Smart Glasses

Inspired by bats’ use of echolocation, researchers have developed smart glasses that transform visual information into unique sound representations that enhance the ability of blind and vision-impaired people to navigate their surroundings.

Some cyclists (or other outdoorsy types) like having access to a lot of information, which is often spread out between different devices. The Lawk One AR Glasses, however, put everything together in one place.

Smart shades have not had the best run (sorry, not sorry, Google Glass), but there have been aspects of the tech that have shown potential when the focus has been on functionality over fad. It's what the creators of Minimis Glass have made a priority.

TCL launched the NXTGEAR G wearable display at MWC 2021, which essentially served as an external screen made large for a smartphone, tablet or laptop. The company improved on the idea for CES 2022 and has now hit Kickstarter with the latest flavor.

Forget the metaverse, our own reality just needs a little augmentation. Lenovo has announced a new wearable display called the Lenovo Glasses T1, which can connect to phones and computers to watch video, play games or work on a larger virtual screen.

We've already seen camera-equipped glasses that tell blind wearers what they're looking at. Well, Voicee is a bit different, in that it's a microphone-equipped set of glasses which display the text of what other people are saying.

Hot on the heels of Facebook's Ray-Ban Stories comes a pair of concept smart glasses from Chinese tech firm Xiaomi that don't just push notifications from a smartphone, but also sport some nifty independent functionality.

Facebook is hoping that it can succeed where others have failed, and use its massive global presence to make smart glasses a worldwide hit, partnering with Ray-Ban to launch a pair of photo/video-capturing glasses called Ray-Ban Stories.

Smart specs don't always need to be packed with tech to be useful – like the new NXTWEAR G from TCL, which are powered by a smartphone, tablet, or laptop and act as an external screen for that device, one that can reach a virtual size of 140 inches.

Tech startup Ampere has smartened up the humble sunglasses with Dusk, a pair of shades that change tint on demand via a phone app or a button press. A deluxe model also packs built-in speakers and a microphone for making calls.

If the smart specs already on the market aren't enough to get you excited, why not make your own? That's exactly what electrical engineer and product designer Sam March has done, with the help of a CNC router and some app coding.

California's Dreamglass AR has spent several years developing and iterating its AR video glasses, and we've spent the last two weeks playing with the Dreamglass 4K, which effectively puts a pair of large, 3D-capable 1080p screens before your eyes.