hardwired
In Hardwired, AC senior editor Harish Jonnalagadda takes an in-depth look at all things hardware, including phones, audio products, storage servers, and networking gear.
There is a lot of interest in smart glasses at the moment and Rokid is one brand that is doing all the right things. I reviewed the Max 2 Glasses last year, and used the recently launched AI Glasses style for most of the past three months, and it’s clear the brand is positioning the product as an affordable alternative to Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses.
Xu said the Gemini integration was a significant moment, as it allows the brand to meaningfully differentiate its glasses against its competitors. And on why Rokid added other AI models to the glasses, Xu indicated that it’s about giving users the ability to choose which model they want to run. Best of all, Rokid is interested in building an open ecosystem using global standards, and this was a key inspiration point in bringing the AI ​​glasses style and future products to Gemini.
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On that note, while Rokid’s AI glasses styles are a great value, they are sold in a single version, unlike Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses. Xu said the goal with the glasses was to bring it to market and build software features, but the brand is considering additional styles and colors. And because Rokid wanted to get as close to the $300 price point as possible, they didn’t include a charging case with the glasses — this was a point of contention when testing the AI ​​Glasses style, as charging the glasses isn’t as easy as my Meta Ray-Bans or Oakley Meta Vanguard.
Another area in which Rokid wants to stand out is the addition of gesture controls; Xu says this is still something the brand is testing, but he hasn’t ruled out the feature coming to a future product. While this would undoubtedly be nice, what I’d like to see is a payment interface that can be used with the glasses, and Xu talked about a QR code system that may debut sometime later.
Additionally, Xu hinted that Rokid is working on native music integration so that services like Spotify can be controlled with the glasses. Given that the industry itself is still nascent, there is clearly a lot of potential for growth, and every brand wants to gain a meaningful edge over its competitors. Basics like camera tuning and audio quality are handled well by every brand, and while Xu hinted that Rokid is considering adding algorithms that will reduce wind noise, this is something that most glasses will offer within the next few generations.
A big part of the puzzle is battery life. This was evident when I tested RayNeo’s X3 Pro glasses; While the glasses had a lot of great features, they were resource-intensive, and the glasses only lasted a few hours between charges. Xu said Rokid is considering incorporating a low-power chipset that handles mundane tasks — like you’d find on smartwatches like the Xiaomi Watch 5 — so that the workhorse Qualcomm chipset doesn’t need to be active all the time. It’s an interesting solution, but given that space is extremely limited on smart glasses – even more so than smartwatches – it remains to be seen how much it will be possible to accommodate.
Another solution is an external battery connector, but this adds bulk and weight to the smart glasses, eliminating its usefulness outside your home. I asked Xu if Rokid considered silicon-carbon battery technology to potentially add larger batteries to smart glasses, but he said the cost of battery technology is prohibitive, but Rokid might consider taking this route on future products that cost more than $600.
After talking to Xu, I got the sense that Rokid is keen to separate its glasses from software, and that’s interesting in itself. Most smart glasses are pretty much the same, and like phones, adding an edge with software has the potential to stand out a bit more. Now with AI Glasses in style and waveguide-based AI Glasses on the shelves, Rokid has good alternatives to what Meta and other brands are offering.
