The best smart glasses in 2023: Style and substance

Looking for the best smart glasses in 2023? We’ve assembled a list of some of our favorites right here. These little devices pack so much power, but they are all radically different.

When you look at VR headsets, you’d not be wrong if you feel these bulky headsets will eventually evolve into fancy eyewear you’ve seen in sci-fi movies.

While these are two distinctly different gadgets with unique features, smart glasses are intended to leverage augmented reality. They are designed to be worn when you step outside your work or office.

Though at the base of smart eyewear, you have a pair of fancy-looking sunglasses that can play music, let you respond to calls, play multimedia content, and much more. But, smart glasses are not anything too new.

The best example of smart glasses is Google Glass which, unfortunately, were introduced way ahead of its time. But, they were good enough to give us a sneak peek at what an innocuous-looking pair of glasses are capable of. While Google’s Glass 2 is the best, unfortunately, it’s no longer unavailable after going enterprise-only for a few years.

Snap’s Spectacles are yet another genius idea for capturing images and videos from an FPV perspective without needing additional equipment.

A quick look at the e-commerce marketplaces will show you a bunch of new smart wearables capable of streaming music or at a maximum answering calls. But, what really qualifies as smart glasses are the ones that can do much more. So, let’s look at the list of the best smart glasses that help you peep into the future.

Best smart glasses that you can buy right now

• Xreal Air AR glasses
• Snap Spectacles 3
• Amazon Echo Frames       
• Ray-Ban Stories

Xreal Air AR glasses

Xreal

Key specs

• Screen: OLED
• Resolution: 3840 by 1080 pixels with sRGB 108% color gamut, 8-bit depth for 16.773 million colors
• Brightness: Up to 400 nits
• Contrast ratio: 100,000:1
• Field-of-View: 45-degrees
• Projected image: 130″ at 4m (Screen mirrored), 201″ at 6m (In-app)
• two open-ear speakers
• Dual microphone array, omnidirectional MEMS microphones
• 3DoF head tracking

The Xreal Air AR glasses are a good example of what we’re looking for in smart AR glasses. It’s an eyewear that seems close to regular sunglasses but has an OLED panel embedded to mimic a 130-inch HD screen anywhere. This display can project content from your phone or laptop, play YouTube videos, or more.

It comes with 3DOF for head tracking – a tech similar to the VR headsets and helps the glasses to track head movement to project the content correctly. Overall, our review pointed out that these smart glasses could be better and have many issues that must be addressed immediately. 

The company is making changes, including the name of the brand, which was changed from Nreal to Xreal right after our review went live. Though renaming might not improve the performance, we hope that future software updates improve it.

Snap Spectacles 3

Snap

Key specs

• 4GB flash storage
• four microphone audio array
• Built-in GPS and GLONASS
• Two HD cameras
• Weighs 56.5 g
• Bluetooth 5.0

Snap’s Spectacles is designed with specific features and use cases in mind. Rather than AR glasses, think of a couple of sports cameras mounted at eye level to offer your content a unique perspective and help you create content for Snapchat on the go.

You don’t get any high-resolution display, no content projection in front of the eyes, or AR projection over real-world objects, but you get a pair of smart-looking sunglasses that can help you capture “3D Snaps” without much fuss.

You get 4GB of inbuilt storage that is capable of storing up to 100 3D Snaps videos or over 1000 3D photos. Though these third-generation Spectacles are a vastly improved product, thanks to their premium pricing, it’s still a novelty with limited usage.

Amazon Echo Frames (2 Gen)

Amazon

Key specs

• Four micro speakers (2 in each temple), two beamforming microphones
• IPX4 splash resistant
• two beamforming microphones
• Weighs 34 g
• Bluetooth 5.0

The second-generation Amazon Echo Frames look like a pair of standard sunglasses but with slightly thicker temples housing all the tech, including battery, speakers, and microphones.

These smart sunglasses let you stream your favorite music or answer calls and control your smart home devices and take Alexa with you. These glasses could be ideal for listening to podcasts or responding to calls while driving to the office. It’s also suitable for a person who uses Alexa smart assistant regularly as these glasses function as an extension to the application.

However, with a limited use case and a high price, these Alexa-powered smart glasses are definitely meant for a curious few.

Ray-Ban Stories

Ray-Ban

Key specs

• 4GB flash storage
• 2x speaker open-air speakers
• Two 5MP cameras
• Weighs 49 g
• Bluetooth 5.0

Ray-Ban Stories are Facebook or Meta’s answer to Snap’s Spectacles. These almost smart sunglasses come with 5MP cameras and a few down-firing open-air speakers for listening to music, podcasts, or calls. If you’re lazy enough to tap on the touch-sensitive control panel, you can even ask the Facebook assistant to take videos or capture images.

Ray-Ban made these glasses come in three styles -Wayfarer, Round, and Meteor. While Ray-Ban Stories are way better than Snap’s Spectacles in design and features, its integration with Facebook may not be ideal for many. Also, you’ll miss getting real innovative features like AR, content projection, and more at this price point.

Worthy mentions

Apart from the ones mentioned above, a few more products narrowly missed making it to the best smart glasses list for various reasons, including real-world usage, pricing, and features (or the need for them). These include the new and improved Vue Lite 2 glasses, Bose Frames, Razer Anzu Smart Glasses, Lenovo ThinkReality A3, Vuzix Blade 2, and Engo 1.

Upcoming smart glasses

ZTE

Smart glasses as a product category is evolving at a rapid pace. With the direction shown by Google Glass and the arrival of Apple’s Vision Pro VR headset, we can expect many new and powerful smart glasses to arrive. Aside from Apple, various other smartphone makers are working on their AR glasses at different development stages. Let’s quickly look at some of the upcoming smart glasses.

ZTE Nubia Neovision Glass

Announced recently, the ZTE Nubia Neovision Glass is an AR smart glass that will start retailing shortly. It has Micro-OLED displays that mimic a 120-inch screen with 3500 ppi and a binocular HD resolution 1080p. The Neovision glass provides a wide field of view of 43 degrees and a brightness of up to 1800 nits.

The Neovision glass was first revealed at MWC 2023 and will be available in various regions.

Oppo Air Glass 2

Another Chinese smartphone maker Oppo demoed its Google Glass-inspired Air Glass at the Inno Day 2021 and remained largely an experiment. It paved the way for the Air Glass 2, a lightweight and compact AR glass. It has a display concealed in the glasses and can overlay content on top of what you see through the glasses.  Though still in its concept stage, the Air Glass 2 looks more promising than any other product in its category.

Spectacles 4

After three iterations of Snap-centric camera sunglasses, it’s only fitting that the fourth iteration gets AR superpowers. This upcoming smart eyewear from Snap looks like a product from yesteryear’s futuristic eyeglasses. Unlike other products from the company, the Spectacles 4 are made in limited quantities and are available to creators and enthusiasts who want to try them out.

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