Facebook only debuted its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses a few days ago, and they’ve already been copping a ton of attention for all the wrong reasons, including by Australia’s privacy watchdog. Now, Xiaomi is giving it a go. But unlike Facebook, Xiaomi is putting its name against them.
The Xiaomi Smart Glasses are, according to the company, capable of combining imaging system and sensors into a “subtle, ordinary glasses design through MicroLED optical waveguide technology”.
“Xiaomi Smart Glasses to resemble traditional glasses form factor, but surpass other existing smart glasses in function,” the company said.
The messaging from Xiaomi is simple: the glasses aren’t a secondary smartphone display, but an independent smart wearable.
This means they can display messages and notifications, make calls, navigate, and translate text — and creep people out by taking photos of them, of course.
“Xiaomi Smart Glasses integrates a total of 497 components including miniature sensors and communication modules, so it is not just a ‘second screen’ for your smartphone, but instead functions as a new smart terminal with independent operating capability,” Xiaomi said.
In addition to basic notification and call display features, the glasses can also independently complete functions such as navigation, taking photos, teleprompter and real-time text, and photo translations.
Xiaomi also boasted using “key interaction logic” to minimise interruptions at inconvenient times, thanks to adopting its XiaoAi AI Assistant.
“In this way, Xiaomi Smart Glasses can display the most important information at the moment it is needed,” the company explained.
So, not all push notifications will be delivered before your eyes, just the important ones, such as as smart home alarms, urgent information from office apps, and messages from important contacts.
Xiaomi Smart Glasses – the specs
- The Xiaomi Smart Glasses weigh 51 grams.
- They adopt MicroLED imaging tech (MicroLEDs have a higher pixel density and longer lifespan than OLEDs).
- The glasses are equipped with a quad-core ARM processor, battery, touch pad, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modules, and of course run on an Android operating system.
- The display chip measures 2.4mm x 2.02mm — the display is roughly the size of a grain of rice if you take a look under a microscope.
- The built-in microphone and translating algorithm allows for real-time transcription.
- The 5MP camera on the front of the glasses can also take photos and translate text in photos. For comparison, Zuckerberg’s specs have two 5MP cameras on each hinge.
- The indicator light next to the camera will illuminate when the camera is in-use, but still, I’m nervous.
Pricing is unknown at the time of publishing, but if the Xiaomi Smart Glasses come in cheaper than the Ray-Bans that currently have a recommended retail price of $449 in Australia, they could offer an alternative for those wanting to avoid all things Facebook.