OPPO Air Glass 3 brings AI to your vision to improve your interactions

Smart glasses, in contrast to AR headsets and visors, aim for a design that ideally should be indistinguishable from regular glasses. With today’s technologies and knowledge, however, that’s not easily possible, especially when you need to add powerful computing hardware to sophisticated optics. That’s especially the case when you need to offer some kind of smart assistant functionality, especially voice and speech recognition. In the past, you had to settle for rough translations and sometimes misinterpretations; comical but frustrating nonetheless. That definitely sounds like a job for AI, and that’s exactly what OPPO is bringing to the table, or rather to your eyes, with the newest iteration of its lightweight and discreet “assisted Reality” glasses that take a focused approach to wearables.

Designer: OPPO

AI is still the hot thing in tech today, in spite of and despite the bad publicity that misuse of the tool brings. Today’s AIs happen to be great at processing human language, both written and spoken, and they can now run the device itself with very little power, making them perfect for very small devices, including smart glasses. In its third iteration, the OPPO Air Glass 3 prototype harnesses the power of AI, specifically its own self-trained language model AndesGPT, to deliver a more natural way to talk to your glasses and get your job done.

AI might be the technical highlight of the new OPPO Air Glass 3, but its winning feature is going to be its design. OPPO is laying claim to the title of the world’s lightest binocular full-color glasses, and at 50g only, the claim does have merit. It looks just like regular spectacles with very thick frames, but nothing like those complicated and heavy mixed reality glasses. Despite that lightweight design, the Air Glass 3 still boasts a bright 1,000 nits display delivered by a tiny Spark micro projector, ensuring you can clearly see the virtual information even in bright environments. And with an ultra-thin waveguide, you don’t get the rainbow-like patterns that are often seen on optical see-through displays like these.

The OPPO Air Glass 3 manages to offer this more comfortable design thanks to its more focused functions. Rather than trying to cast its net wide with augmented reality, OPPO is instead focusing on “assisted reality” that emphasizes productivity over entertainment. You’ll still be able to see images if you want and control music playback, but the information that’s displayed in front of your eyes is limited to things like navigation, timers, translations, or even a teleprompter. In other words, it’s a sleek way to have all the important information you need right in front of you instead of having to fish out your phone from your pocket and get distracted in the process.

Of course, that means it will need to connect to an external device, particularly your OPPO smartphone. The Air Glass mobile app provides that connection you need with OPPO’s AndesGPT to ensure you’re getting the best performance possible without weighing your head down. OPPO is also laying the groundwork for more AI-enhanced features and experiences by investing heavily in its own AI center in the hopes of empowering all its products, especially its smartphones, with these features.

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Lightweight, stylish Brillant Labs Frame AI-assisted glasses lets you engage more with the world

The idea of putting a wearable on the eyes that takes immersive interaction up close and personal is a mantra every tech company wants to recite. After the bigger ones like Google and Apple doing their bits in VR and AR glasses, a startup, Brillant Labs has developed a pair of AI glasses called the Frame that promises to put the power of generative AI in front of a person’s eye. This, as the company says, will introduce a paradigm shift in an individual’s daily living.

The Brillant Labs Frame is designed as the first-ever glasses with an integrated multimodal AI assistant. This assistant is built in-house and can learn with the usage to carry out tasks for you. On that point, some of us would remember the Rabbit R1, but the little rabbit is a handheld and the Frame is a circular pair of spectacles that resembles – in design – the ones made extraordinary by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs.

Designer: Brillant Labs

With a primary focus on AI capabilities, the Frame is backed by AR John Hanke, CEO Niantic, company behind the popular Pokémon Go. The dual combination of technology is accompanied by a small display. The 640 x 400p micro-OLED display can show graphics and text overlayed on a real-world environment. In the middle of the Frame is a camera and the battery powering it is stationed at the back.

The Frame weighs only 40g and to ensure it is a new leap in wearable technology, it comes with the always-on AI assistant called Noa. The assistant taps into generative AI models like GPT-2, Whisper AI, and Stability AI, to generate text and graphics from the images captured by the camera, in response to the user query. The multimodal generative AI assistant therefore performs real-world visual processing and real-time speech recognition and translation to permit a user to engage more with the world around.

Courtesy Noa, the Frame will bring new experiences to everyday life, in workplaces, or even in classrooms. This is as the glasses can respond to what you ask by voice or text, and also to what you are seeing through them. So, you can, in real-time have the Frame tell you the price of jeans you are looking at in the store (by checking up online) and take notes of the content you are reading from your textbook.

Brilliant Labs has left the Frame as an open-source project with files for hardware and software available through GitHub. Additionally, it comes with support for prescription lenses for an additional price of $99. The lightweight, stylish, and visually distinguishing Brillant Labs Frame itself costs $349 and is now available for pre-order. Shipping is likely to start from April 15, 2024.

 

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Lightweight XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses deliver advanced VR experience at a fraction of price of the Apple Vision Pro

Talk of AR glasses and the first names that come to mind are Apple Visions Pro and Meta Quest 3. Priced exorbitantly, given their early stage of development, a lesser-priced alternative is bound to attract attention. That’s exactly what the $699 XREAL Air 2 Ultra is with a shipping date slated sometime in March 2024 for early adopters.

The wearable accessories are a cross between AR glasses and smart spectacles, making them highly practical for real-life situations. At the ongoing event, we got a chance to experience the Air 2 Ultra with its directional audio technology and were impressed by the experience. Also, we resonated well with the vision of bringing augmented reality (AR) to everyone. No doubt they won our “Best of CES 2024” award at the mega event!

Designer: XREAL

These new fashion-forward glasses are lighter at 72 grams compared to the 80 grams of the earlier version. The display like the Air 2 is 1080p at a refresh rate of 120Hz and 500 nits brightness. A worthy upgrade comes in the form of 52 degrees FOV and the 42 pixels per degree which is even better than the Apple Vision Pro. It has also been improved to get an additional pair of cameras on each side for six degrees of freedom and positional tracking. This enables interaction with both hands for a surreal experience and applications like 3D mesh creation and future-proof AI capabilities.

Talking of the mixed reality experiences that developers can create, the company has laid much focus on the spatial computing aspect. To that accord, the Air 2 Ultra comes with a suite of tools for developers like the Nebula, an in-house developed AR environment launcher and the latest SDK. Given their smaller size, comfortable form factor and new in-frame sensors; the developers will be more than eager to put that hardware to use for unique mixed-reality applications.

XREAL has also proactively partnered with Qualcomm Technologies, BMW Group, NIO, Quintar, and Forma Vision to create niche spatial computing interfaces. These come in the form of navigation instructions, hazard warnings, holographic meetings, or entertainment content.

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Samsung Glasses Mixed Reality Headset: What We Know So Far

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

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

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

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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