We’ve tried out Google’s AI Glasses and they’re spot on

At Google’s I/O developer conference this week, we got a chance to get a short hands-on with its upcoming AI-powered glasses — and not the glasses Audio glasses only Which Google said will begin shipping this fall, but rather glasses that offer a combined audio and visual experience.

Firstly Announce At last year’s event, these Android XR glasses offer an in-lens display that puts useful information in front of you, overlaid on top of the real world. This includes tools that can display things like weather, walking directions, Uber pickup details, live translation, and more — even tools you built yourself using AI.

The company noted that the glasses will also pair with iOS and Android phones, either in audio-only format or in a future display version.

The display-equipped glasses are supposed to be the next step after the first generation of audio glasses coming out later this year. The glasses themselves were developed in partnership with Warby Parker, Gentle Monster, and Samsung, blending Google’s technology with their brands’ design aesthetics.

Meanwhile, the glasses we tested were still a prototype, although they were polished enough to be tested externally. Representatives who demonstrated the XR glasses explained that the prototype allowed Google not to worry about some of the cosmetic details related to different styles and shapes, so it could instead focus on experimenting with the display technology more freely and its effects on battery life. This means that these glasses are completely different from any future shipping version of the glasses, in terms of fit, shape, dimensions and attention to detail. Instead, it’s more like being able to experience the “inner parts” of the glasses, while still being in a basic, comfortable frame.

The shipping version of the glasses will be able to detect when you put the glasses on your head and take them off, but the glasses we tried didn’t have this feature.

To activate Gemini, you have to press for 2 seconds on the right side of the glasses frame. It will chime when it starts up, letting you know that Gemini is on and listening. In the beta version, starting the Gemini will also turn on the camera at the same time, but the shipping version will allow the user to configure whether or not they want the camera to turn on when the Gemini starts up.

In an initial test, we played music through the glasses by asking Gemini to play a favorite artist. The place was too noisy to evaluate sound quality, unfortunately, as the volume was turned up to maximum and it was still relatively difficult to hear clearly and in detail. But the initial impression from this limited experience is that the glasses won’t be a great replacement for higher-quality earbuds, although they will do if you just want some music while you’re outside, walking, hiking, or doing chores around the house. The advantage of not having earbuds is that you can hear someone speaking more easily, compared to the Transparency mode experiences on devices like Apple’s AirPods.

To stop playing music, simply tap once on the side of the frame, around the middle, as if you were tapping your temple.

In the second test, we pressed the photo button with our finger to take a photo of a person. The screen was turned off, so the image was transferred to our phone and watch. (You’ll later be able to capture video with a long press, but this option wasn’t available for testing with the prototype. In the case of video, you’ll see a thumbnail preview of the video instead of the image.)

You can also ask Gemini to take a photo without having to press the photo button, and perform some sort of AI manipulation on the result. For example, you could say something like “Take a photo and turn the person into an anime character.” The image is sent to the phone, then to the Gemini and Nano Banana servers, and then comes back in its modified version.

At the Google I/O venue, where the Wi-Fi network was under significant pressure, the round trip took about 45 seconds.

With display enabled, you’ll see a simple home screen appear in your field of view. The beta version had some pre-loaded widgets that showed the weather and countdown to the Google I/O event. You can also create quick triggers in specific apps, like Google Maps or Translate, if those are among the main use cases for the glasses.

The prototype has just one screen above the right eye, but the platform can support both single and dual displays, as well as audio-only glasses. The image itself was a bit fuzzy, but we attributed that to our prescription lenses, which involve wearing one lens optimized for distance on one side, and one optimized for near vision on the other side. When we closed one eye, the image became more focused, but the experience almost immediately left us with some eye strain over the right eye, and it’s not clear if the prescription was entirely to blame.

One of the best demonstrations was the language translation experience on the glasses, which is supported by the Google Translate application on the phone. One demonstrator was speaking Spanish quickly, and the glasses automatically detected the language and displayed English text on the screen, while Gemini spoke English into our ear. We can see travelers around the world buying glasses for this experience alone.

It’s worth noting that translation will work on audio-only glasses as well, just without displaying the text on the glasses themselves. Alternatively, you can see transcription on your phone, if necessary, as well as real-time voice comments.

Another demo involves using glasses to navigate. While we obviously couldn’t go out for a walk and leave the place to test its accuracy, we can get an idea of ​​how it works. You can start your Google Maps experience by asking Gemini to guide you to a destination — which can be as vague as something like “nearest coffee shop.”

Gemini will activate Google Maps on the phone, but you don’t have to take your phone out of your bag or pocket to use it. After a short delay while the experience loads, the glasses then display turn-by-turn directions. When you look ahead, the next turn information is what is displayed. But if you need to head into space, you can look at Earth and see the blue dot on the map. You can also swivel left and right to rotate in space, just like you’re trying to get the blue dot to point in the right direction on your phone.

Then, if you look up again, you can keep walking without the map in your way.

Since the experience is linked to Google Maps on your phone, saved destinations like Home and Work will already be available.

We were also able to use the glasses briefly to learn about and ask questions about a variety of things we see. The glasses initially had trouble recognizing a replica of a Monet painting on the shelf in front of us, but that’s because the prototype didn’t automatically enable the camera — it had to be turned on again from the app. However, it took a few questions before Gemini said it looked like a Monet painting even after we zoomed in on it to focus on Monet’s signature at the bottom left.

Other tests were much smoother, as the glasses instantly identified the plant on the shelf and answered questions about different recipes in a book. However, we thought to ourselves how these things could be done today with Google Lens (or other AI models built into chatbot apps), although we suppose it would be interesting to be able to do them without having to pull out your phone at all.

Google says it will have more to share about the Android XR Display Glasses later this year, when it expands its trusted testing program.

In the meantime, the company believes the sound will be enough to meet the needs of some users, which is perhaps a smart way to spin the fact that it doesn’t have its own viewing glasses ready, despite competition from Meta and Snap on that front.

Like the Display Edition, the audio glasses also provide access to Google’s Gemini AI, which you hear privately through speakers located in the glasses’ frame. You can do things like listen to music through the glasses, press a button to take a photo, make a call, or tap into your phone’s apps, from these glasses, as you can in future display versions.

Tapping third-party apps wasn’t among the items we demonstrated, but the glasses will allow users to tell Gemini to do things like “Take the ingredients from this recipe and add them to my shopping list.”

In another example demonstrated by Google during the event’s keynote, the glasses could see the meal the wearer was cooking on the stove and provide feedback about the meal, such as whether the meat was fully cooked or not.