5 ms·

I guess the competition for smart glasses is heating up - I imagine google thinks apple's glasses are coming soon and they take that seriously enough to want to

I guess the competition for smart glasses is heating up - I imagine google thinks apple's glasses are coming soon and they take that seriously enough to want to be prepared to compete. It will be interesting to see how this space plays out. If it's anything like smart watches, the market is going to turn around with apple's entrance, and buying north now while they're suffering gives google the tech they need to enter the market again for smart glasses once apple makes them "cool."

verdverm 6y ago
If they are not as good as the Hololens 2, not interested. That device is off the hook good, really impressed with MS as a long time Linux user
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  HoloLens and Focals/Google Glass aren't really comparable products, as far as I'm aware. HoloLens is meant like, mostly to be used indoors on specific purposes/experiences with a (relatively) short battery life, Focals/Glass is like a daily-wear type of device like a watch.
  - verdverm 6y ago
    You can use HL2 out doors and with an extra battery, you could get a full day. I'm seeing 3 hours of usage. What the HL2 has is the first good interface to AR/XR with incredible touch, hand tracking, and situational awareness. All AR will end up like this. It's so much better of an experience and designed to share with friends.
- vikramkr 6y ago
  They seem to be targeting very different use cases. Apple looks like it's going for the everyday consumer while microsoft sees AR as a business tool. I think the everyday consumer would be willing to trade off how good the AR is for style/battery life/weight etc. Especially if apple can get around the creep factor that turned so many people off of google glass, which might require cutting out a camera or two and reducing functionality
  - verdverm 6y ago
    Yes, def, it's not so easy to sell a $3500 consumer product, but it is cheaper than a brand new full VR setup, and dare I say a far far better experience. There is definitely a lack of good apps right now, but that will be changing. It's more the experience in HL2 that is astounding and I expect most devices to eventually adopt this
- brutus1213 6y ago
  Hololens 2 is decent display but the software development is atrocious. Can't believe MSFT engineers would ship this. They seem to almost require Unity to do anything in 3D/world space.
  - verdverm 6y ago
    Considering what else gets shipped is it so surprising? I haven't gotten into the programming deep yet, I hope you are not right for my sake :]
- Kiro 6y ago
  I don't want AR glasses. I want glasses that look like regular glasses but can display stuff, similar to a smart watch.
  - verdverm 6y ago
    You don't want to interact with those things using your hands or frisbee a photo to a friend, bouncing it off of a wall? (Physics applied to a UI system aware of surroundings is so much fun!)
    - Kiro 6y ago
      Of course but that's a different use case and different hardware. I believe we're talking about two completely different devices and markets here.
      - verdverm 6y ago
        Currently, but I everyone who's tried it is blown away by how good it is. So yes, they are different devices, but I fully expect there to be huge demand, that most smart glasses will have hand tracking, and that the end of the smart phone is without doubt. BTW, the HL2 was design for sharing and privacy from the get go. It is after all the basis for next gen military helmets
    - wyldfire 6y ago
      Those sound ludicrous -- are you describing a real product in this space? OTOH I think real subtle hand gestures could be a great input mechanism. The interface used by the now-abandoned "Soli" might be worthwhile. Voice interaction seems very tedious and embarrassing to use in public.
    - bhandziuk 6y ago
      If it's anything like using a phone it's going to be a huge pain the rear to interact with others in any meaningful way. Just sharing a link is by far the easiest way to share anything with anyone. I don't want some fancy NFC, proximity sensing, bluetooth activating mumbo jumbo. It might be cool but it's not useful.
bserge 6y ago
I guess they're waiting until they improve their lock-in stuff. Can't have something open now, Google is big, they can flex their muscle. Just like Facebook and the Oculus products :/
csunbird 6y ago
I wonder if they are going to make the glasses work with prescription glasses.
- chillfox 6y ago
  This has been the greatest mistake of past smart glasses attempts as far as I can tell. There is a segment of the population who are not only ok with wearing glasses, but used to it. But do they ever make a product that works for us? no. I tried Google glass back when Google brought it to a local IT conference and was told that a prescription version was unnecessary because it could be adjusted. It couldn't be adjusted to work for me, and even if it could have then I would still need prescription glasses to see everything else.
michaelmior 6y ago
I just got an invitation today to purchase Echo Frames[0], Amazon's smart glasses. I'm a little on the fence but early reviews seem pretty promising. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Staging-Product-Not-Retail-Sale/dp/B07W72XKPJ https://www.amazon.com/Staging-Product-Not-Retail-Sale/dp/B0...
- Ajedi32 6y ago
  Aren't those more like smart earbuds in a glasses form factor? As far as I can tell there's no display component to the device at all, just speakers and a microphone.
  - michaelmior 6y ago
    That's a fair point. I guess you could argue these aren't smart glasses at all.
  - numpad0 6y ago
    And aren’t those “smart earbuds” just Bluetooth headsets?
    - deelowe 6y ago
      Alexa requires specialized hardware for the voice recognition.
      - mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
        How is what it requires different from the microphone in a typical headset?
- gffrd 6y ago
  I'm curious: what's the use case you're interested in these for? And what makes these more appealing than, say, earbuds that offer the same functionality?
  - 6y ago
kungato 6y ago
I think that still a good indicator of what the smart glasses might show is to look at smart watches and how bad they are. They haven't refreshed the chip for more or less 8 years.
coldtea 6y ago
>I imagine google thinks apple's glasses are coming soon and they take that seriously enough to want to be prepared to compete. Like the half-hearted, and ultimately abandoned attempts they did for ultra-portables, wearables, tablets, etc? They even seem to lose interest in Android... I wonder why they even bother...
- mleonhard 6y ago
  Because those projects keep a lot of talented workers away from competitors.

