Tag Archives: smart glasses

Samsung Glasses Mixed Reality Headset: What We Know So Far

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Although it was a bit late to the game, it was unsurprising that the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset blew people’s minds the moment Apple officially revealed its existence and features. It has definitely caused many players in the market to rethink their designs and strategies, including Samsung who was supposedly close to announcing its own XR or eXtended reality hardware. The initial expectations were along the lines of a full headset not unlike the (Facebook) Meta Quest 3 or Samsung’s own defunct HMD Odyssey, but it seems that Samsung was “inspired” by its biggest rival to go back to the drawing board. While still largely a mystery, some of the pieces are falling into place, laying the foundations for what will soon be called Samsung Glasses.

Designer: Samsung

What: The Design

There is still some debate on what specific area of the umbrella eXtended Reality (XR) space Samsung’s headset will be aiming for. Based on a recently leaked prototype, it would have leaned more on the virtual reality side of the equation, with outward-facing cameras to allow wearers to see a glimpse of the world outside. This is the conventional HMD or Head-Mounted Device design and something Samsung is already familiar with. But with rumors of Samsung reviewing the device in lieu of the Apple Vision Pro, you can expect some big changes in terms of design.

Image courtesy of Brad Lynch

A recent trademark filing in the UK reveals that Samsung is calling dibs on the “Samsung Glasses” name. The description, which covers VR, AR, MR, and XR, isn’t exactly telling, but it does suggest it will take on a form closer to smart glasses. Considering the necessary hardware involved, it won’t be something simple like Ray-Bans or Google Glasses, more like, well, the Apple Vision Pro or the Meta Quest Pro. While not completely comfortable or portable, this design at least opens the door to AR and mixed reality more than a typical VR headset.

Apple Vision Pro

Apple Vision Pro

How: The Specs

In addition to the usual processors and electronics needed to drive such a mixed reality headset, Samsung Glasses will succeed or fail depending on the optics it uses. The prototype mentioned above lists micro OLED displays, pancake lenses, and cameras for eye and hand tracking, all of which contribute to a more immersive experience when viewing and manipulating digital objects. Samsung was reportedly planning on using a 2022 processor to power this headset, but Apple’s challenge has it mulling over a more capable chip it could use instead.

Samsung Odyssey+

Samsung Odyssey+

One thing that Samsung might be doing differently from Apple is having the battery built into the headset, though mounted on the rear rather than the front. While this naturally adds to the weight of the device, its location attempts to at least balance the load on both sides. It also makes the Samsung Glasses a bit more portable since it doesn’t have to rely on an external battery connected via a cable.

Meta Quest Pro

Meta Quest Pro

When: The Date

With the Apple Vision Pro’s market launch nearing, Samsung really doesn’t have much time left to put out its own take on the eXtended Reality space. Insider sources claim that the date has been pushed back to mid-2024, in contrast to Apple’s launch sometime between January and April. That’s not to say that Samsung is taking it slow, as developers are allegedly told to finish their XR apps by November. There will be an internal launch next month, so we might get a few more unofficial sneak peeks of the device.

Samsung GearVR

Samsung GearVR

Of course, most of these are still conjectures based on a variety of unofficial sources, so there is still plenty of room to hope for a better device. Conversely, Samsung’s track record with the Gear VR and, later, the HMD Odyssey doesn’t inspire much confidence. The design of the headset is critical for comfort, but it will be the software that will determine whether such a piece of hardware will actually entice buyers in the long run.

Apple Vision Pro

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These Xreal Air 2 glasses could make the Steam Deck more immersive

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AR and XR sunglasses represent a growing market, offering alternatives to VR headsets equipped with mixed-reality pass-through (like the Meta Quest 2 and 3). One of the selling points is style; since they’re smaller and lighter, and since they look like actual sunglasses, you can theoretically wear them outside of your house without catching weird looks. And they usually have at least a few unique features and applications that make them worth using out in public, for instance, blowing up your handheld gaming device into a virtual home theatre while sitting on the bus.

Xreal, formerly Nreal, just announced its newest pair of XR glasses, the Air 2 and Air 2 Pro. They’re not scheduled to officially release until next month; they come ship out in the United States, Britain, and key parts of Europe in late November at $399 and $449, respectively. But reviews are already rolling in, with interesting insights about the Xreal Air 2’s usability and cost performance.

