After many months of speculation, Google finally showed his still early Android XR Smart Glasses prototype. It was an impressive live demo with a live translation part that went well, but not without Hitches. Still, it got the audience on Google I/O Going, and just after the opening key wrapped, I razed around the coast of amphitheater to find a few to try.
Like my time with Project Moohan, the prototype Android XR headset on which Google and Samsung are working on, I spent only about five minutes with these prototype glasses. And no, it wasn’t a slim frame made by Warby Parker or a wild from gentle monsters in the place, it was the couple Google that was demoed on stage, the prototype Android XR glasses made by Samsung.
As you can see above, just like Meta Ray-Bans and unlike Snapchat glasses (the first gene), these prototypes look as standard black frames. They are a little thicker on either left or right stems, but they are also filled with tech – though not in a way that screams it from the outside.
It was a short, rather rushed demo, but definitely a convincing.
The technique here is mostly hidden – there is a screen baked in the lens which, when carried, appears as a small box when it shows something bigger. Otherwise, when I first turned on the glasses, I saw the time and the weather hovering at the top of my field of vision.
As I pressed the button on the right stem to catch a photo, it flashed almost transparent larger within my field of view. Nice and a little more current way to catch than on the screenless meta-beam ban.
These are both cool, and under the keynote, Google also shared that the screens could be used for messages, calls and translation as well, but I didn’t try it. Although I couldn’t ask for directions myself, a Google Rep within my demo was able to vomit what the navigation would have and this feature has me more excited about smart glasses with a screen built -in.
Why? It was that the experience of navigating does not get in the way of my field of view-I can simply still look straight forward and see at the top that in 500 meters or 50 meters I need to make a right to a particular avenue. I don’t have to look down on my phone or look at my wrist, it all lies on just one device.
If I need more details or want to see my route I could look at watching a mini version of the card that moved when I moved my head. If I wore these in NYC, I could go normally and look at the top to see directions, but when I probably stopped and not in the way of others, I could look down to see my full route. It’s pretty nice for me.
The projected screen itself had good enough quality, although I am not sure how it works in direct sunlight as I tested these in a small room that Google had constructed. It is important to remember that this is still a prototype – Google has several brands on board to produce these, but there is no exact timeframe. However, developers will be able to start developing and testing by the end of the year.
This year, Project Moohan’s Headset, which also runs Android XR, arrives. Samsung sends the headset in a two-worked final version that can build up support from third parties and let Google get more feedback on the platform.
Gemini, Google’s very clever AI assistant, blasted me away at Project Moohan and was just as convincing on the Android XR glasses. I asked for the weather and made it give me a audio report in the next few days, it had analyzed a copy of a painting and even look at a book, tell me the reviews and where I could buy it.
This power to have Gemini in my framework has me really excited about the future of the category – it’s the sound answers, connection to the Google ecosystem, and how it plays with the onboard screen. It’s back to see what Samsung’s final design can look like, but it will probably sit with several other Android XR-powered smart glasses from Warby Parker, X-Real and Gentle Monster, among others.
I have long worn meta-beam beam and enjoy them to flip unique shots or record POVs like walking my dog Rosie or driving on an attraction in a Disney park. Similarly, I really enjoyed the original version of Snapchat Spectacles, but the appeal went off. They both only made a card or in the case of glasses, very card list of features, but the Android XR as a platform feels a heck of much more powerful, even from a short five minute window.
While the design did not sell me on Samsung’s prototype, I have high hopes for Warby Parker -Dem. Seeing how Gemini’s smarts can fit into such a small frame and how a screen can really be really useful, but not too distracting have me really excited. I have a feeling that not all Android XR glasses will appeal to everyone, but with enough items I am sure one of them will pair shape with function in a correct balance.
Gemini in glasses feels less like the future, and given this new entrance, my eyes are set to see how Meta’s is doing next and what Apple’s very rumored entrance to the world of smart glasses will look.
