There’s a lot of hub-hub around AR and VR after the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro. AR is seemingly the more popular vision for the future, where visual elements are laid over the real world around you. And as long as there’s been an acronym, the ideal form factor for the tech has been a pair of glasses. Google Glass first introduced the idea of AR glasses, but… you know what happened there. Brilliant Labs have come out with a new wearable that promises the future that Google Glass dreamed of.
Brilliant Labs’ new Frame AR glasses are exactly that – a smart set of specs with an AR display built-in. But this new device also throws in AI-powered brains for extra functionality. Surprisingly, the Frame glasses actually look like regular glasses. You could walk past someone wearing these and easily not realise how much tech is packed inside. But boy is there a lot crammed in here.
The AR display is a micro OLED that’s bonded to a prism inside the lens. So it’s sort of like the display is actually in the glass – almost like a transparent display. And there’s an option for prescription lenses, for the optically challenged among us. The display is on one side of the glasses, and displays at a 20-degree field of view, so content should take up a good chunk of what you can see. The glasses weight less than 40g, and promise to last all day before they need juicing up. And when they do need charging, the playful Mister Power charger (that looks like a bright orange nose) supplies power on the nose bridge.
And then we come to the AI smarts. There’s a camera built in that can see what you see, which gets used to process queries you ask via the microphone and speakers. This can be anything from translations, to recognising landmarks and calorie information. You’ll certainly look like you know your stuff on your next trip. Perplexity’s search engine gets baked in for you to ask queries on the go, and everything is powered by the Noa voice assistant. It learns how you interact with it, so it can become more like you. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, the glasses are entirely open-source so you can build your own apps.
Frame is currently available for pre-order directly from Brilliant Labs. Pricing starts at $350, but increases if you need to add prescription lenses. Shipping is supposed to begin in April, so you’ll have a little wait. They’re available in Smokey Black, Cool Grey, and H20 (transparent), and are designed for those with an inter-pupillary distance range of 58-72mm.