Designer: Ranxin Zhou (via Xreal)

TechRadar seemed to love its “comfortable, lightweight design” while warning potential buyers to steer clear if they don’t travel around with one of the few compatible devices, like a gaming PC. But it sounds like the real use case for the Xreal glasses is taking mixed-reality passthrough with you on the go, meaning it’s best-designed for owners of the Steam Deck or the ASUS ROG Ally.

Both glasses come with 1080p Sony Micro OLED displays capable of displaying 500 nits of brightness through a 46-degree field of view, which is optimal for playing “flat” games on a static screen rather than engaging in full 6DoF VR or MR gameplay. They also seem to run fast – up to 120 Hz, which is also great for gaming. Its built-in “cinematic audio” speakers are also getting a bump from the original Air glasses as well, and are advertised as being specially designed to reduce audio leakage.

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CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 90

The Air Pro 2 seems like the real star of the show, using its dimming control to reduce outside light sources down to 0%, making for a far more immersive experience while playing games and watching movies in home theatre mode. Though it does indeed work with PCs, it seems to underwhelm (according to reviewers) when compared to far more versatile VR headsets like the Quest 2/3 and Valve Index, but strangely enough, the hype cycle surround the Apple Vision Pro drove sales for Xreal in July 2023.

Xreal Air 2 and Air 2 Pro are set to officially release for $399 and $449 in late November 2023.

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Ray-Ban Meta are a cool pair of AI-embedded smart glasses you’d want to wear often

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Meta in partnership with Ray-Ban has launched the second generation of their smart glasses today. A refreshing take on their 2021 Stories smart glasses, these are named more attractively as the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. The company is refraining from calling them the successors to the first ones, since they were not fancied by the tech community in general.

That said, the new version also comes with built-in speakers and five microphones to attend calls or seamlessly use the voice assistant. Meta is positioning them as a daily wearable to click photos and videos from your eye’s point of view. Pretty interesting isn’t it?

Designer: Meta

They were released during the Connect event and the hardware alone has a significant bump up compared to the Stories smart glasses. There’s a 12MP wide-angle camera capable of recording videos at 1080p/60fps and 32GB on-board storage. The photos and videos are much crisper now, enough for you to stay in the social media limelight. If you want, the recorded videos can be live-streamed to Facebook or Instagram via a nearby paired device. However, in this option, the quality can deteriorate if your internet connectivity is slow.

According to Meta the new open-back speakers are 50 percent louder and leak less noise, so you can keep your conversations incognito. The bass has a thump and the vocals are much clearer which in combination with the spatial audio elevates the listening experience. The design has also got a bump up, as the glasses have thinner arms and the larger touchpad is very easy to use. Tap and swipe gestures for controlling the volume levels and recording videos, make these smart glasses intuitive.

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with 36 hours of battery life in the accompanying case look better than most of the other major competitors in the market. They no longer feel like a concept rushed into the production stage and solve the intended purpose.

The glasses are up for pre-order in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia right away for a price tag starting at $299. You can opt for the polarized version costing $329 or the transition lenses for $379. The official sale for the smart glasses available in cool color options will commence on October 17.

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Amazon unveils 3rd Gen of its Echo Frames with hidden headphones and Alexa built-in

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Just last November Amazon admitted that ‘Alexa’ wasn’t all they tried to build it to be. Dubbing it as a $10 billion loss for the company seemed like quite a reputation hit, but Amazon isn’t done surrendering the voice assistant. The ‘everything company’ has now launched a set of smart glasses with the beloved voice AI built into it. Now in its third-gen, the Echo Frames come in 5 different styles sporting a cool acetate look that’s 15% slimmer and lighter than previous versions (with support for prescription lenses, obviously). Redesigned audio drivers within the temple stems deliver much richer audio too, entirely eliminating the need to wear TWS earbuds with your spectacles. Just slip the Echo Frames on and you can listen to music, answer calls, and summon Alexa right through your specs. The Echo Frames, which start at $269, also boast an all-day battery life, a find-my feature, and an incredibly cool nightstand that lets you charge your eyewear overnight.

