We tested Google’s AI glasses and they are close

At Google’s I/O developer conference this week, we had the chance to briefly discuss the upcoming AI glasses — not just the upcoming glasses. hearing glasses only which Google said it will start shipping this fall but instead glasses that provide both audio and video.

First of all he announced at last year’s event, these Android XR glasses offer a lens display that puts useful information in front of you, overlaid on top of the real world. These include widgets that can display things like the weather, travel directions, Uber photos, live translations, and more — even widgets you’ve created yourself using AI.

The glasses will also integrate with both iOS and Android phones, the company said, in audio-only mode and in a future version.

Glasses with a display are supposed to be the next step beyond the first generation of hearing glasses that are coming out later this year. The glasses were developed in collaboration with Warby Parker, Gentle Monster, and Samsung, combining Google’s technology with their brand’s features.

The glasses we tested, meanwhile, were still pretty decent, even if they were polished enough to be tested outside. Managers removing the XR glasses explained that this model allowed Google not to worry about some of the cosmetic issues related to different styles and features, so it can focus on testing the display technology freely and how it affects battery life. This means that these glasses are very different from future transmission glasses, in terms of fit, shape, dimensions, and attention to detail. In fact, it’s like trying on the “inside” of the glasses, while still in the simple frames.

The transmitter glasses will be able to detect when the glasses are placed on your head and removed, but the ones we tested didn’t have this feature.

To open Gemini, you press the right side of the glasses frame for two seconds. An initial call will sound, letting you know that Gemini has started listening. In the demo version, starting Gemini can also start the camera immediately, but the forwarding mode allows the user to configure whether they want to turn on the camera after Gemini starts or not.

In the first test, we played music through the glasses by asking Gemini to play their favorite artist. The venue was too noisy to evaluate the sound quality, unfortunately, as the music was played up to high volume and was difficult to hear clearly and in detail. But the beginning of this small event was that the glasses may not be the best substitute for high-quality audio, although they can do if you just want music when you are outside, walking, walking, or doing housework. The advantage of not having headphones is that you can easily hear the person speaking, compared to the visual display on devices such as Apple’s AirPods.

To turn off the music, you simply click once on the side of the frame, around the middle, as if tapping on your temple.

In the second experiment, we pressed the shutter button with our finger to take a picture of a person. The display was off, so the image was transferred to our phone and watch. (Then you will be able to record a video with a long press, but this option is not available to test with an example. In the case of a video, you will see a thumbnail of the video instead of a photo.)

You can also ask Gemini to take a photo without pressing the photo button, and perform AI-style editing on the results. For example, you can say something like “take a photo and turn that person into an anime character.” The image is sent to the phone, then to the servers of Gemini and Nano Banana, and then it returns in its modified form.

At Google I/O, where the Wi-Fi was heavily loaded, the round trip took about 45 seconds.

Once the display is turned on, you will see a simple home screen appear in your section. The demo version had preloaded widgets that displayed the weather and countdown to the Google I/O event. You can also create quick launches in other apps, such as Google Maps or Translate, if these were some of the things you used the glasses for.

The model had only one display for the right eye, but the platform can support single and dual displays, as well as only hearing glasses. The picture was a little blurry, but we made it as far as we were prescribed, which involved wearing one lens designed for distance on one side, and one designed for near vision on the other. When we closed one eye, the image was clear, but the immediate reaction left us with a problem in the right eye, and it is unclear whether the medication was at fault.

One of the best images was the language translator on the glasses, which is supported by the Google Translate app on the phone. One of the performers was speaking rapid Spanish, and the glasses automatically recognized the language and put it into English on the screen, while Gemini spoke English in our ears. We can see travelers from all over the world buying glasses just for this experience.

It should be noted that Translate will work on audio-only glasses, too, without the text being displayed on the glasses themselves. Instead, you can see the text on the phone, if needed, in addition to the real-time audio.

Another example of using glasses to browse. While we obviously weren’t able to go for a walk and leave the site to test its accuracy, we can get an idea of ​​how it might handle. You can start a Google Maps experience by asking Gemini to guide you to a destination – which could be as obscure as “the nearest coffee shop.”

Gemini will open Google Maps on the phone, but you don’t need to take your phone out of your pocket or pocket to use it. After a short delay as the reaction fills, the mirrors show a curved motion. When you look ahead, your next information is displayed. But if you want to aim in space, you can look down and see your blue dot on the map. You can also turn left and right to move around in space, just like trying to find the blue dot to point in the right direction on your phone.

Then, if you look up again, you can still navigate without a map being in your way.

Thanks to being connected to Google Maps on your phone, saved places like “home” and “work” will already be there.

We were also able to briefly use the glasses to identify different things we were seeing and ask questions about them. Glasses initially struggled to recognize Monet’s painting on the shelf in front of us, but that’s because the image didn’t help the camera – it had to be turned on again from the program. However, it took a few questions before Gemini said it looked like a Monet even when we got up close and looked at Monet’s signature in the upper left corner.

Some tests were smooth, as glasses immediately recognized the plant on the shelf and answered questions about various recipes in the book. However, we thought to ourselves how these were things you can do today with Google Lens (or other types of AI integrated with chatbot software), although we think it’s fun to do them without pulling out your phone at all.

Google says it will have more information to share about its Android XR glasses later this year, when it expands its reliable testing program.

At this point, the company believes that the headset will meet the needs of users, which is probably a smart way around since it does not have ready-made glasses, despite competition from Meta and Snap on this front.

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

Accessing other third-party apps wasn’t among the features we downloaded, but the glasses let users tell Gemini to do things like “take the ingredients for this recipe and add them to my shopping list.”

In another example that Google showed at the event’s main event, the glasses can see the food the wearer is cooking on the stove and comment on the food, as if the animal had already done it.