Rokid's smartglasses are surprisingly capable
Meta put the smartglasses industry on alert when it announced the Meta Ray-Ban Displays last week. And while those might feature one of the most advanced optical engines on a device its size, after testing out one of its competitors — the Rokid Glasses — I'm convinced there's still plenty of room for competition.
At $549, the Rokid Glasses are more affordable than the Meta Ray-Ban Displays, which are set to launch at $800. However, it should be noted that this difference won't last forever, as following Rokid's Kickstarter campaign, its suggested retail price will increase significantly to around $740. Also, while Kickstarter campaigns aren't always the strongest indicator of reliability, Rokid has actually been around for some time with devices dating back to before 2018.
Rokid's heads-up UI looks much sharper in person. Taking pictures of smartglass displays is hard. Sam Rutherford for Engadget
But more importantly, Rokid's eyewear has some notable design differences. Instead of a single full-color display for just your right eye, it features dual microLED waveguides that provide a true binocular view, which helps reduce eyestrain. The downside is that the Rokid glasses only support a single color — green — though that’s kind of fun if you're into the classic hacker aesthetic. Text and icons are more than sharp enough to make reading the glasses' minimalist UI a cinch. And with up to 1,500 nits of brightness, its display is easy to see even outside in bright light. In the future, though, Rokid will need to upgrade to full-color components to better compete with rivals like the Meta Ray-Ban Displays.
Rokid's glasses score well when it comes to overall style and wearability. The Meta Ray-Ban Displays look like someone stole the frames off Garth's head from Wayne's World and then made them thrice as thick, whereas Rokid's glasses actually look more like Wayfarers than Ray-Ban's own creation. Touch panels are hidden in each arm, and you even get real nose pads for extra comfort. Plus, weighing in at just 49 grams, Rokid claims its creation is the lightest "full-function AI and AR glasses."
In everyday use, others may not notice the smartglasses' UI being projected onto its lenses. But at just the right angle, it does become visible.Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The only major indicators that these aren't a typical set of eyewear are the small camera near your left temple and a faint outline of where the waveguides project a heads-up display onto its lenses. There are also tiny built-in speakers that play the sound from videos, music or answers from Rokid's AI helper and they are about as good as you can expect from a gadget this compact. But it probably won't come as a surprise when I say they could be a touch louder or provide better bass.
Meanwhile, when it comes to recharging, there's a simple magnetic pin connector at the end of the right arm that can connect to any USB-C cable using an included adapter. Unfortunately, if you want a charging case like you get with many of its rivals, you'll have to shell out another $100. Battery life has been surprisingly solid in my experience as well. You can get up to six hours of continuous music playback over Bluetooth, though if you use more advanced features (especially ones that rely on AI), you will need to juice up sooner.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
As for functionality, the company’s standalone approach to content generation is both its biggest strength and weakness. That's because while Meta's smartglasses come with tie-ins to Facebook and Instagram which makes livestreaming what you see a breeze, Rokid doesn't offer that option. Instead, you'll have to use the onboard 12MP camera and five mics to take photos and videos before manually downloading them to your phone and then sharing them to your favorite platform. This results in a few extra steps between capture and publication (and no option for livestreaming), but at least you do get the freedom of choice.
Image quality is also acceptable. You won't be dazzled by its contrast and dynamic range and darker environments can be a bit of a challenge. But as a vehicle for recording the world around you, these glasses are a decent way to take in your surroundings. Thankfully, the process of capturing content couldn't be simpler, just press once on the physical button on the right arm for a picture or press and hold for video. Or if you prefer, you can use voice commands like "Hi Rokid, record a video."
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Aside from taking photos and videos, Rokid's glasses can also pair with your phone to serve up notifications, record voice memos and even offer turn-by-turn directions using AI, though I couldn't get that last feature working. There's also a teleprompter mode that allows you to upload scripts to the glasses and have text scroll down automatically as you speak.
However, the biggest draw (or deterrence, depending on your opinion of machine learning) is the AI integration, which uses the device’s Qualcomm AR1 chip and an onboard ChatGPT model to provide real-time translation and audio transcriptions. Just like what you get when using large LLMs on a phone or laptop, even when AI can understand most of what's coming in, there are still times when it doesn't fluently convert certain lines or phrases.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
There's also the option to ask the glasses to create a text description of what its cameras see, though again, AI sometimes struggles with accuracy. When I held my phone up in front of the lens, it correctly identified what type of device it was, but then it got confused by a barcode on a box in the background and thought I was trying to insert a SIM card.
Even considering the foibles of current AI models, the Rokid glasses are a welcome surprise in a growing sea of smartglasses. They're lighter and sleeker than anything I've tried to date while covering all the most important functions: playing music, surfacing notifications and capturing decent first-person photos and videos. Other features like live translation and live captions are a bonus. When they work, which is most of the time, it really feels like an engaging glimpse of what is poised to be the next big era for wearable computing.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
It's way too early to pick a winner or even recommend these as a must-have for bleeding-edge enthusiasts. But to see smaller names like Rokid come up with compelling alternatives to Meta's latest makes these smartglasses worth paying attention to.
The Rokid Glasses are available for pre-order now via the company's Kickstarter campaign with estimated deliveries slated for sometime in November.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/rokids-smartglasses-are-surprisingly-capable-153027590.html?src=rss
