At Google’s I/O developer conference in May, I tried out smart glasses from Samsung and Google, due this fall. During the latest Unpacked event focused on Samsung’s phones and watches, a few more details about these glasses emerged. New frame designs, some of the promised battery life and specs, and how Samsung and Google aim to address the privacy issues with glasses that Meta currently faces.
The first wave of smart glasses from Samsung and Google are screenless, but have a camera, microphones and speakers, much like most Meta glasses. Display-compatible versions are also on the way, like Meta’s Ray-Ban displays, but after that. They use Qualcomm chipsets inside, much like Meta’s glasses also do.
The big difference between these glasses is how they support Gemini AI and deep connections to Android phones, as well as Google Wear OS watches. Samsung Watches will control the glasses, which I got to try out a bit during a glasses demo in May.
The glasses, as we already knew, are designed with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. But Samsung showed off two new frame designs at Unpacked, to go along with the two already revealed at Google I/O. The four frames revealed so far look good, but from afar they won’t look much different from Meta’s existing eyewear models. Won-Joon Choi, Samsung’s COO of mobile experiences, confirmed that other models have yet to be revealed when he spoke to reporters in London ahead of Samsung Unpacked.
Choi revealed more details about the upcoming glasses during a recorded conversation. He said durability tests of the glasses show better strength than standard glasses, “several times stronger than regular glasses.” Samsung has already filed more than 200 patents for its smart glasses technology.
The Warby Parker and Gentle Monster glasses use Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chipsets, the processor that is also found in the Meta glasses. Battery life seems better, however: according to Choi, they can run for 9 hours on a charge (an hour better than Meta’s latest models), and even do so while handling video recording and Gemini Live AI modes, although we’ll see how battery life actually fares in a future review. The glasses case can charge the glasses an additional seven times.
The problem of privacy
The glasses will work with both Google Gemini and Samsung Bixby AI, offering at least a little choice over glasses like Meta’s. But privacy concerns still seem to be relevant. Google and Samsung Glasses show a recording light when you take photos or videos, but they must be on your face to work. If the LED is blocked, the camera will not record either.
But Choi acknowledges that privacy concerns surrounding camera-enabled AI glasses are a common industry problem.
But it’s also, according to Choi, “just the beginning” of the direction Samsung wants to take with its interconnected wearable devices. These glasses still use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to connect. Choi says “it’s not enough” to meet the need for camera-compatible glasses, and that Qualcomm and Samsung are working on future ideas.
Better connections for wearable devices, especially for future higher bandwidth devices like display glasses or full AR glasses, seem essential. And even more so when you have a watch, headphones and glasses connected at the same time. And Choi acknowledged that AI services still need to evolve, too.
But so do privacy considerations. Samsung’s acknowledgment of the industry’s problem with glasses privacy doesn’t solve the problem. Choi believes that “if you stop innovation, you don’t get anywhere” and is confident that Samsung (and Google) will find a way to “optimize the right solution” in the future. I’m curious to see how Samsung and Google’s AI privacy settings will fare compared to Meta’s. And also, how much better the phone and AI connections will feel in everyday life.
To find out more, it looks like we’ll have to wait until fall.
Scott Stein
Editor-in-chief
I started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. I now explore wearable technology, VR/AR, tablets, gaming, and future/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv, and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future. See full biography