Vuzix iWear AV310 Widescreen glasses

Have you always secretly harboured a desire to look like a character from the 1990s incarnation of Star Trek? If so, the iWear AV310 is for you.

This piece of eyewear houses a small screen that can play video from any compatible source using one of the supplied cables (one for iPods, a 3.5mm jack for Nokia phones and lots of other devices, and a third that can accept composite inputs).

The front section is fairly heavy and most of it sits on the wearer's nose, which started to hurt after half an hour on the first go. It did get easier with use, though.

The AV310 can, in theory, be worn over a pair of glasses, but we found it easier to take the glasses off and use the built-in focus adjustment instead.

Picture quality was good, although it's by no means high-definition. The sound was fine, but we didn't like the built-in earbuds.

Because the AV310 is quite narrow from top to bottom, outside light seeps in, so we found ourselves having to angle ourselves to block out light. A single standard alkaline AA battery will provide about three hours of playing time.

UPDATE: Vuzix has informed us that it also sells an "immersive eyeshield" for the AV310. This is a plastic shield that fits around the device and blocks the excess light that caused problems for us in our tests. It costs £14.