You'd think Sony would think twice about developing smart eyeglasses after the spectacular failure of Google Glass in the marketplace.

Well, it appeared Sony did think twice and decided to push on regardless. The Japanese tech giant is currently testing its own pair of smartglasses called "SmartEyeglass Developer Edition SED-E1". The device is now available for pre-order.

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Why did Sony take the plunge? Because SmartEyeglass uses augmented reality as its selling point. The smartglasses' transparent binocular lens allows it to project augmented reality content.

SmartEyeglass also has a small binocular display and a three megapixel camera. It's controlled using a wired controller with a touch sensor. There's also NFC, a speaker, a battery and a microphone. Communication is via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The smartglasses was designed by Sony to pair with an Android smartphone.

As for apps, these are under development but the test version of SmartEyeglass won't have any apps of its own. There are, however, a few available apps for checking Facebook, Gmail or Twitter, for example.

Sony said developers are designing Android apps for SmartEyeglass. It expects to create an ecosystem around its smartglasses and has provided a software development kit for developers.

The Developer Edition of SmartEyeglass will be sold starting March in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Belgium, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

It's available for pre-order only in the US, UK, Germany and Japan. It retails for £520 (US$800) in the UK and €670 (US$1,000) in Germany.