After many months of speculation, Google finally showed its prototype of Android XR intelligent glasses. It was an impressive live demonstration, with a live translation portion that went well but not without problems. Even so, he got the crowd on Google I/or work, and just after that key opening note wrapped, I walked through the coast amphitheater to find a couple to try.
Like my time with Project Moohan, the Android XR headphones prototype in which Google and Samsung are working, I just spent about five minutes with these glasses prototypes. And no, it was not an elegant frame made by Warby Parker or a wild of Gentile Monsters; Instead, it was Google’s couple demonstrated on stage, the Android XR prototype glasses made by Samsung.
As you can see before, like the meta-rays and, unlike Snapchat Spectacles (the first generation), these prototypes seem standard black frames. They are a little thicker in the left or right stems, but they are also loaded with technology, although not in a way that shouts from the outside.
It was a short and quite hurried demonstration, but certainly convincing.
The technology here is mostly hidden: there is a screen baked in the lens, which, when used, appears as a small box when it shows something larger. Otherwise, when I turned on the glasses for the first time, I saw the time and climate that was in the top of my field of vision.
When I pressed the button on the right stem to capture a photo, it almost flicked transparently larger in my field of vision. Ordered and a little more present to capture than in the meta-bosses of the finish line without screen.
These are great, and during the key note, Google also shared that the screens could be used for messages, calls and also translate, but I could not try. While I could not ask for instructions, a Google representative within my demonstration was able to throw what navigation would like, and this feature has excited me more with smart glasses with a built -in screen.
Because? Well, it was that the experience of navigating does not interpose in the path of my field of vision: I can simply look directly and see in the upper part that in 500 feet or 50 feet I need to make a right in a specific path. I do not need to look at my phone or look at my doll, everything is lodged in a single device.
If I need more details or I want to see my route, I could look down to see a mini version of the map, which moved while moving my head. If I used them in New York, I could walk normally and look towards the top to see the instructions, but when I stopped safely and not on the path of others, I could look down to see my full route. That is quite good for me.
The screen projected in itself had sufficient quality, although I am not sure how it works to direct sunlight, since I tried them in a small room that Google had built. It is important to remember that this is still a prototype: Google has several brands on board to produce them, but there is no exact deadline. However, developers can start developing and testing for the end of the year.
This year, the Project Moohan headicular will arrive, which also runs Android XR. Samsung will send the headphones in a final version to be revealed, which could generate third -party support and allow Google to get more comments on the platform.
Gemini, the very wise assistant of Google, flew me in Project Moohan and was equally convincing in the Android XR glasses. I asked for the weather and got it to give me an audio report of the next few days, I had to analyze a replica of a painting and even look at a book, tell me the reviews and where I could buy it.
That power to have Gemini in my frame makes me really excited for the future of the category: they are audio responses, connection with the Google ecosystem and how it reproduces with the screen on board. It remains to be seen how Samsung’s final design could be seen, but it is likely to feel next to several other smart glasses with Android XR of players such as Warby Parker, X-Real and Gentle Monster, among others.
A long time since I used Ray-Bans goal and enjoy them to take unique photos or record POV how to walk my dog Rosie or set up an attraction in a Disney park. Similarly, I really enjoyed the original version of Snapchat Spectacles, but the appeal disappeared. Both made only a short list, or in the case of very short glasses, a list of functions, but Android XR as a platform feels much more powerful, even from a short five -minute window.
While the design did not sell me in the Samsung prototype, I have great hope for the Warby Parker. Seeing how Gemini’s intelligence can fit in such a small frame and how a screen can be really useful, but not distract too much has really excited me. I have the feeling that not all Android XR glasses will attract everyone, but with enough tickets, I am sure that one of them will combine with the function in a correct balance.
Gemini in glasses feels less like the future, and taking into account this new entry, my eyes are ready to see what Meta’s is then and how Apple’s very rumified entrance will be seen in the world of smart glasses.