Designer: Amazon

Click Here to Pre-Order

The primary goal of the Echo Frames is to blend right into your sense of style. Quite like Facebook and Ray-Ban’s ill-fated “Stories” glasses, the Echo Frames are styled to look exactly like the kind of eyewear you’d normally wear every day. However, while Facebook’s gadget helps you spy on others with covertly hidden cameras, the Echo Frames doesn’t… or at least it doesn’t have cameras. It still has an always-active microphone, although the mic can be muted and Amazon specifies that it does not ‘sell your data’ to third parties. You have full control of all the recordings and can listen to them at any time or even choose to delete them.

Hidden within those slick temple stems is the Echo Frame’s redesigned audio architecture that provides 3x higher bass than previous models, making listening to music, podcasts, and calls much more comfortable and balanced. The spectacles’ open-ear framework lets it beam-form audio directly into your ears so that nobody around you can hear what you’re hearing. The personalized audio experience also eliminates the need to wear TWS earbuds, freeing up your ears so you can hear the world around you… like Transparency Mode, but in real life.

The Echo Frames’ highlight has to be the fact that it’s powered by Amazon’s voice AI. With Alexa available just a tap away, you can summon the assistant to ask it questions, play music, or even control your smart home like checking to see if your door’s locked, or turning on/off the thermostat remotely. Moreover, app compatibility also lets you locate your spectacles remotely, a feature that should really help people with terrible vision like me!

The Echo Frames are rated IPx4, making them perfect to wear in the outdoors, even if there’s a light drizzle going on. The frames offer 6 full hours of continuous use on a full charge, or 14 hours with moderate usage. The frames are also accompanied by a smart charging stand that lets you juice your smart glasses’ battery simply by docking them in place. The Echo Frames 3rd Gen starts at $269.99 and comes in a selection of 5 different frame styles and colors. You can even directly add prescription lenses to your order on Amazon during checkout.

Click Here to Pre-Order

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Titan EyeX Smart Eyewear Has A Built-In Fitness Tracker, Open-Ear Audio Drivers, And A Find-My Feature

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While most companies are trying to turn spectacles into mixed reality headsets, the folks at Titan are taking another approach by turning the spectacles into less of a computer on your face and more of an enhanced wearable. Ditching the notion that smart glasses need to have cutting-edge transparent displays in order to be incredibly useful, the Titan EyeX chooses to replace your earphones and fitness tracker instead. Housed within the spectacle’s sleek form are a pair of micro-acoustic Knowles speakers, a fitness tracker that calculates your activity through the day, and a GPS chip that helps you use your phone to locate your spectacles if you accidentally lose them or leave them somewhere.

Designer: Sanil Dhadwal (Titan Design Excellence Center) for Titan Company Limited

Poised to be the kind of spectacles you wouldn’t want to leave home without (or ever take off, to be honest), the EyeX are a stylish pair of glasses modeled to look like classic wayfarers. However, hidden within the temple stems is cutting-edge technology that makes the EyeX the perfect fashion accessory and smart wearable. The frames are built with TR90, a high-performance polymer used to make sportswear, and come with the ability to add prescription lenses into them. An integrated spring hinge allows the EyeX to fit as many as 32 different face shapes, and at just 28 grams, it’s just about as lightweight as your average pair of spectacles. The spectacles are also designed to be impact and sweat-resistant, further bolstering everyday use.

On the inside, the Titan EyeX runs on a Qualcomm chip, tethering with your smartphone via Bluetooth 5.0 for a strong, reliable connection. The eyewear, once paired, transforms into open-ear headphones for letting you listen to music as well as answer calls. Running on audio drivers from Knowles, the EyeX provides high-fidelity discreet audio that only the wearer can hear, while being entirely open ear, so you’ve always got situational awareness and know what’s happening around you. A touch-based interface built into the temple stems lets you control audio playback as well as answer/reject calls and summon your smartphone’s voice assistant.

A built-in fitness tracker also tracks your health and movement throughout the day, calculating your steps, distance covered, and calories burnt and sending the stats to the Titan EyeX app. The EyeX app also lets you access other features like the smart eyewear’s “Find My” feature along with the ability to use the tap interface on your spectacles as a shutter button to click hands-free selfies.

The Titan EyeX comes with an impressive 8-hour battery life, and charges via proprietary contact-based chargers. They’re built to be durable, with an impact-resistant construction, and also boast IP54 water resistance, making them impervious to sweat or a couple of drops of rain. With multiple awards under their belt, including the 2023 German Design Award and the 2023 Red Dot Award: Product Design, the Titan EyeX are available in India for Rs. 9,999 ($120.9 USD) and ship with a 1-year warranty.