verdverm 6y ago

If they are not as good as the Hololens 2, not interested. That device is off the hook good, really impressed with MS as a long time Linux user

ocdtrekkie 6y ago
HoloLens and Focals/Google Glass aren't really comparable products, as far as I'm aware. HoloLens is meant like, mostly to be used indoors on specific purposes/experiences with a (relatively) short battery life, Focals/Glass is like a daily-wear type of device like a watch.
- verdverm 6y ago
  You can use HL2 out doors and with an extra battery, you could get a full day. I'm seeing 3 hours of usage. What the HL2 has is the first good interface to AR/XR with incredible touch, hand tracking, and situational awareness. All AR will end up like this. It's so much better of an experience and designed to share with friends.
vikramkr 6y ago
They seem to be targeting very different use cases. Apple looks like it's going for the everyday consumer while microsoft sees AR as a business tool. I think the everyday consumer would be willing to trade off how good the AR is for style/battery life/weight etc. Especially if apple can get around the creep factor that turned so many people off of google glass, which might require cutting out a camera or two and reducing functionality
- verdverm 6y ago
  Yes, def, it's not so easy to sell a $3500 consumer product, but it is cheaper than a brand new full VR setup, and dare I say a far far better experience. There is definitely a lack of good apps right now, but that will be changing. It's more the experience in HL2 that is astounding and I expect most devices to eventually adopt this
brutus1213 6y ago
Hololens 2 is decent display but the software development is atrocious. Can't believe MSFT engineers would ship this. They seem to almost require Unity to do anything in 3D/world space.
- verdverm 6y ago
  Considering what else gets shipped is it so surprising? I haven't gotten into the programming deep yet, I hope you are not right for my sake :]
Kiro 6y ago
I don't want AR glasses. I want glasses that look like regular glasses but can display stuff, similar to a smart watch.
- verdverm 6y ago
  You don't want to interact with those things using your hands or frisbee a photo to a friend, bouncing it off of a wall? (Physics applied to a UI system aware of surroundings is so much fun!)
  - Kiro 6y ago
    Of course but that's a different use case and different hardware. I believe we're talking about two completely different devices and markets here.
    - verdverm 6y ago
      Currently, but I everyone who's tried it is blown away by how good it is. So yes, they are different devices, but I fully expect there to be huge demand, that most smart glasses will have hand tracking, and that the end of the smart phone is without doubt. BTW, the HL2 was design for sharing and privacy from the get go. It is after all the basis for next gen military helmets
  - wyldfire 6y ago
    Those sound ludicrous -- are you describing a real product in this space? OTOH I think real subtle hand gestures could be a great input mechanism. The interface used by the now-abandoned "Soli" might be worthwhile. Voice interaction seems very tedious and embarrassing to use in public.
  - bhandziuk 6y ago
    If it's anything like using a phone it's going to be a huge pain the rear to interact with others in any meaningful way. Just sharing a link is by far the easiest way to share anything with anyone. I don't want some fancy NFC, proximity sensing, bluetooth activating mumbo jumbo. It might be cool but it's not useful.

bserge 6y ago

I guess they're waiting until they improve their lock-in stuff. Can't have something open now, Google is big, they can flex their muscle. Just like Facebook and the Oculus products :/

csunbird 6y ago

I wonder if they are going to make the glasses work with prescription glasses.

chillfox 6y ago
This has been the greatest mistake of past smart glasses attempts as far as I can tell. There is a segment of the population who are not only ok with wearing glasses, but used to it. But do they ever make a product that works for us? no. I tried Google glass back when Google brought it to a local IT conference and was told that a prescription version was unnecessary because it could be adjusted. It couldn't be adjusted to work for me, and even if it could have then I would still need prescription glasses to see everything else.

michaelmior 6y ago

I just got an invitation today to purchase Echo Frames[0], Amazon's smart glasses. I'm a little on the fence but early reviews seem pretty promising. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Staging-Product-Not-Retail-Sale/dp/B07W72XKPJ https://www.amazon.com/Staging-Product-Not-Retail-Sale/dp/B0...

Ajedi32 6y ago
Aren't those more like smart earbuds in a glasses form factor? As far as I can tell there's no display component to the device at all, just speakers and a microphone.
- michaelmior 6y ago
  That's a fair point. I guess you could argue these aren't smart glasses at all.
- numpad0 6y ago
  And aren’t those “smart earbuds” just Bluetooth headsets?
  - deelowe 6y ago
    Alexa requires specialized hardware for the voice recognition.
    - mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
      How is what it requires different from the microphone in a typical headset?
gffrd 6y ago
I'm curious: what's the use case you're interested in these for? And what makes these more appealing than, say, earbuds that offer the same functionality?
- 6y ago

kungato 6y ago

I think that still a good indicator of what the smart glasses might show is to look at smart watches and how bad they are. They haven't refreshed the chip for more or less 8 years.

coldtea 6y ago

>I imagine google thinks apple's glasses are coming soon and they take that seriously enough to want to be prepared to compete. Like the half-hearted, and ultimately abandoned attempts they did for ultra-portables, wearables, tablets, etc? They even seem to lose interest in Android... I wonder why they even bother...

mleonhard 6y ago
Because those projects keep a lot of talented workers away from competitors.