Last year at Google I/O, we got a promising, if disappointingly limited, Android XR. At this year’s event, the company confirmed that the first glasses from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster are finally coming later this year.
Those frames are still secret, although we did get a little preview during the I/O keynote. But Google’s developer conference, at least, gave us a clear picture of how its smart glasses will work. Given Meta’s years of progress, Google will have a lot to prove. But despite being almost embarrassingly late to the smart glasses game, Google has some significant advantages. And, after trying out the latest Android XR glasses, I suspect at least some people will prefer these to the Meta’s Ray-Ban shades.
The glasses I demoed were not the branded frames that were shown briefly during the keynote. They were the “reference hardware” that Google uses for its internal development. These glasses also had a built-in display, unlike the Warby Parker and Gentle Monster specs, which would be for audio only. But they didn’t really look or feel like any prototypes. While they weren’t as polished as my Ray-Ban Meta frames, they still didn’t look overly thick or dull. And they felt much lighter than the extra heavy Meta Ray-Ban Display frames.
Igor Bonifacic for Engadget
The display setup is similar to the prototype I saw last year, with a single window above the right lens. On reference hardware, it had a 20-degree field of view, although Google was quick to point out that specific specifications are subject to change.
While the display was impressive – it was just as crisp and bright as its Meta equivalent – it was clear that the audio-only Android XR Glass could also have a big advantage over the Meta and other potential rivals. That is, Google has been able to integrate its own apps and, yes, Gemini, into the Frame in a way that feels incredibly useful.
For example, using Google Translate was much more intuitive than my experience with Meta’s glasses. I was able to go back and forth between a Spanish-speaking Google representative and my Serbian-speaking colleague Igor Bonifacic, and the glasses continued translating without a hitch. It also cleverly ignored the English-speaking people around me, and only showed a real-time translation of what was being said in the foreign language. There probably aren’t too many situations in real life when you need to move between multiple languages during a single conversation, but the fact that it was possible underlines Google’s advantage.
Although I’ve been generally impressed by the translation capabilities of Meta’s AI glasses, you can only do one language at a time. You’ll need to download the language to your phone ahead of time, which can make it difficult to translate instantly.
Igor Bonifacic for Engadget
Non-display glasses will still benefit from multimodal capabilities, which rely on onboard cameras and Gemini to surface information based on your surroundings. I was able to view a recipe and ask Gemini to add the ingredients to my shopping list on Google Keep. Gemini really struggled for a while with the commands, but I didn’t have to stop and start over. I kept speaking and it was able to adjust immediately.
I’ve often complained that the biggest drawback of Meta’s glasses is that they work with relatively few third-party apps. While Meta is working on fixing this, at the moment they’re great if you want to read WhatsApp messages or Instagram DMs, but there aren’t so many options outside the company’s ecosystem. Android XR, at least for now, may rely heavily on Google’s own ecosystem, but being able to access Maps, Gmail, and Keep feels much more practical for my everyday life.
Maps can be particularly useful. In my latest demo, I was once again able to get walking directions on display, along with a small map view when looking down toward the ground. The audio-only XR glasses won’t have the benefit of visual guides, but Google will still be able to provide walking directions via audio prompts. You can also look up restaurants and businesses near you and ask Gemini for reviews and information. I’ve long thought that travel is one of the best use cases for smart glasses. The addition of Google Maps data is a real benefit, especially when you think about combining it with other features like real-time translation and navigation.
I still have some unanswered questions about how this will all work when it’s in a pair of glasses that people can actually buy. And Google still hasn’t revealed the specifications or price of the consumer version of these glasses. But there is already a lot to look forward to.
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