Smart glasses are fast becoming a much-coveted commodity, with different brands promising to release their own versions in the near future. The wearable industry as a whole can still be considered to be in its infant stages, with Google Glass leading the pack in terms of a working model. However, considering that it pioneered the technology, even Google Glass is still in a protracted beta phase.

Here's a brief and very quick rundown of the top 5 Smart Glasses; not necessarily based on everyday use, but rather more on experiments using prototypes which were available at electronics shows and conventions. There is huge potential for these smart glasses, making them the ones you should look out for.

Google Glass remains the best smart glass for 2014, as it was the first to release this wearable technology. Admittedly, there was no real competition when they introduced their smart glasses and that is perhaps why Google will continue to be the benchmark of this emerging technology. The Google Glass Explorer Edition V2 is in the beta stage and is technically still a prototype, but it offers a lot of promising features, among them email and text messaging with built in alerts, Google maps, translation tools, photo and video capturing as well as sharing. The only thing not great about it is that it costs $1,500. The release date is still a mystery.

Vuzix M100 Smart Glasses claims to be the "first commercially available smart glasses" but it has yet to ship any actual units. The M100 comes as a distant second to Google Glass. This brand of smart glasses boasts an LCD display with 428 x 240 dimensions. It can be viewed directly, not like the Google Glass, which is basically a reflection viewed on an angled screen. It costs $999, making it the most affordable smart glasses version to date.

Three other noteworthy versions are the Meta Pro Smart Glasses, the GlassUp AR Smart Glasses and the EmoPulse NanoGlass Smart Glasses, which seems to have already disappeared. It was meant to be a $25 version of the smart glasses, offering message alerts from the wearer's smartphone. You can be sure Samsung and Apple will come out with their own versions once there is actually a demand for the product.