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INMO Air2 smart AR wireless glasses are posed as the Apple Vision Pro’s affordable option

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Augmented reality is the future of how we interact with our gadgets, and the surprise launch of Apple Vision Pro is a testament to this fact. While VR headsets come with a grave disadvantage of being bulky and ridden with wired connections, smart glasses seem to nullify this ergonomic disadvantage with their sleek design and aesthetics.

The BMW ConnectedRide glasses for safe motoring; or the mainstream AR glasses like Razer Anzu, Rokid Air and Ray-Ban Stories are good references of where we are headed to. Now Air2 AR wireless glasses by Shenzen-based company INMO wants to change the dynamics of what smart glasses should be, and how users interact with them. All this at an affordable price tag that should interest you!

Designer: INMO

Click Here to Buy Now: $599 $799 (25% off). Only 31 of 300 left. Hurry, deal ends in 48 hours!

The frames of these smart glasses are a bit thick for a retro appeal and the overall build quality is nice. Weighting less than 100 grams courtesy of the plastic and aluminum material, these smart glasses do look well built. This is a very important attribute since we are talking about a long duration of use without compromising comfort in practical circumstances.

Under those seemingly normal pair of glasses is a micro-OLED display (640×400 pixels) that feels like a floating projector screen to the user. This makes them good for watching video content but they aren’t preferred for text content like reading blog articles. That said, the content can be navigated with touch gestures on the arms and for other controls there are two buttons below them. There are two speakers that beam audio downwards for crisp audio delivery but can be a tad loud to disturb others in your vicinity. INMO has also fitted a low-resolution camera that isn’t great, so we’ll take a skip.

Gif 1

Movies

Gif 2

Screen Mirroring: Watch Anything

Gif 3

ChatGPT Intelligent Assistant

Talking of the specifications the Air2 wireless glasses have a four-core 1.8GHz ZiGuang ZhanRui AI chip, mated to 2GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM. The glasses also get cellular connectivity, GPS and Bluetooth 5.0 for more options. On a single full charge of around two hours (pretty long duration), the smart glasses last about 70-120 minutes and if you keep the media consumption down to normal you can extract some more time from the 500mAh battery.

Click Here to Buy Now: $599 $799 (25% off). Only 31 of 300 left. Hurry, deal ends in 48 hours!

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BMW ConnectedRide Smartglasses make bike riding safer with integrated HUD display

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Smart head-up display to beam vital information in the peripheral view makes complete sense for motorists, ever more so for two-wheeler riders who are more at risk. With Apple indicating the smart glasses niche to be the future of how we all interact with our applications, the $3,500 Vision Pro headset is still beyond the reach of the general masses.

BMW Motorrad looks to have taken a leaf out of the Cupertino giant’s handbook as they’ve announced a pair of smart glasses for bike riders. Christened the ConnectedRide Smartglasses, the accessory displays all the real-time information in the field of view, ensuring the rider doesn’t take his/her eyes off the road.

Pros:

  • Safer riding for motorcyclists
  • Projected HUD does not obstruct the view
  • Display elements can be adjusted
  • Look like normal sunglasses
  • Can be paired with prescription lenses
  • Operating temperature from 0° to 50° C

Cons:

  • High price tag
  • Battery life could be better

Designer: BMW Motorrad

The augmented reality glasses pair with any smartphone to project the current speed, engaged gear, speed limit and navigation details in the integrated display. Everything right from the positioning of visual data to the detail of navigation elements can be toggled by the rider either on the app or if you have a modern BMW bike, this can be done with the multi-controller on the handlebar. According to BMW, the glasses are designed to fit several helmets and face shapes, making them highly practical and stylish accessories to own.

These smart glasses in Anthracite color come with two separate sets of certified UVA/UVB lenses – tinted and 1x 85 percent transparent ones. Those on prescription glasses can order the RX adapter too. The users get to choose from medium and large frame size option for the glasses.

On a single charge, the goggles provide HUD for ten hours before needing another recharge. In real-world settings, you would need the smart glasses only in unfamiliar territory for navigation and other aids. Otherwise, the battery should be good to get you through a day’s driving. Everything set aside, having a battery in smart glasses that look like any normal goggles is a feat on its own.

