprise Application Co-ordinator, Web Developer, Hardware Enthusiast, Gadgets lover, Android Evangelist, Desktop and Consoles Gamer, Metal Music Guitarist, Audiophile, Networking Freak, Radio Controlled Toys rat, Ferrari Crazy and above all - a daddy in every kid's dream.

Leave a Response