The list of products technology has promised that remain forever on the horizon includes smart glasses. Google tantalized us with them, but the company was too sensitive to name-calling (Google Glass wearers were called “glassholes.”) and the company withdrew them from the consumer market.
We get wind of another smart glasses manufacturer that seems to have learned from the Google failed attempt and made smart glasses 1. good looking 2. cheaper and 3. safer. As in, you will not get beat up for filming people without their consent. Unlike Google Glass, Even G1 has no camera.
The Even G1, and the rest of the company’s smart glasses, benefit from the oversized dark frames style now very much in vogue (see Why Do So Many Women Wear Giant Eyeglasses? New York Times, September 30, 2024). Smart glasses may have branded you a nerd 10 yearsago. Now you’re a fashionista.
Instead of the huge arms of fashion eyewear that usually serve only as a designer label, Even’s smart glasses house twin micro projectors that project an image. With a 2-piece fused lens/waveguide “glass” that still manages to transmit 90% of the light, the image appears 2 meters in front of you. Behind the ear are small box-like shapes that house the batteries and controls. The device communicates (Bluetooth?) with your smartphone.
The image seems to be confined to text and simple lines, reminiscent of the early days of CAD. Its 640 x 200-pixel image may seem primitive compared to the gorgeous display of an Apple headset, but then, on the other hand, the G1 doesn’t cost $3500, you can wear it all day, and you’ll not like a gamer with too much money.
Speaking of price, the G1 starts at $599. Grinding a prescription costs another $129. The G1 is said to be usable for a whole day and a half, though I imagine users would charge them overnight in their charging case (another $150). Adding it all up? It’s still 40% less than Google’s smart glasses ($1500) and 75% less than the Apple VIsion Pro.
The name, Even Realities, is a play on words. There are 2 realities in the company’s playbook: physical and digital. Unlike optical eyewear – all about the physical world – and digital headgear – all about the virtual world – the company wants them to be even.
The company has its origin in Shenzhen, China, but has a “significant presence” in Berlin, Germany. Find out more about Even Realities on the company’s website here.
Even Realities will be showing its G1 digital glasses during CES 2025 at PEPCOM in Caesars Palace, Monday January 6th, 7-10:30 PM.
