High Tech Glasses
There’s a new breed of eyeglasses being introduced that bring the tech world to the wearer. These glasses offer a wide range of advanced features, from gaming to taking photos and videos.
While they look like they’re part of a science fiction movie, these high-tech glasses are actually quite useful. They can help to streamline your workflow, improve your safety and enhance your productivity.
1. Amazon Glasses
Amazon’s Echo Frames are the company’s latest high tech glasses that let you talk to Alexa through four beamforming micro speakers aimed at your ears. The frames are designed to look like regular glasses, which means they’re a lot more comfortable to wear than many other glasses out there, and Amazon’s design decisions help make the devices fit a wide range of faces.
In addition to the voice assistant, you can use Amazon’s Frames to control your smart home devices (such as lighting or window shades), play music, answer questions, and even get the weather forecast. The devices can also be used to receive notifications from your Ring camera, messaging apps, and other devices.
However, you may want to consider the Echo Frames’ privacy implications. According to Jeremy Greenberg, policy counsel for the Future of Privacy Forum, wearing smart glasses in public could be a big privacy risk because people around you might be able to hear your conversations, especially if you’re speaking loudly or talking to the person behind you.
Another potential issue is that these devices can record audio. They have two microphones that can be turned off by double-tapping an action button on the temple, and there’s a touch-sensitive area along the right arm to accept or reject calls.
The device will also automatically mute the microphone and turn off the speaker if you leave it on. This will keep your private conversations from being recorded, but it’s something to be aware of if you plan to use these devices in public.
Despite these limitations, the Echo Frames are a nice, easy way to start getting into the smart glasses game. They’re lightweight, have a comfortable fit, and aren’t a burden when the battery runs out. Plus, they’re one of the few smart glasses that don’t require you to carry a smartphone.
2. Google Glass
Developed by Google, Google Glass is high tech glasses that use a semi-transparent high tech glasses screen. This screen, located on the upper right hand side of the glasses, occupies about 5 percent of the wearer’s field of vision.
The screen is made up of a prism that projects images onto the lenses of the glasses. The images are semi-transparent, so you can see through them to the real world around you.
These smart glasses aren’t only useful for displaying information, but also for communicating with others. Users can make voice calls, video calls and send emails. In addition, they can receive reminders of events and meetings.
This feature allows Google Glass to work in conjunction with other devices, including smartphones and computers. In addition, it can also be used to show directions and travel routes.
Another interesting feature is the ability to display a translation of virtually any language. This can be triggered by speaking certain commands to the microprocessor in the glasses.
Moreover, it’s possible to use voice translation to communicate with someone who is not familiar with your native language. This can be very useful for people who are deaf or have sensory awareness issues, which can limit their ability to understand and communicate with others.
The glasses can even be used to assist the visually impaired. For example, they can help people who are blind or have partial sight to navigate museums and other places of interest. The glasses are able to determine the exact location and direction of the user, which helps them provide audio commentary about what they are seeing.
In addition, these glasses can be used to record video and take pictures. They can be controlled by voice commands, such as “OK Glass, take a picture.” The microprocessor inside the glasses will respond to these commands and will capture images or videos of whatever you are looking at.
3. Spectacles 3 by Snapchat
Snapchat has released Spectacles 3, a pair of high tech glasses that let you use Snapchat’s augmented reality filters in real-life environments. The new glasses use a second camera, placed on each side of the frames, to measure depth and let you add 3D effects to your snaps and videos in Snapchat’s app.
The Spectacles 3 are available in two color options: black Carbon and gold-tinted Mineral, priced at $380. They come with a charging case and a USB-C cable to charge them. The case has lights that let you know how much battery is left on the glasses.
They also feature a touchpad on the frame that you can use to control their features. You can take 10-second video clips or photos with sound, and you can also hold the glasses up to your eyes and tilt them from side to side to create a stereoscopic effect.
You can even press a button on the temples to take longer stretches of high tech glasses videos or photos, up to 60 seconds long. The glasses also have a light on the inside that flashes different colors depending on whether someone is recording or taking a picture.
But while Spectacles 3 look incredibly cool and a lot of people are excited about them, they’re not necessarily as practical as you might think. They don’t offer a great deal of functionality, and the AR filters that Snap is offering for them aren’t all that amazing.
Spectacles 3 aren’t aimed at the mass audience that Snapchat is built for, and the price tag will probably scare off a lot of potential users. But if you’re already a serious Snapchat fan who wants to get into AR, these glasses will definitely help you create more unique content.
4. Spectacles 2 by Snapchat
Snap launched Spectacles, its first attempt at building a wearable camera into a pair of glasses, in 2016. They looked like sunglasses with a single camera in the corner and let you take videos (and later photos) in a unique spherical format that could be transferred to your phone and posted to Snapchat.
While those first-gen Spectacles were an interesting innovation, there were several issues with them. The biggest one was that the content you captured didn’t automatically transfer to your Snapchat account, which made it a pain to edit and share the videos you shot.
To address that issue, Spectacles 2 now stores all of your photos and video on the glasses’ internal memory instead of your phone, which means it will upload to Snapchat over Wi-Fi much faster than its predecessor. The app also has a new interface, making it easier to access and share your content.
The second update is that you can now record audio while using the Spectacles, which isn’t possible with the first generation. This comes in the form of a small button that can be pressed to start recording for 10 seconds or up to 30 seconds. You can then press again to continue recording, or tap the button a few times to stop.
Finally, Spectacles 2.0 adds an LED ring that lights up when you’re recording or taking photos. This will alert other users that you’re wearing the Spectacles, and is also very useful for letting your friends know when you’ve taken a photo or video.
These upgrades make Spectacles 2.0 feel far more like a real feature of the platform rather than a toy or novelty. They’re more functional than the original, and they should help Snapchat capture a larger audience, especially as the company opens up its Lens creation tool to third parties.
5. Spectacles by Samsung
Spectacles by Samsung, or Specs, are high tech glasses that can do much more than just help you see better. These glasses filter out harmful blue light to improve your eye health and help you focus on the things that matter most to you.
Besides being a stylish way to share what’s happening in your life, Specs also offer a number of useful features for social media users. They can take 3D photos, record HD video, and come with exclusive Snapchat filters.
The Specs can also connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth. The case also doubles as an on-the-go charger and lasts up to four hours of music playback or 12 hours of standby.
Another great feature is that the Specs can even sync up with your phone’s microphones and speakers. This can help you take better quality photos or videos while listening to your favorite songs.
These glasses are a little pricey at $380, but if you’re a professional video shooter and are in the market for a new pair of smart sunglasses, they could be worth the investment. They’re more comfortable than their predecessors, and the frames feel more premium.
They also have a few extra features that other smart glasses don’t, such as open air speakers and 4GB of storage. This means you can take photos and videos, and then easily upload them to your cloud account without having to worry about losing them.
Several companies are working on smart glasses that can do more than just address eyesight problems. These could be augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) glasses that replace the real world with a digital one, and mixed reality (MR) glasses that combine both types of technology into a single device.