All the tech that is stuffed into these cool pair of glasses is bound to carry a premium value. Thus, the price tag of €690 for the European market isn’t startling. According to BMW Motorrad, the smart glasses will arrive in the US in the latter half of 2023. So, are you still rooting for the Apple Vision Pro or willing to get started on your AR journey with the BMW Motorrad ConnectedRide Smartglasses?

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We would like Apple’s rumored augmented reality glasses as natural looking as these cool round one

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Apple’s long-rumored augmented reality smart glasses are nowhere on the horizon yet. Seemingly the launch is distant, but that doesn’t change the fact that the glasses aren’t the most-awaited Apple accessory. This means, designers have a good reason to toil with the expectations and present us with ideas to induce excitement. Case in point, the Apple Smart Glasses concept which has a very modern, sunglasses look (slightly oversized) to it with a range of nuances Apple could steel.

To begin with, AR glasses from Apple will carry the baggage of expectations on its frame, and the Cupertino giant will have to squeeze in a lot of tech within those frames to meet the expectations. The concept pair here seems an exciting idea of a pair of glasses from Apple to do that, but to our dismay, Apple insiders have ruled out – on numerous occasions – the possibility of Apple using sunglasses pattern for the AR eyewear.

Designer: Eunho Kim

Of course, Apple intends to keep the AR glasses as lightweight as your pair of sunglasses but it will not be able to use colored glasses. Arguably, Apple wouldn’t find it easy to display information on tinted glasses. Over time, it may happen in the second or third iteration of the wearable, but you can rule it out as a feature in the first model.

Apple Glass prototype that we have seen fluttering on the internet is currently believed to feature a plastic frame. Apple could though consider something that Eunho Kim has conceived in his concept: A detachable metal frame that clips to the temple of the round glasses. As we learn, Apple will be placing a LiDAR scanner on the right temple, the clip-on arm may take some tinkering, but since Apple is reportedly refraining from using any other camera on the glasses, it could be an option to consider.

Apple’s first-generation glasses are likely to pair with the iPhone, which will do almost all the data processing. This will definitely allow Apple to shed the weight off the AR glasses so they can be close to a pair of natural-looking glasses, like this cool round one in the concept. Although there is no timeframe for the launch of the Apple Glass, reports do hint at the possibility of Apple’s AR/VR headset arriving early 2023.

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Lenovo Glasses T1 bring a private big screen into your pocket

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Apple’s mixed reality headset is slated for a 2023 release, and the race for a winning pair of smart glasses is getting enticing. Lenovo has just announced a very practical set of glasses that act as a secondary display for your Windows PC, Mac, or even a phone.

A very unique product in its own rights, the Lenovo Glasses T1 is a personal mobile display solution that works when connected to another device. The primary motivation behind the design of the glasses is to bring a private viewing display when you want to work on sensitive data from prying eyes, especially out in public spaces.

Designer: Lenovo

Revealed at the IFA 2022 and the brand’s virtual showcase, this is Lenovo’s progression from the ThinkReality A3 glasses, which are majorly targeted for custom enterprise solutions. The Glasses T1 are a toned-down version of the expensive A3 glasses and are meant for everyday, practical usage. There are full HD micro-OLED screens in each lens which creates a second virtual display only you can view.

Unlike the ThinkReality A3, these glasses don’t have any sensors or other hardware which makes them ergonomically comfortable to wear. The Type-C cable powers the thing when plugged into a PC or phone. Lenovo has even given the option to use them with prescription glasses courtesy of the in-box attached frame. Everything from the nose clips and bridges to the temple arms are customizable to the user’s liking.

The glasses should not be confused with the more advanced AR versions, as they only overlay the view of the display in front of the eyes. The only similarity is that they maintain the view of the world without disrupting anything, just like AR glasses. Talking of the specifications, the Glasses T1 has a high contrast ratio of 10,000:1, 1920×1080 resolution per eye, and 60Hz refresh rate. To enhance the viewing experience and reduce eye fatigue, they also have the TUV Low Blue Light and Flicker Reduced certifications.

Lenovo has fitted the glasses with speakers, too, so you won’t need a pair of headphones unless you want to completely shut out disturbing ambient noises. Overall, the glasses make complete sense for the current tech-infused world without being too gimmicky. Lenovo has not let out any word about the pricing, but they’ve hinted at a late 2022 launch in China and then later in other markets in 2023.

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