If you’re concerned about the direction smartglasses are headed, you’re not the only one.
From reports of smartglasses with cameras being used to record women without their consent, to data privacy worries, and even smartglasses being used to feed answers to witnesses in court, it seems we’re running into the same territory that killed Google Glass more than a decade ago.
However, there is another direction to take. One where smartglasses aren’t as much of a privacy concern.
Android Police spoke to Even Realities CEO Will Wang to understand what it’s doing to save smartglasses, and why we should be wary of the current direction tech brands are taking.
Irresponsible behavior
It’s not just Meta either
The Even G2, Even Realities’ current smartglasses, do not have a camera built into the frame.
Wang said he definitely sees the benefit of having a camera, and the practical use that can come from visual data, but doesn’t consider the technology, policy, and infrastructure to be mature enough to support it at the moment.
I think going down that route too quickly, before all the policy and all the infrastructure is ready, is really irresponsible.
Unfortunately, right now big tech seems to be pushing towards it. What’s really worrying is Meta is pushing [cameras] hard, their sales are growing, and they are successfully getting Google and Apple to panic.
It’s not just Google and Apple eyeing up Meta’s success with the camera-equipped Ray-Ban Meta and Meta Ray-Ban Display smartglasses. Samsung, Rokid, Qwen, Halliday, TCL, and many others are too, and Wang explained why it’s a concern.
If it was just Meta, that’s fine. When it’s all these big tech companies together, then they essentially own the mindset. They own the voices. It means people might have to go into a world [where smartglasses with cameras are becoming more common] that they don’t want to accept, and that’s why we wanted to speak up.
We have been quite a low-key company over the past two years, just selling our product, focusing on serving our customers well. But I felt a responsibility to let people know there’s actually another way.
An alternative route for smartglasses
Design-led spectacles
You may have read those comments and thought Wang sounded almost anti-smartglasses, but it’s the opposite.
I look at this category as something that will fundamentally change people’s everyday lives. But if we want to make impactful changes, we need to take them step-by-step.
For Wang and Even Realities, this meant addressing design, fit, and comfort, and it was refreshing to hear his take on this important aspect:
They need to be slim, they need to look fashionable, and they need to sit comfortably on your face. This then tells you a lot about what kind of tech you can pack into them. We need to make sure whatever tech we’re adding is not creating discomfort on the vision side.
This has impacted a lot of the overall design, including moving the touchpads from the arms to behind the ear, and not putting speakers into the frames either. Instead, the magnesium frames and adjustable nosepads allow for greater flexibility for fit.
To aid with control, Even Realities introduced the R1 smart ring, which allows discreet control over the smartglasses.
It’s an option, but Wang revealed 90% of Even G2 wearers have opted for it.
All about the display
The Even G2’s main attraction
If the Even G2s don’t have a camera or speakers, what makes them smart? For Wang, it’s all about the waveguide screen, which is larger, brighter, and sharper than on the Even G1.
Out of all the feature choices we can make, the screen, the camera, the audio, we believe the screen is the most important thing because that’s what makes our smartglasses different. It’s not something other devices can do.
A lot of the functionality we want is real-time, glanceable information, right? When a notification comes in, you can see it. When the smartglasses are translating a conversation, you can see the subtitles. In a meeting, our AI can give me conversational cues to help me understand the situation.
Wang said the teleprompter, translation, and the Conversate AI features are the top three most used features by its users, and all require the screen to function at its best.
He described speakers as a nice-to-have, but said the technology hadn’t caught up enough so they could be integrated while still meeting Even Realities’ design goals.
He added that seeing visual cues and notifications is less intrusive than audio ones, and due to the software’s design, information proactively appears in your peripheral vision and not directly in front of you.
The smartglasses for people who wear glasses
More choice for more people
Smartglasses are one of the most exciting tech innovations around at the moment, but not everyone will want the Ray-Ban Meta or its competitors, and Wang perfectly summed up the company’s approach with the Even G2.
Many people wear glasses not just for fashion, but because we need them. I might need a smart feature for 10 or 20% of the day, but the rest, they are normal eyewear. So that needs to stand no matter what kind of feature we’re building, and we’re really making the product towards that.
If privacy concerns continue to affect camera-equipped smartglasses as adoption grows, people who need to wear glasses all the time and still want smart features will choose models without a camera, as taking them off out of necessity or politeness won’t be an option.
This is where Even Realities comes in, and by not following in Ray-Ban Meta’s footsteps, it’s giving more people more choice when it comes to choosing the right smart eyewear for them.
The Even Realities Even G2 are available in two styles with three finishes. Each pair costs $599 and single vision prescription lenses start at $159.
